It’s school holidays so we have to find things to amuse and occupy our son. I’m keen on making sure that the line between using Manx at school is blurred into the home because research suggests that it is possible that children see their second language as being only for use in a school setting.

We try to use Manx in settings where it can be readily and easily applied, like getting dressed, going to the shops, etc. A holiday activity would be building Lego.

Counting and identifying pieces

Count pieces you need in Manx, nane, jees, tree, kiare, quieg, shey, shiaght, hoght, nuy, jeih …

• Peesh beg – Small piece
• Peesh mooar – Large piece
• Peesh ruy – Red piece
• Peesh gorrym – Blue piece
• Breek – Brick
• Hoght peeshyn – Eight pieces
• Breek kiare-chuilleig – Rectangle brick
• Breek kiarkyl – Circle brick
• Kiare taggadyn – Four studs

Building

• Cur eh ayns shoh – Put it here
• Cur eh er shen – Put it on there
• Coontey y taggadyn – Count the studs
• C’raad t’eh goll? – Where does it go?

Navigating instructions

• Toshtal dy jesh – Left to right
• Jeagh er y jalloo – Look at the picture
• Duillag sniessey – Next page

Feedback

• Jeant dy mie – well done
• Yindyssagh – Wonderful
• Shen eh – That’s it
• Prowal reesht – Try again

I’m not an expert by any stretch, but if this helps blur the gap between Manx at school and English at home, then it’s all for the good. If you think any of this could be improved, do let me know in the comments.