I feel like the teaching system especially in South Wales, Welsh schools is kinda fucked up. Like I get they were trying to encourage us to speak Welsh but the fact that we weren’t allowed to speak English just made us not talk at all. Looking back I wish I put in more effort in school but from a kids perspective if you tell them either speak Welsh or don’t speak at all they aren’t going to speak. I know in north wales this isn’t really a problem so I don’t know why schools in the south are so weird about it.
I guess it’s the metric on how they assess success.
A family member is a teacher that works in multiple schools including bilingual ones with a Welsh focus. They have said multiple times that though the Welsh speakers are great, where they fall down is their use of the English language, with reading and writing typically years behind their English medium counterparts.
Now this is great if you wanted to exist in a Welsh only bubble but just simply going to an English University would be at their detriment.
Also Welsh medium schools typically have smaller classes and there is a positive correlation between class room size and performance, so Dr. Owen’s statement is without nuance.
Also this is from a South Wales perspective.
I personally struggled with Welsh in school and if given the choice I would have much preferred the 2-3 hours a week be put towards other languages such as German which I was good at or other subjects that are more useful than Welsh.
Studies have shown better learning outcomes for bilingual children. It strengthens cognitive abilities and encourages creativity and adaptability.
Ysgol gyfen emlyn ~2022 school leaver (I’ve only ever used “bore da”) however many of my classmates where completely fluent in both languages, I’ve tried getting back into speaking it but I just find it hard as not many people speak welsh since I’ve moved to the south. Anyways any help with strengthening my multi bilingual vocabulary skill, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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I feel like the teaching system especially in South Wales, Welsh schools is kinda fucked up. Like I get they were trying to encourage us to speak Welsh but the fact that we weren’t allowed to speak English just made us not talk at all. Looking back I wish I put in more effort in school but from a kids perspective if you tell them either speak Welsh or don’t speak at all they aren’t going to speak. I know in north wales this isn’t really a problem so I don’t know why schools in the south are so weird about it.
I guess it’s the metric on how they assess success.
A family member is a teacher that works in multiple schools including bilingual ones with a Welsh focus. They have said multiple times that though the Welsh speakers are great, where they fall down is their use of the English language, with reading and writing typically years behind their English medium counterparts.
Now this is great if you wanted to exist in a Welsh only bubble but just simply going to an English University would be at their detriment.
Also Welsh medium schools typically have smaller classes and there is a positive correlation between class room size and performance, so Dr. Owen’s statement is without nuance.
Also this is from a South Wales perspective.
I personally struggled with Welsh in school and if given the choice I would have much preferred the 2-3 hours a week be put towards other languages such as German which I was good at or other subjects that are more useful than Welsh.
Studies have shown better learning outcomes for bilingual children. It strengthens cognitive abilities and encourages creativity and adaptability.
Ysgol gyfen emlyn ~2022 school leaver (I’ve only ever used “bore da”) however many of my classmates where completely fluent in both languages, I’ve tried getting back into speaking it but I just find it hard as not many people speak welsh since I’ve moved to the south. Anyways any help with strengthening my multi bilingual vocabulary skill, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.