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Welcome To Our Gaelic Page |
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Lewis MacKinnon Background Bio – Cultúrlann Féile Amhránaíochta.
Lewis MacKinnon is CEO of the Office of Gaelic Affairs, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Having spent 10 years in the Corporate sector as Senior Manager of an International chemical manufacturer, he has also carried the titles: Gaelic teacher, editor, public speaker, musician, songwriter, singer, and language activist. A former St. F.X. University Student Council President, Lewis graduated in 1992 with a Major in Political Science and a Minor in Celtic Studies. Since then he has been a champion of the Gaelic language. He served as President of the Gaelic Council of Nova Scotia for seven years.
Born in Inverness, Cape Breton and raised in Antigonish County, on Nova Scotia’s eastern mainland, MacKinnon has taught Gaelic on evenings and weekends in HRM (Halifax Regional Municipality) since 1997. He said he enjoys “helping people who are truly interested in Gaelic gain fluency” but scoffs at the local fallacy that there are more Gaelic speakers in Nova Scotia than there are in Scotland. He says there are more than 90,000 Scots who claim to speak, read and/or write Gaelic as opposed to the situation in Nova Scotia where there are literally hundreds to perhaps thousands of learners of the language, but less than one thousand native speakers remaining.
More recently, MacKinnon has been involved in teaching via the TIP (Total Immersion Plus) Gaelic language learning methodology in the HRM, New Glasgow, Antigonish and Cape Breton. “This methodology has been very encouraging”, says MacKinnon, “because it focuses completely on activity based learning”. No reading, writing or grammar are used during the initial 200 hours of TIP programs. “We incorporate language that is used around everyday activities and make the learning process fun and completely interactive”.
He says the fight to keep Gaelic from disappearing is important. “Language feeds culture,” he says. “It’s hard to maintain other elements, such as traditional fiddle and pipe music, storytelling, dance and song without language.” Lewis, who also speaks Spanish and French and “dabbles” in other languages, says that his involvement in Gaelic culture has given him an appreciation of the problems faced by other minority groups who struggle to keep their culture vibrant. The Mandate for the Office for Gaelic Affairs is to assist in the fostering of Gaelic language and culture. In partnership with the province’s Gaelic community, Gaelic Affairs will support the ongoing efforts to develop, preserve and promote Gaelic as an essential component of Nova Scotia’s rich diversity.
Lewis has had an abiding interest in making Gaelic more than just an historic footnote in Nova Scotia ever since his grand uncle Dougald MacDougall, a native speaker, spoke Gaelic to him as a teenager. It is to that grand uncle that Lewis has dedicated his latest CD titled A’ Seo which is Gaelic for “Here.” Performed in Gaelic, this is Lewis’s first solo CD. He continues to perform as a member of the singing group Jug In Hand, having recorded on three full length CDs.
Visit Lewis in the Gaelic tent on Games Day. |
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