Pupils at a Dunfermline primary school had a special serving of ‘Neeps and Tatties’ on the menu this week thanks to a visit from a leading Scots language poet and writer in the run up to Burns Night.
Primary 4 of Towerhill Primary took part in a special event with Thomas Clarke in the run up to Burns Night exploring Scots as part of Nil by Mouth’s ‘Neeps and Tatties’ project which uses the language explore religious and cultural differences between people.
Written entirely in Scots, and created by author Carey Morning and illustrator Anna York, ‘Neeps & Tatties’ tells the story of two warring vegetable tribes who are finally encouraged to put the past behind them in the interests of a better future. The book examines issues such as discrimination and prejudice and includes a series of classroom games and activities based around the story that explore different cultures, including looking at the significance of food and festivals in different traditions. Since being launched in January 2021 it has been used in over 1,400 schools right across Scotland and during January the charity brings together a range of Scots artists to bring the book to life in classrooms.
Thomas Clarke is one of the leading figures in the revival of the Scots language in recent years, translating numerous books into Scots including Diary of a Wimpy Kid and George Orwell’s Animal Farm. In 2016 he became Scotland’s first ‘Poet in Residence; at a football club taking on the job at Lowland League Selkirk FC. During his visit he read from ‘Neeps & Tatties’ as well as running a special workshop exploring what various Scots words mean and its role in the children’s day to day life.
Thomas’ visit was supported by the Scottish Book Trust’s Live Literature Programme which funds author visits to a range of schools and groups across the country with the aim of widening access to reading. Thomas also donated some of his new ‘Eejit Street’ comics written entirely in Scots to the school.
Thomas Clarke said: ‘Working with Nil by Mouth has been a real treat and I loved my visit to Towerhill to meet such a bunch of funny, clever kids. Scots is widely spoken in Fife and what’s great about this project is that it teaches through the language rather than just teaching Scots words. The fact that ‘Neeps & Tatties’ has been used in almost half of Scotland’s primary schools underlines the growing interest in the language with speakers, both old and new sharing its beauty and vitality. The class got so involved in the session which was wonderful to be part of and it was amazing hearing them all share their favourite Scots words as well as learning new ones. A muckle thanks tae all the bairns.’
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