Stornoway Primary School Boy Wins Gaelic Award

26 April 2021 at 15:04:40

A Stornoway Primary School Pupil has gone viral this week after receiving an award for the progress he has made learning Gaelic. Ten year old Abdullah Al Nakeeb moved to Stornoway from Homs, Syria four years ago. Now in Primary 6, Abdullah has a good grasp of the local language.

The  Al Nakeeb family said, "We are really proud of Abdullah, he loves going to school here and Gaelic  has become one of his favourite subjects. Addullah always works really hard and it is nice to see him get praise for all his efforts.

We never expected our son to learn the language but since moving here he has managed to pick up Gaelic very quickly. His younger brother Majd has also got a good grasp of the language and received a certificate for his progress in december. "

Hopefully Abdullah's brothers will continue to follow in his footsteps, it would be great to have them all speaking a new language."

Stornoway Primary Head Teacher Peigi Maclean said, "Abdullah began to learn English as a second language when he came to Stornoway and is now fluent in both Arabic and English.  His first language is Arabic.  Since arriving at Stornoway Primary School, he has participated in Gaelic, French and Mandarin lessons. 

He now has a good understanding of Gaelic and is eager to develop his Gaelic conversational skills at every opportunity.  As Abdullah is already bilingual, he has the skills to transfer between three languages with ease.  "