Beth Anne MacEachen grew up in Howie Centre and her
grandfather and great grand aunt lived together in North Sydney. Her weekly Sunday visits
to their home exposed her to a language that she would hear mixed seamlessly
with her native English—“tut tut mo nàir’”.
Roy and Catherine MacEachen shared photo albums with Beth Anne and they told her the stories behind the old pictures. So much history and language preserved in the memory banks of two people who grew up during a time that is really not so distant, but may still feel like a world away. A visit with our elders may open a window to that world, and often we part the curtains completely unaware that the world which we look upon is also looking back at us.
Roy and Catherine MacEachen shared photo albums with Beth Anne and they told her the stories behind the old pictures. So much history and language preserved in the memory banks of two people who grew up during a time that is really not so distant, but may still feel like a world away. A visit with our elders may open a window to that world, and often we part the curtains completely unaware that the world which we look upon is also looking back at us.
Beth Anne went on to study Gaelic under Hector MacNeil at Cape Breton University.
"He took me under his wing in a pretty significant way" says Beth Anne, who explained how Hector helped her get into an exchange program to further her studies at Sabhal Mor Ostaig on the Isle of Skye, as well as driving her to the Gaelic College every day where he had helped Beth Anne get a job.
“He’s one of the main reasons, beside my grandfather and great-grand aunt, that I’m doing what I’m doing right now."
Today, Beth Anne teaches Gaelic Language classes at Citadel High School in down-town Halifax. She has 30 students in her Gaelic language class and there are 100 students currently taking Gaelic Studies. Citadel High School opened in 2007. The school has had a Gaelic grant from the Department of Educaiton (DoE) since it's opening, and in 2007 it was used to help fund a Gaelic club that met every day at lunch time. Melissa Shaw, a teacher at Citadel High School, ran the club with a few students. They would bring in educators and other community members to do language and music work-shops. In 2008 Beth had been working in Halifax for less than a year when she received a phone call asking her if she would want to teach Gaelic Language courses at Citadel High School.
"He took me under his wing in a pretty significant way" says Beth Anne, who explained how Hector helped her get into an exchange program to further her studies at Sabhal Mor Ostaig on the Isle of Skye, as well as driving her to the Gaelic College every day where he had helped Beth Anne get a job.
“He’s one of the main reasons, beside my grandfather and great-grand aunt, that I’m doing what I’m doing right now."
Today, Beth Anne teaches Gaelic Language classes at Citadel High School in down-town Halifax. She has 30 students in her Gaelic language class and there are 100 students currently taking Gaelic Studies. Citadel High School opened in 2007. The school has had a Gaelic grant from the Department of Educaiton (DoE) since it's opening, and in 2007 it was used to help fund a Gaelic club that met every day at lunch time. Melissa Shaw, a teacher at Citadel High School, ran the club with a few students. They would bring in educators and other community members to do language and music work-shops. In 2008 Beth had been working in Halifax for less than a year when she received a phone call asking her if she would want to teach Gaelic Language courses at Citadel High School.
“Of course I was definitely up for that!”
It’s fascinating to consider the ways in which culture influences
our development. Formal education is one of many environmental pressures that
shape who we are and where we are going. It teaches us how to
write, how to add and subtract, and how to drive. More difficult to measure are those
variables which we are exposed to in more causal settings. The music that our
parents played around the house, or the family trips we would take to our grand parents' houses, or to the beach in the summer-time. How
are they shaping us, and how will they inform our decisions further down the road?
What is happening in schools across Nova Scotia is
a synthesis of these two models of education. For Beth Anne MacEachen it was
her great grand aunt Catherine and her grandfather Roy who opened the window. Now
there are over 100 students at Citadel High School who are looking through the window for
the first time.
Gach deagh dhùrachd / Every good wish
Beth Anne's favorite word in Gaelic is Seanchas.
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