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Back to HomeFREE WELSH TASTER LESSONS
North Wales Welsh For Adults Centre are holding five FREE Welsh language taster lessons in Wrexham area to enable individuals to have a brief introduction to learning Welsh before they register on courses in mid September. This is a great opportunity for locals in Wrexham that wants to learn Welsh to come along to any of the free five sessions, enjoy a drink and free food, get an introduction to the Welsh language and answers to any questions they might have. If you want to learn Welsh, and not sure what to expect, click here for location and dates of the sessions.
Two successful Learners Eisteddfod in North Wales
For the first time in North Wales Welsh For Adults Centre’s history, two successful Eisteddfod for learners were organised in April and May. Please read on for the full story.
North East Learners’ Eisteddfod
The Workmen’s Club at Gwersyllt was full to the top on Friday night, April 23rd with hundreds of learners and their supporting tutors and family that came along to support them at the annual Welsh learners’ Eisteddfod of North East Wales 2010.
Even before the big night, a total of 93 learners competed in the homework department and 7 of them had written a Welsh poem for the Chair Competition on the theme of ‘Regeneration’.
This year, for the first time, the Eisteddfod was organised by the North Wales Welsh For Adults Centre which lightened and facilitated the work between the courses providers in the area and gave the tutors more time to concentrate on preparing the learners for the big night.
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A large number of learners competed in every competition in the programme under the guidance of the jolly compère, Sion Aled. The judges on the night were Aled Lewis Evans (Recitation and homework); Craig Owen Jones (Music and Dafydd ap Llywelyn Trophy) and Helen Pritchard Jones (Craft and hand work). The winner of the Chair was Christine Ryder, who moved to Abergele and started learning Welsh back in 2005 was for her poem on the theme ‘regeneration’ (Adfywiad’). Congratulation Chris, and good luck to you at the National Eisteddfod in Blaenau Gwent 2010. We would like to thank everyone that took part in the Eisteddfod- from the competing to the organizing on the night. We will now look forward to The Learners Eisteddfod in 2011 which is coming to Flintshire. |
 | North West learners Eisteddfod On May 21st, 2010, the first ever Welsh Learners Eisteddfod was held in North West Wales at Hendre Hall, Tal y Bont Around 200 learners was present on the night along with tutors and supporters. The atmosphere was buzzing and everyone was very excited with the prospect and a taster of old tradition in Wales. |
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Cymraeg o'r Crud - Welsh from the cradle
A group of new parents learning Welsh with Coleg Menai in Noddfa, Caernarfon, January 2010
Cymraeg o'r Crud (Welsh from the cradle) is a special taster course for parents of babies 0-11 months old (– but it is popular with older siblings as well!)
Welsh from the Cradle is a course of 10 sessions, of one and a half hours each. It includes phrases that are essential for parents – "ty’d i newid dy glwt" (come and have your nappy changed), "ti’n werth y byd" (you are worth the [whole] world); useful vocabulary, - clothes, parts of the body, toys; and also introduces simple language patterns, Welsh story telling practice as well as singing both language and traditional songs. There is even a free CD of songs to accompany the course.
The course is arranged in partnership with the North Wales Welsh for Adults Centre, the local further education colleges (Coleg Menai, Coleg Meirion Dwyfor) and the TWF organization.
"It’s ideal! I can use real everyday Welsh with my baby now."
"The CD is on in the car every time we go out, she loves the songs, and I can join in."
A weekend at Glan Llyn for Welsh learners
If you’d like to come to know more Welsh learners from other areas in Wales, come to Glan Llyn, near Bala for a weekend of fun-packed activities for all the family on April 9-11th. Click here for more information.
Financial support for aspiring Welsh learners
Aspiring Welsh learners in North and Mid Wales can now benefit from financial support. Money is available to help cover the costs of course materials, travelling, childcare and other expenses. The aim is to remove all barriers for people wanting to access Welsh learning opportunities.
The scheme is a collaborative project between the North and Mid Wales Welsh for Adults Centres, using contingency funding provided by the Welsh Assembly Government. Grants are available to anyone with an annual household income of less than £17,700.
Ifor Gruffydd, Director of the North Wales Welsh for Adults Centre, which is responsible for co-ordinating the provision of Welsh learning courses across North Wales, said: “Feedback from learners and those wanting to learn Welsh has shown that the cost is often a prohibitive factor and prevents them from enrolling on a course. The Welsh language should be accessible for everyone and we want to ensure that everyone has the chance to learn. That is why we’ve made these funds available. We’d encourage all new and existing learners to take advantage of the scheme.”
