The current Argyll & Bute primary school menu is available in French and Gaelic and has been sent to all schools. This is a useful  resource to help embed your L2 into classroom routines. Click below for a copy of the menu.

Autumn-Winter-Gaelic Menu

Autumn-Winter-French Menu

Click Here to find out about all the available  French follow-on courses taking place, next term. These courses are suitable for those who consider themselves to be post beginners or have already completed the French beginners course.

Oban High School- Wednesday 28^th August, 1600-1730

Lochgilphead Joint Campus- Thursday 29^th August, 1600-1730

Education Scotland will deliver sessions which focus on progression from first to second level in languages with reference to the recently published guidance on the National Improvement Hub:       https://education.gov.scot/improvement/learning-resources/modern-languages-progression-framework This resource brings together all the national documentation practitioners need to plan and deliver language learning. Please contact Gwen McCrossan gwen.mccrossan2@argyll-bute.gov.uk to register for these events.

Well done to Melody Elizabeth Clark-Want from Port Charlotte Primary School. Melody’s poem was highly recommended in the ‘Other Tongue’ category of this national multi-lingual poetry competition.

For this poem I used Gaelic and English. I used English because it is the first language I ever learned and is what I use to write in all the time and feel most easy writing in. The reason I wrote in Gaelic is because it is one of the the languages people use on the place I live in and love.  I also wrote in Gaelic because it was the first language of my grandfather who used to teach me Gaelic, I wrote in Gaelic to thank him for teaching me. Click here to read Melody’s poem. Click here to read the full Anthology.

Click HERE to see Strachur Primary School’s fantastic performance.

Every year, the French Institute of Scotland organises ‘le concours de la francophonie’: a national French drama competition for learners across Scotland. This competition is designed to value creativity in French and allow a large participation of all primary and secondary schools. Learners are invited to film a short piece, dialogue, song, or play in French. The competition is organised in two phases: local authorities choose their local champions and then a national jury selects the winners.

To discover the latest edition of the Argyll & Bute 1+2 Languages Newsletter click  HERE.

This contains all the most recent updates on resources, training and innovative language projects.

Nursery focused on Italy, with a real chef making pizzas, P1 Germany with saurkraut and frankfurters, P3/2 Switzerland with cheese and chocolate, P5/4 Portugal with custard tarts and of course P7/6 France – we had pétanque with positional language, a cafe with croissants, pain chocolat, cheese and sausage, home made French World Cup football swap cards and Lotto!

Each class had food to taste, games and activities and a song or some target language phrases. The children learned about the host country in their own classes in the morning and in the afternoon took turns to be Ambassadors and show children ‘around Europe’. Click HERE to see more photographs.

The comic, “Na Gaisgich” was written by primary seven pupils from Islay, Jura, Mull and Tiree as part of a transition project for going into secondary school. The pupils were all learning Gaelic as a second language at school and were able to create the comic as a result of funding from the Scottish Government. The book is based on folklore and fables from the islands, and all ideas were collaborated to form the final product. Social Enterprise Company, Magic Torch Comics, travelled to each of the islands involved to deliver workshops to enable the children to adapt the stories, characters, illustrations and plots into comic strips. The comic is accessible to all as it is written in Gaelic and English. Click HERE to discover the comic.

To discover the latest edition of the Argyll & Bute 1+2 Languages Newsletter click  HERE.  This contains all the most recent updates on resources, training and innovative language projects.

Update: the deadline for the Open University course designed for primary practitioners to learn French, Spanish or German has been extended to the 24th August 2018.

The Pencil Point blog (formerly known as the Cowal Schools Literacy Blog) has moved from its original site on Edublogs to a new Glow blog.  The new blog still has all the great articles that have been posted so far, with more exciting posts to come!  You can find our new blog at: https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/pencilpoint