We are excited to announce the release of the third episode in Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir‘s Facing Our History – The North American Gael series. History Matters: Especially the Difficult Parts, is now available as a podcast. You can listen to the podcast on our website here.

You can also find us streaming on 
Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Podcast Addict, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music,  & TuneIn+Alexa

Is Cudromach Eachdraidh: gu seachd araid na pàirtean troma.
Ciamar a nithear na tuinichean a bhith nan caraidean
a bha a’ fuiling tuineachadh roimhe?

History Matters: Especially the Difficult Parts
How do the colonized who became colonizers become allies?

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In this episode, we welcome Òmar Bhochanan | Amber Buchanan to Facing Our History – The North American Gael and a unique discussion with Scott Morrison. This is the first episode where our guest comes from a Gàidhealtachd; in this case the Nova Scotia Gàidhealtachd. To date, the Facing Our History series has examined the colonization and oppression of the Gael and their dispersal in North America from a national and cultural perspective, and from an economic or class perspective. In this session, we move to examine the legacy of settler colonialism and its impact on the Gael. Òmar is a partner and consultant in Inside Out, a Gàidhlig and yoga teacher, a weaver, and a Gaelic activist from Cape Breton.

Give a listen to this episode and join us for future episodes. Each program will be in the medium of English to reach the widest audience, but will have some Gaelic woven into the program – a taste of Gaelic if you will.

There is an assumption at the foundation of this project: That if we better understand our own Scottish Gaelic history and our own experience of oppression and colonization, the responses of our ancestors to those conditions in their own words, and how that historical experience and the narratives that grew from it have shaped today, we can not only better revitalize our own language and culture but be better allies with those who suffered from the same process.

Tha sinn an dòchas gun tig sibh còmhla rinn air an turas seo.
We hope you will join on this journey.

The most recent issue of the e-newsletter from Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhòir, Am Bollsair Geocach, has been released. If you are on our mailing list it should be in your inbox now!

A bheil thu airson an cuairt-litir fhaighinn?

A bheil an seòladh puist-d againn mu thràth?

Sgrìobh thugainn aig sgoilgaidhlig@gmail.com.

Do you want to receive the newsletter?

Do we already have your e-mail address?

Write to us at sgoilgaidhlig@gmail.com.

The first Language Village since the onset of the pandemic took place at the Virginia Scottish Games and Festival (VSGF) and it was a great weekend. We thank VSGF for co-sponsoring the Language Village with us and look forward to next year. (Many thanks to Tim Thompson, advanced student and Board of Trustees member, for the photos.)

The Language Village crew invites you to take a peek.

It was an honor to have fiddler and singer Seán Heely lead one of our Gaelic Song sessions.

 

 

 

Scott Morrison, our Head of School,
leads the Gaelic language class (left)
and the Gaelic poetry session (right).

 

 

 

 

Robert Bingham, faculty and Board of Trustees, leads a Gaelc song session for families.

 

 

 

 

One of our advanced students, Máta Dziennik (with his staff), also leads a Gaelic song session for families.

The crowds were great and appreciative. They even came in the rain to our workshops.

Spontaneous happenings! Seán Heely in the music tent for some impromtu harping as Maraji Gwynallen, village Harper and Board of Trustees member, looks on. (left) To the right, kids gather for a game of Shut the Box in Gaelic.

 

Give a listen to the waulking session!

 

And we say farewell to a beautiful site for another year!

The second episode in Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir‘s Facing Our History – The North American Gael series, Culloden, Colonialism, and Capitalism is now available as a podcast. You can listen to the podcast on our website here.

You can also find us streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, TuneIn+Alexa, & Podcast Addict

In this episode, we welcome Dr. Matthew Dziennik, Associate Professor at the U. S. Naval Academy. Dr. Dziennik argues that only by understanding the overlap between colonialism and capitalism, and the importance of economic stratification, can the historical changes seen in Gaelic Scotland be properly understood.  At its heart, this presentation suggests that historical change in Gaelic Scotland cannot be distilled down to simple explanations of cultural suppression. It was, instead, the imposition of market capitalism, with complex interactions between political, social, and economic change, that did the most to transform the Scottish Gàidhealtachd. Colonialism and capitalism were mutually supportive aspects of British policy in Scotland and the wider empire.

