[Webmaster’s note: One of ACGA’s membership services is that, from time to time, we acquaint our members with interesting resources that might help them improve their Gaelic. We do this by e-mail. We haven’t posted such information on our website in the past, because we didn’t have a suitable website design. Now we do, so we’ll put a portion of them here for your delectation.]

Our thanks to Jeanne Pendergast for the following.

BBC has a new look to their home page, and in poking around I tried one of their offerings for children, “A’ Choille.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/alba/foghlam/achoille/

It’s childish, of course, but for learners at the right stage, hearing the stories read might be helpful. You can try understanding as much as you can without looking at the words, and then the next time, if you click on the little “book” on the right, you can see the words as the story is read.

If you choose Sgeulachdan, there are 4 different little “morality” stories, Gaelic translation by Iseabail T. NicDhòmhnaill.

Among the “ubhlan,” you can choose “Leugh” (advancing the pages yourself when you are ready) or “Coimhead” with a continuous story. Either way the narrator reads the story, and the characters’ voices, while sometimes artificial sounding, are much more understandable than the squeaky voices in some of the Gaelic cartoons I’ve seen that are aimed at unfortunate young children.

“A’ Choille” is aimed at ages 5-7, but there are three others for older children, including an interesting one for high school age containing diaries written at different times by a dozen youngsters who have had to emigrate for various reasons. This one is based on real people and their stories.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/alba/foghlam/imrich/diaries/