In the little bit of work I did for @aran, there were three main groups that came out from the ‘Reasons for learning Welsh’ comments:
These are comments that came from people learning/who had learned with SSiW (from the forum/facebook threads). Perhaps these are the people SSiW should target as some of them may not be attracted to formal lessons for a variety of reasons (means and opportunity!). That way we could work in alongside Welsh for Adults and others.
There is a lot of stuff that sits under these comments (hope it’s ok to put this up here @aran, if not delete it).
Just my $.02. I started with the new version of SsiW and am about up to date and I’ve been going back and doing the first version and I have to say that, though I find the first version HUGELY valuable, the newer version is much more accessible, more gradual… not sure what the right description is. So I’m thinking, maybe there are some people who tried the first version and for whatever reason couldn’t stick with it… but might find the learning curve of the second version less steep.
Is there a way to mine the SsiW data to identify these contacts and send them a “Come back in the water, it’s even better” type of note?
This is an issue. While a lot of people ‘get hooked’ on SSiW from the start, because they find out how quickly they can start to ‘siarad Cymraeg’, there are those that don’t keep going with it. I was talking to someone a couple of days ago who said they had tried a lesson, but ‘couldn’t get on with it’. I suspect, as someone who speaks a number of languages fluently as a result of more traditional methods, that she would prefer more formal classes.
Yes, sounds good. But ideally, “Come back in the water, it’s even better, and we’ll help you track your progress and offer you more support to make sure you succeed”
The first time I tried SSiW I didn’t like it. I went away and used the BBC Catchphrase series to build my understanding of Welsh. Once I’d done most of that course, and felt more confident about the language structure, I came back to SSiW. I used SSiW to help bring the language to the front of my mind and to develop more natural sounding language.
Not trying to criticise (SSiW is ace! - the forum is an amazing place - and contacts made through SSiW have had a massive impact on my life), just wanted to share a personal story.
True, it could be. But perhaps we could start with basic tracking functions. Tick a box once you’ve completed this lesson type thing. Or maybe, do this simple multiple choice test to confirm you’ve done a lesson.
Once you’ve got some feedback mechanism, you can build on it to automate sending well done emails or awarding badges etc. If that’s the way we want to go of course!
Good point! Perhaps sending them an email, with an incentive to open it in the subject line (prize or something), with an easy multiple choice question, ‘why didn’t you continue’ could work.
We’ve got that tucked away in the code somewhere - you’re right that there are comparatively small starter things we could do - the context, though, is that Ifan is facing a mountain of work to get the SSiBorg ready to go for the next round of languages - he’s currently in the middle of a huge rewrite of the codebase so that it tests fully, to help us solve two final key issues before we can move to the next round of testing.
It’s a huge challenge, and is putting him in a position where he has a bunch of new stuff to learn, so one of my most important tasks right now is to shield him, as far as possible, from anything that dilutes his attention to this particular job.
In two or three months, we might be in an easier situation, where it will be less distracting to add some extra items to the work-flow - but for now, I think we need to start with projects that aren’t going to call for any extra coding from Ifan…
Totally understandable. I’m glad you’ve pointed this out, it’s good to know where the constraints lie. This info might also help us when it comes to selecting projects to take forward.
Possibly the best projects will be those that do not require a centralised resource. Projects that many, distributed supporters can contribute to, are likely to be more viable than projects that rely on a fixed resource. By involving more people, those involved take more ownership, making a project even more successful. At the same, central resource is freed up to help coordinate.
We’ll support everything we can as much as we can, as a company, and we hope that support will grow over the years - but right now, this is about figuring out distributed teamwork…
My suggestion is that we should target people who are not so well served by Welsh for Adults classes. This would include people:
who work - days/evenings/shifts
who can’t commit to classes on a regular basis
who don’t want to sit in classrooms for a variety of reasons
who don’t want to do exams (not that you are forced to, but it concerns people that they may be expected to)
who had a bad experience learning Welsh/other languages in school
who want to be able to speak Welsh, and quickly
This is a very large general group of people and we would need to target particular subgroups. I think that would play to SSiW strengths - its convenience, that you can do it at your own pace,
it’s about speaking, you can pick it back up without a problem (you don’t have to go back to a set point), etc, etc.
… from which I’m delighted to say that my son has just graduated in the Millennium Centre (to the tearful appreciation of his proud parents). The presentation of all the candidates was bilingual which is how I learned the Welsh for “Master of Science in Network Security”. (It was something like “Meistr Gwyddoniaeth mewn Diogelwch Rhwydwaith” ond sai’n siwr.
Maybe suggest he looks at “You Speak German”. Has a very similar approach to SSi, but is a little more grammar heavy. (I did mention this once before on the Forum, and I think Aran said it was ok to mention it (at least until SSiG (SSiD?) starts… ). Not many free lessons though.
I think some people like to go to classes for social reasons and (in theory at least) they should offer the opportunity to speak with other learners in person, plus one expert speaker (the tutor, who may be a first-language speaker). The fact that traditional classes often don’t work all that well doesn’t deter some people. They go year after year. (Usually it’s fee hoiks that eventually puts those people off … I’m talking about language classes in general. Don’t know if WFA is subsidised and not too expensive).
Also some people simply like having the security of having a book-based course.
Children who went to “English medium with significant Welsh” are another target area … English medium is basically taking kids from almost no confidence sadly
- the forum is an amazing place - and contacts made through SSiW have had a massive impact on my life), just wanted to share a personal story.
). Not many free lessons though.