My last lesson in school was in 2000. Compulsory language classes consisted mostly of listening to dialogues from a book, having some grammar points explained by the teacher, possibly stumbling through the same conversation we’d just listened to with another classmate and then a list of vocabulary to take home and learn. From what I hear from my nieces, not much has changed!
Sixth form was much better, though- classes were taught entirely in German and were simply discussions on a variety of subjects. Not many people made it that far, though- there were eight people in my German class by that point.
It’s entirely possible to teach a language without the default instruction language being English, and I think that this could be really helpful in holding kids’ interest and getting them using the language naturally from their first lesson. The reason we don’t see more of this is likely due to the fact that creating a curriculum along these lines would require actual work from education ministers- saying ‘just teach them this book by the end of the year’ is much easier than developing a whole new kind of course.
Great stories can help bring Welsh history to life, predict our future, how Wales will one million Welsh speakers will function, and bring current Welsh culture to life.
Those stories can be turned into TV programmes, films, animations. All increasing the cultural offering.
Show success stories to prospective learners;
People are more likely to start learning if they think they can succeed. So tell stories (via print/film/video/radio/tv etc) of people who have followed a route to language success.
I wonder if some people might be put off by the length of the lessons that stops them even trying the first one. Perhaps a short, taster lesson might help?
A 5 minute long lesson that by the end one has learnt a single long sentence.
I hope the idea which I put forward in another thread fits here. (To be honest, I’m finding it more and more difficult to identify the right threads for my posts. I put it down to being 107 years old. ) Unlock your inner Welsh
That’s not quite right. He finds learning Welsh really difficult but recognises that learning any language is more successful when you have to do it to eat/drink etc. This is why the boot camps work so much better than other courses where it’s easier to resort to English if you’re struggling
Sorry to misquote, misremember. With so many associated threads it’s difficult to find original posts. However, the idea of differential pricing, done in a fun way, with it being made easy for the customer to get it right, still stands. Learning a whole language just to order a beer might seem a little un-necessary. But being able to order a beer, when you couldn’t this morning, might feel like a minor triumph and a step on the way.
I think this might work as an event - Tafwyl for example. Have a couple of stands that say “cwrw siaradwyr - £2, beer £3” or something. Kept it fun to encourage people to learn how to order in Welsh. Then it might encourage them to enquire about going beyond this.
Long term price difference in pubs would just be discriminatory.
When looking to increase the overall number of learners, perhaps we should target groups of people most likely to suceed in becoming speakers and then going on to support speakers.
I have in mind parents with kids at Welsh Language primary schools. They already have awareness of Welsh, they have a good reason to learn, and have a potential support network around them already (school/other parents). Also if they do succeed, they go on to support their child and make Welsh a living, used at home language.
We have limited resources, so identifying target groups with the highest potential impact is probably worthwhile. Does anyone disagree? Can anyone think of any other good target groups?
In terms of a target group, I think a long term campaign to create a target group could work. By that, I mean that outreach for something l… okay, I’m not being concise.
Create a campaign to make people want to be honerary Welshmen, in the same way that St. Patricks makes every fool in America wear green. Pick or invent a cultural tradition that is easy to follow, and use it to promote appropriating Welshness. I think for a language to really thrive, the goal should be to recruit a number of non-native speakers. The language has to belong to everyone.
That said, there is a huge diaspora of people Welsh descent in the US, Canada, and Austrailia, not to mention England. Until I did my geneaolgy, I didn’t even know it though. You could find the Welsh equivellent of groups like Cornish Cousins, Cousin Jack, or just create a list of Celtic cultural groups, and make them aware of SSIW. Publish a guide to starting a self-study group of people that meet and go through the lessons togther with tips and suggestions. Make language learning a social event.
Just had a conversation with a friend who’s partner is learning Welsh via evening class but almost completely refuses to do the SSiW lessons.
My partner also cannot be persuaded to give them a try.
Anyone else come up against this? Is it a common response?
Perhaps finding what is really behind them feeling this way may open up more potential learners.
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