EVERY school in the Western Isles is set to be gifted with a Gaelic-language scrabble set in what the game's developer calls an "encouraging" development.
The Department of Education and Skills funded the purchase, which it hopes will allow pupils to develop their linguistic skills in a fun way.
Katy Graham, P5-7 Gaelic teacher at Sgoil nan Loch, Isle of Lewis, said: “We hugely welcome this resource in our classrooms. We know that pupils love any form of competition, and I think that there will be a lot of competitions happening in my class now!
"Any resource which aids learning and language acquisition is to be praised and who knows, in the years to come we may have inter school Scrabble competitions taking place through the medium of Gaelic”.
The Gaelic version of Scrabble was released in December 2023, making it the 29th language taken up by the popular spelling board game.
It was tested for six months before its release, with development involving data analysis of Gaelic literature to determine how many instances of each letter should be included in the box set.
The Department for Education and Skills said sets would start arriving at schools in the coming weeks.
Teàrlach Wilson, who helped develop the product and founded Stornoway cultural centre An Taigh Cèilidh added: “We are delighted to establish a partnership with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar in making Scrabble Gaelic available to all schools in the Western Isles.
"There has been a huge amount of interest and support shown in the game since it became available, but it’s especially encouraging to see it becoming utilised and loved by a new generation.
"Any pupil is always welcome to come into An Taigh Cèilidh and pit their wits against our staff members.”
Gaelic Scrabble is available for purchase on An Taigh Cèilidh’s website.
