Oidhche Shamhna / Hallowe'en

Fàilte air ais! Tha sinn an dòchas gun robh saor-làithean math agaibh. We hope you had a lovely break, and had time to do some autumn crafts. Do remember you can send us pictures of what you've made via our Facebook page.

Friday is Hallowe'en. Are you going to dress up and play some Hallowe'en games?

This week we will learn some Hallowe'en vocabulary, sing a song about spiders, and then you can have a go at making some spiders too. We also have another video of a favourite story being read in Gaelic, this time with a Hallowe'en theme.

 Let's start with a wee song about spiders. We have sung this one before at Cròileagan sessions, so you may remember it. The words are below, and you can hear it being sung here.

Damhan-Allaidh

Damhan-allaidh, damhan-allaidh,

Beag agus dubh, beag agus dubh,

Càite bheil thu a' fuireach? Càite bheil thu a' fuireach?

Air do cheann/shròn/bhrù, air do cheann/shròn/bhrù

Here is the vocabulary from the song, along with some extra words you can substitute in the last line:

You'll notice that putting the word for 'your' - do - in front of a noun adds a h after the first consonant of the following noun (in most cases). This changes the pronunciation of the first sound of the word. You can hear how to pronounce all these words here.

And here is some vocabulary to help you talk about Hallowe'en:

You can hear how to pronounce these words here.

For craft this week, try making some scary spiders. You can do this with all sorts of different materials you might have to hand - egg boxes, cardboard, toilet roll inserts, paint, pipe cleaners, tinfoil, etc. Here are some pictures to inspire you.

After all that hard work, you might want to listen to a story. Lots of you will know Room on the Broom in English, I'm sure. You can have a listen to the Gaelic version - Leum Suas Air An Sguaib - here. And if you are looking for even more craft inspiration, here are instructions for making your very own broom with all the characters from the story.

Gabhaibh spòrs! Tioraidh an-drasta!

Anns a' Choille / In the Woods

Haidh a h-uile duine! Fàilte air ais gu Cròileagan air loidhne!

I wonder if you have taken a walk in the woods lately? The autumn leaves are changing into beautiful colours. Have you seen them? What else have you seen while walking in the woods....maybe a Gruffalo?!

This week we will learn about the autumn leaves and their colours, and you can have a go at leaf threading. We will also listen to An Gruffalo in Gaelic, and you might want to make a Gruffalo, or some tasty Gruffalo crumble muffins.

Let's start with a song about the autumn leaves. We have sung this one before at Cròileagan sessions, so you may know it. The words are below, and you can hear it being sung here.

Duilleagan a' Tuiteam

Duilleagan a' tuiteam

A' tuiteam, a' tuiteam

Duilleagan a' tuiteam

A' tuiteam sìos

Here is the vocabulary from the song, along with some more vocabulary you might need on your walk in the woods:

You can hear how to pronounce these words here:

You probably all know the story of the Gruffalo, and some of you might even have the Gaelic version of the book at home. You might also have seen the Gaelic version on BBC Alba in the past (it's no longer available on iPlayer, but it might come back, so keep an eye out...). Here you can listen the lovely Miss MacTaggart (who used to teach at Taobh na Pàirce) reading An Gruffalo, along with pictures of the pages.

Here is some vocabulary from An Gruffalo:

You can hear how to pronounce these words here:

For craft this week, we have a couple of different ideas. 

You could pick some lovely autumn leaves on your next walk, and thread them on some string or wool to make a beautiful autumn garland. Click here for instructions.

Or maybe you would prefer to make your own Gruffalo using a paper plate (or a circle of cardboard) and tissue paper/paint/crayons/whatever you have to hand. Click here for instructions.

Finally, if you are feeling a bit hungry after all that hard work, you could try making these delicious Gruffalo crumble muffins. Mmmmm...blasta!

Next week is school holidays, so there will be no Cròileagan blog post. We will be back on Wednesday 28th October with a Halloween themed post. Gabhaibh spòrs!

Cuir ort do ...

Halo a-rithist! Ciamar a tha sibh uile?

Hello again, how are you all?

Well, the weather wasn't too bad this past week in the end. It definitely feels cooler though. We are continuing with our autumnal theme this week and with the Splis! Splais! song. 

Here is a reminder of the vocab from last week:

And some new vocab too for you to practise with:

Remember that the do adds an h at the beginning of the next word, called lenition. There is a good explanation of this common feature in Gaelic here: https://www.learngaelic.net/grammar_hacks/lenition.jsp.

Here is our suggestion for a craft activity this week:

  You can print off the whole set of people and clothes here.

Tìoraidh an-dràsta!

Am Foghar

Am Foghar

Halo, agus fàilte air ais gu Cròileagan air loidhne! 

Hello, and welcome back to online Cròileagan! 

Well, it looks like it is going to be wet for the next week and it feels a bit cooler too so it is probably time for us to cover some vocab that we might need for Am Foghar - Autumn. We sing Splis! Splais! Cuir ort do bhotannan sometimes which has a wee video and includes some handy autumnal vocabulary.

These are the words:

Here is a translation of some of the words:

Our craft suggestion this week is to make a rain catcher like these. You can find a guide here.

Enjoy the rest of the week, cum sabhailte, and we'll be back next week with some more songs and vocabulary for you.