Give a listen to this episode and join us for future episodes. Each program will be in the medium of English to reach the widest audience, but will have some Gaelic woven into the program – a taste of Gaelic if you will.

There is an assumption at the foundation of this project: That if we better understand our own Scottish Gaelic history and our own experience of oppression and colonization, the responses of our ancestors to those conditions in their own words, and how that historical experience and the narratives that grew from it have shaped today, we can not only better revitalize our own language and culture but be better allies with those who suffered from the same process.

Tha sinn an dòchas gun tig sibh còmhla rinn air an turas seo.
We hope you will join on this journey.

Thig don Bhaile Chànain aig Geamannan is Fèis Albannach Virginia!
Come to the Language Village at the Virginia Scottish Games & Festival

4 – 5 September
at the Great Meadow in The Plains, Virginia
Check it all out here!

Join us for Scottish Gaelic poetry, song,
games, and language lessons!
Immerse yourself in the beauty of the Gaelic language

LANGUAGE VILLAGE SCHEDULE

Saturday, 4 September 2021
10:00 am – 10:45 am – Gaelic Song session with Seán Heely – Learn a Gaelic song
11:00 am – 11:30 am – Introduction to Gaelic Language
1:00 pm – 1:30 pm – Gaelic Poetry session
4:30 pm – 5:00 pm – Waulking Song Session

Sunday, 5 September 2021
10:00 am – 10:30 am – Gaelic Song session
11:00 am – Noon – Gaelic Children’s Program – Songs and Games
1:00 pm – 1:30 pm -Introduction to the Gaelic Language
2:30 pm – 3:00 pm – Waulking Song Session

Games, music, and displays throughout the day both days!

The Language Village will be an interactive, engaging space where Gàidhlig is being spoken, people are being introduced to the language, and everyone can take part in singing, learning, and other activities. We will run a variety of language activities throughout the festival designed to appeal to children as well as adults, including sessions on Gaelic poetry, Gaelic song, and introductory Gaelic classes, plus a participatory waulking song session, displays, an area for games and other activities, and impromptu poetry, music, and conversation.

Nach tig thu?
Please come! We’d love to see you, learn with you, and celebrate with you there.

A bheil thu air a bhith ag ionnsachadh Gàidhlig?
Is urrainn dhuinn cuideachadh.

Have you wanted to learn Gaelic?
We can help.

Registration is Open
for the 2021-22 Academic Year

Thigibh ann cuide ruinn!

A chairidean chóir,

Tha sinn an dòchas gu bheil samhradh àlainn agaibh uile. (We hope you are all having a lovely summer.)

Registration is now open for the 2021 – 2022 academic year. Classes start after Labor Day and run through June 2022. Sgoil Gàidhlig is dedicated to cultivating new Gaelic speakers using methods that honor and perpetuate Gaelic culture and language, and to make your pathway to Gaelic fluency enjoyable.

We have three inspiring teachers, a wide range of programs, and a host of fellow Gaelic learners to support your learning.

If you have wanted to learn Scottish Gaelic it’s a great time to take the step and join this growing Gaelic Learning Community. To get more information on learning with us, click here.

Slàinte mhòr agus a h-uile beannachd dhuibh.
Suas Leis a’ Ghàidhlig!

The first episode in Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir‘s Facing Our History – The North American Gael series, Bury My Heart at Culloden with Michael Newton, Ph.D., Director of the Hidden Glen Folk School of Scottish Highland Heritage, is now available as a podcast. You can listen to the podcast on our website here.

You can also find us currently streaming on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, TuneIn+Alexa, & Podcast Addict. In the next couple of weeks you will be able to access the podcast from Apple Podcasts. Each future episode will be converted into a podcast. Additional podcasts will be available to members of our Patreon site.

Give a listen to this episode and join us for future episodes. Each program will be in the medium of English to reach the widest audience, but will have some Gaelic woven into the program – a taste of Gaelic if you will.

There is an assumption at the foundation of this project: That if we better understand our own Scottish Gaelic history and our own experience of oppression and colonization, the responses of our ancestors to those conditions in their own words, and how that historical experience and the narratives that grew from it have shaped today, we can not only better revitalize our own language and culture but be better allies with those who suffered from the same process.  

Tha sinn an dòchas gun tig sibh còmhla rinn air an turas seo.
We hope you will join on this journey.