Dysgwr y Flwyddyn - Learner of the Year - congratulations to our finalists!

Seconded, and huge congratulations to all those learning with SSiW brave enough to take part in this year’s demanding competition. It’s an overused sentiment, but it’s nevertheless true that you’re all winners in my eyes!!

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thirded absolutely!

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Warm congratulations to Matt Spry, who does terrific work teaching Welsh to refugees, and huge congratulations to @Nicky and Steve who were fantastic ambassadors for SSiW… :star: :star2:

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Congratulations to Matt Spry and to all who took part. All 4 (5 really) finalists deserve a massive pat on the back for what has been achieved here in spreading the word about our language. Well done.

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Well said, @gruntius, couldn’t agree more. Congratulations to Matt, and to all who worked so hard and did so well!

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Sorry couldn’t bring it home guys!

Was told later that I finished 4th out of the 4 on the night.

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Well, sure in a competition winning is better…heh…but it still sounds like a big achievement to me.

Also, the whole process of selections and interviews seems like something that in Italy we would define a “calvario”, so congrats for your persistence, too.

How many shirts did you actually end up using? :smiley:

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Considering how many hundreds of people must have entered the competition, to make it right through to the final 4 is a huge achievement, Nicky. Very well done to all 4 finalists, and many congrats to Matt who on the day just had the edge.

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There have been years in the not-too distant past when any of the four would have walked the competition.

It’s clear that the growth of online communities and the increased opportunities for wider communication and peer-to-peer support have been a major factor in the increase in quality of entries, particularly from the point of view of “so now you can speak the language, what are you actually doing with it?” type questions.

All four finalists should be very proud of their part in pushing standards even higher this year.

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Sorry couldn’t bring it home guys!

Paid a bod yn dwp, ychan / don’t be daft. You were a credit to yourself and a great advertisement for SSiW. :clap::clap::clap:

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hear! hear! (clywch! clywch!) :+1:

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You’re a winner as far as we’re all concerned, Nicky!! :smiley:

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You, SSIW and all the finalists were winners here Nicky - without doubt.

You have done fantastically well and been an inspiration to us all.

Rich :slight_smile:

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…and the Welsh language is a winner too. Nicky is a great ambassador for anyone who wants to learn Welsh (and those learning it). Da iawn ti Nicky.

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Thanks all!

The night was great but unfortunately I was left with a bit of a bad taste at the end of the night which ended up in me really regretting taking part in the whole thing.

One of the Welsh for Adults tutors came up to me at the bar afterwards and just said “Wow you were brilliant but we just can’t have people like you winning this competition. Otherwise I’d be out of a job”. She laughed and whether she was joking or not it really got to me and I pretty much left on the dot.

Ruined what been a brilliant experience. May just be one horrible person, but it really ruined the night for me.

Thanks for all of your support through the process!

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Well done Nicky. Reaching the final was an incredible feat for someone who has been studying the language for a short time.
You get my vote for all that you have put in and acheived.

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:open_mouth:
Don’t let a remark like that get to you too much Nicky - joking or not, in my opinion it was a very ‘defensive’ thing to say and says far more about her and her own confidence than it does about you and yours.
Keep doing what you’re doing in the way you’re doing it because you’re doing fab - getting to the final is a huge thing regardless of the end score or order (go back and read your notes about the earlier rounds and the other contenders who would no doubt have swallowed a Geiriadur Yr Academi whole to have taken your place in the final! :wink:)

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Spot on @siaronjames fel arfer!

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" … we just can’t have people like you winning this competition"

Sounds like a thinly veiled compliment and an equally thinly veiled admission that the “official” learning establishment is unable to compete with the likes of the SSi method, at least when it comes to learning to speak the language.

I am sure we can keep the bookwork tutors away from the Jobcentre by giving them academic studies and the like to keep them busy … but nobody can argue with results i.e. new, effective, Welsh speakers coming from this community. I only wish I had realised what I now know, years ago. I am also grafetul that I found SSiW before wasting my time on the likes of a “mynediad” course.

I may decide to do a Cymraeg i Oedolion course (at a suitably upper level) to improve, say, my ability to write letters and reports. But I am now utterly convinced that “second language” courses in any language can never be anything like as effective as courses which get the student to use the language. In retrospect, this seems blatantly obvious.

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Nicky, I wouldn’t be put off by that comment at all. She really did think you were brilliant (I do!). Half the finalists had learnt Welsh by a ‘non - traditional’ route. But it might be some years before attitudes and the teaching of Welsh to adults in a classroom changes. You will have been at the forefront of that change!

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