Mrs Irene McFarlane nominated for Scots Teacher of the Year award

STRATHALLAN SCHOOL TEACHER IRENE MCFARLANE WAS NOMINATED IN THIS YEAR’S SCOTS LANGUAGE AWARDS. MRS MCFARLANE, WHO HAS BEEN TEACHING SPEECH AND DRAMA AT STRATHALLAN SINCE 1989, SAID SHE WAS THRILLED TO BE NOMINATED IN THIS YEAR’S AWARDS.

“Efter working wi 100s upon 100s o barins, ower mair nor 40 year teaching, I’m up fir Scots Teacher of the Year.”

“I like to think that my job as a teacher is to make children proud of the languages they speak. I want younger generations to take ownership of Scots. It’s not just the language of Robbie Burns, it’s the vocabulary, grammar, idioms and colloquialisms of the 21st century and if we don’t continue to use it, it will sadly disappear.”

This isn’t the first time Irene has been up for a Scots Language Award, last year she was nominated for Scots Bairns Book of the Year with her translation of The Nicht Afore Christmas.

Irene, who started her career at Strathallan as an English and EAL Teacher before going on to be Head of Support for Learning, has been entering Perthshire pupils for London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art (LAMDA) exams for over 26 years.

Last academic year, a record level of Strathallan pupils entered the LAMDA awards, taking exams from Introductory level 3 to Grade 8 (Gold Medal level).

Overall, 56 pupils achieved Distinction (80%+), 3 achieved Merits (65%+) and 20 Medal (Grades 6 to 8) candidates achieved Distinction in Acting, Devising, Speaking in Public, Reading for Performance, The Speaking of Verse and Prose and Choral Speaking.

One of her current pupils, Ethan W, said Irene ‘completely revolutionised’ his attitude and appreciation towards speech and the Scots language. “Before joining school I was a nervous little boy, Irene taught me to be more adventurous, outgoing and confident and her teaching has been applied to much more than just drama and speech. I have definitely applied many of the skills she has taught me to a lot of my daily activities including debating, music and sport.”