Mìrean provides guidance on:
- the main grammatical patterns of the Gaelic language
- how teachers can teach and reinforce these in class.
It is recommended that schools should put a programme in place, based on Mìrean, to develop children’s Gaelic progressively, from nursery through to secondary school.
This should include:
- daily (or at least regular) language ‘lessons’
- teaching and language reinforcement which is embedded in ongoing class work.
To link these two approaches, it is recommended that schools should create a programme of language targets, in which a particular language pattern (or set of patterns) is adopted as a target for a class or group for a set period – for example, a week (or longer) or the duration of a particular project. [The phrase ‘Pattern of the week’ is used as a shorthand term for this but the period may be longer, or shorter, than a week.]
The targets may be selected on the basis that pupils have been finding these structures difficult or that they go with a particular topic (e.g. ‘bhiodh’ with history) or simply that they form part of the school’s programme for Gaelic language development at that stage.
While the target is in force, the language patterns concerned will be taught and reinforced frequently and in a variety of ways, including:
- direct teaching
- drawing attention to and correcting errors on a regular basis
- listening, speaking, reading and writing tasks across the curriculum
- other appropriate ways.
