Congratulations to Open University: Scots Language and Culture Course who have been nominated in Scots Project o the Year in the Scots Language Awards 2020. Vote now!
We asked Open University: Scots Language and Culture Course the following questions.
Tell us aboot yersel or yer ootfit.
This course is the first of its kind – a free open access online course that employs an innovative pedagogy to teach a wide range of aspects of Scots through the culture where it is spoken, including questions of community and the identity of Scots speakers. Written by 16 authors who are prominent individuals and experts in the field of Scots language and culture, it underlines the role of Scots in Scottish society past and present.
Since its launch in December 2019 the course has attracted over 22,000 visits and has been studied by 12,169 people from 101 countries. The success of the course concept – catering for a broad audience ranging from Scots speakers, to people who want to find out about and learn Scots – is reflected in our students’ reviews:
- Lots for beginners, and plenty of rich history for those well versed with the leid.
- This is actually a very highly interesting course for anyone Scottish and wanting to understand the history, culture and even the politics of the Scottish Language.
- Surprisingly, I knew the vast majority of the words, thus emphasising that I am actually bilingual.
This course is produced by The Open University in Scotland, the Open University’s School of Languages and Applied Linguistics, and Education Scotland.
Whit wis it got ye involvit wi the Scots leid?
The Open University is committed to supporting the use, teaching and learning of all languages, including minority and community languages. The Scots course was developed following the launch of the Scottish Government’s Scots Language Policy in 2015 with a view to support its implementation by offering a free, high quality course for a broad audience. We also sought to bolster the efforts of the Scots language community in providing this course as a valuable resource for educators and promoting its use in many contexts, including schools.
Wha’s yer plans fir the days aheid?
In collaboration with Education Scotland we are currently producing a taught teacher CPD online course in Scots language and culture, which will carry an element of professional recognition from the General Teaching Council for Scotland. Written by Gerda Stevenson, Michael Dempster, Bruce Eunson, Laura Green, Jamie Fairbairn and Pauline Turner, this will be the most comprehensive professional teacher learning offering in Scots language. It aims to train teachers from all subject areas in Primary and Secondary as well as FE Colleges to teach and include the Scots language in their classrooms. This CPD course will be launched in Spring 2021 and offered through the Open University’s Open Centre for Languages and Cultures.
Read more about Open University: Scots Language and Culture Course
The OU’s Open Centre for Languages and Cultures: http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/language-short-courses
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The Scots Language Awards 2020 will be online at www.scotslanguageawards.com. We will have a mixture of events on the 23rd / 24th October. Performing at the Award on Saturday 24th September will be Gerda Stevenson, Gary Robertson, Shona Donaldson and Jim Malcolm.
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This post is also available in: Scots
