Scots language for schools

Auld armadillos airm in airm, birlin bears wi big bahoochies and crabbit crocodiles wi clarty claes will soon be helping Scottish youngsters learn their ABC the Scots way.

In a major initiative to get children of all ages and abilities in touch with their traditional culture and heritage, the University based Itchy Coo project is producing a new range of books for children from pre-school to Advanced Higher level, written in traditional Scots. The Itchy Coo books - a series of sixteen including Animal ABC: Scots Alphabet - is the largest ever creation of Scots language resources for children and will, say their authors, elevate the Scots language to its rightful place in classrooms across the country.

Following lottery funding from the Scottish Arts Council, the first four Itchy Coo titles were published by Black and White Publishing in August. They are Animal ABC - A Scots Alphabet by Susan Rennie, Planet Fankle, also by Susan Rennie, The Hoose o Haivers by Matthew Fitt, Susan Rennie and James Robertson, and A Scots Parliament by James Robertson. The series of books aims to reflect dialect and regional differences within Scots and will encourage children to use their local form of Scots, as well as introducing them to other dialects and to the tradition of literary Scots.

Itchy Coo author Susan Rennie, who is based at the Itchy coo office in the former warden's house said, "We believe that the time is now right, because of significant cultural, educational and political changes in the way Scots is perceived, to launch Itchy Coo, which we hope will satisfy the pressing demands from teachers and education departments for such material."

Next Page
Return to October 2002 Contact