To find out if you’re eligible and for further information about the financial support for Welsh learners, please contact us.
Click here to see the information leaflet.
Royle Welsh
Even though he made a quick come back on the ‘Royle Family’ Christmas Special this Christmas, you can follow Jim Royle’s antics on a long term basis!
Will Williams (who is also known as the Jim Royle look-a-like) decided he wanted to give something back to the community of Caernarfon that was so obliging and kind towards him following the death of his wife recently- by learning Welsh!
To help himself, and so that everyone can follow his journey learning the language, Will is blogging constantly on www.roylewelsh.com, and is very keen to get potential learners, existing learners and any other interest groups to follow his progress on the blog. He said “I am very keen to share my thought and feelings and my progress on my journey of learning Welsh, and I’m hoping to get potential learners interested, so they know how easy and painless the process is!”
Welsh For Adults Centre are keen to see more learners using medias that are available on the web, and Ifor Gruffydd, Director of the Centre, said, “so much use is made of the social media these days, and it’s important that we make the most of them. Learners can follow Will’s effort, and hopefully this will create more awareness about the process of learning and practising the Welsh language.”
Will was raised outside of Wales, but has been living in Caernarfon for over 25 years, keeping a Bed and Breakfast business at the ‘Ty Hapus’ (Happy House) Guest House in the town. Will is also known as the tireless work he does for many charities in the area.
Follow Will’s blog at http://www.roylewelsh.com
Gwynedd Tutors networking
North Wales Welsh For Adults Centre has established a club for Welsh Tutors in west Gwyned to enable them to network and share thoughts and ideas. The club was held for the first time on Friday, November 20th with a good representation of tutors who live and teach in the area.
Ifor Gruffydd, Director of North Wales Welsh For Adults Centre said. ‘the main focus of this club is to ensure that tutors who works in every corner of the area get a chance to socialise, shre experiences and express their thoughts and opinion with the Centre’ staff.’
According to Sian Davies, a tutor in Gwynedd. ‘it was a very good night, and gave me the opportunity to meet tutors and share new ideas and tips, which are always handy! We will be definately getting together agian soon.’
Plans are under way to establish clubs for tutors in every county, with the intention of seeing more collaboration and sharing resources between the 160 tutors that teach Welsh in North Wales.
Meggan Lloyd Prys wins Welsh Learner of the Year
The shortlisted Learner of the Year 2009 (from left); Zoe Morag Pettinger from Fareham originally but now living in Trisant, Aberystwyth; Meggan Lloyd Prys (winner) from Ohio, USA but now living in Rhiwlas, Bangor; John Burton, originally from Crewe, living in Penmachno by now, and Dominic Gilbert from Manchester and now living in Beaumaris.
The winner of this year’s Welsh Learner of the Year comes originally from Ohio in the USA. Meggan Lloyd Prys was brought up in Chillicothe, and was studying at the University of Ohio when she met her husband, Cynog, and developed an interest in Wales and the Welsh language.
She moved to Wales two and a half years ago, and started learning Welsh the day after she arrived. A month later she married through the medium of Welsh.
Meggan decided to follow the ‘Super Wlpan’ (a very intensive Wlpan course, five days a week for ten weeks. You can get to GCSE standard in a matter of months) course, and after a year and a half of studying, she was speaking to her family in law through the medium of Welsh. She is now employed as a Welsh Medium Special Educational Needs Classroom Assistant in Ysgol Llanfairpwll, Anglesey as well as being a Welsh For Adults Tutor.
Meggan received the Welsh Learner of the Year prize at a special ceremony in the Cywain Centre, Bala, on Wednesday 5 August, and was awarded the Prize in memory of Marged Jones, which was presented by the Learners of Bala, and £300, donated by the Eagles Tavern, Llanuwchllyn.
The judges were Elin Williams, Haydn Hughes and Clive Wolfendale, and the three agreed that the decision was an extremely difficult one due to the standard of finalists this year.
The others on the shortlist were John Burton, originally from Crewe, but now living in Penmachno; Zoe Morag Pettinger from Fareham, but now living in Trisant, Aberystwyth and Dominic Gilbert, originally from Manchester but living in Biwmares. The three received the Finalists Prize, presented by the Learners of Bala, and £100 each, donated by the Eagles Tavern, Llanuwchllyn.
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