Gaelic Bookbug sessions hosted at local libraries have been benefitting young families in East Renfrewshire.

Introduced by East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure, the free bilingual sessions for pre-school children are being held in Thornliebank, Clarkston, and Barrhead Foundry libraries as an extension of the existing Bookbug programme.

The sessions aim to aid language development in young children, provide access to Gaelic in early years, and foster an interest in learning new languages at home.

Rachel Henderson, who provides the sessions across East Renfrewshire, said: "We now have Gaelic education within East Renfrewshire and these sessions allow families to access Gaelic in early years, too.

"Then, if they decide, they can move onto Gaelic medium education. Gaelic Bookbug offers the chance to try other languages and hear other songs.

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"We sing the same songs in Gaelic; the children know the actions, but they're often hearing words for the first time.

"The sessions give families the opportunity to access bilingualism at a young age.

"The benefits of bilingualism are amazing, especially in young children as they absorb things so quickly."

Parent Sharon Dennison, who attends the bilingual sessions with her son, Kirk, said: "We're trying to learn Gaelic at home. The bilingual session is good as it exposes children to a different language from an early age.

"It's something I've never tried but I'm encouraging Kirk to learn and it makes me want to learn, too. I'm also interested in Spanish lessons in the future."

Jennifer Sinclair, who attended her first bilingual Gaelic session with toddler, Emma, said they wanted to try something different.

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She said: "My sister lives in Sweden so we've been learning some Swedish - Emma can even sing happy birthday in Swedish! It's good to go to the library and it gives you something to do to get out of the house and meet people."

Lesley Gold, a library assistant at Clarkston Library, said: "It's really good for the children to understand that Gaelic is very much a part of Scotland.

"There are Gaelic books that the children can be introduced to and they learn songs. They can take that home to learn more with their parents. It's an introduction to another part of our tradition in Scotland."

The bilingual sessions are hosted monthly at Clarkston and Barrhead Foundry libraries, with full Gaelic weekly sessions on Tuesdays at Thornliebank Library.

For more information, go to https://tinyurl.com/3jwbw9ma.