The nursery, adjacent to the county's only Gaelic-medium primary class at Kirkriggs Primary School in Forfar, has four pupils so far. None of them had spoken Gaelic before they began nursery.
Nursery teacher Lisa Simmons (pictured) is letting the children get used to her and to their new routine before immersing the children fully in Gaelic. She reads a Gaelic story each day and introduces Gaelic words whenever the opportunity arises.
She says she has a puppet, Seamus, who only speaks Gaelic, so when he comes to visit the children, no English is spoken at all. 'The children like to talk to Seamus,' said Lisa. 'They will copy him touching parts of their faces and repeating the Gaelic words.' The children can also count and name their colours in Gaelic. Lisa has noticed that when the children are playing on their own, they will often talk to each other in Gaelic.
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