Home schooling - anyone else had a bit of a shock??

[Stere]

Not being fluent is a disadvantage as a certain % of rural first language Welsh speakers are arsey  if you are "local" but can't speak it , also alot of gov jobs require Welsh theese days. (25% of jobs are public sector ?)

 

Not really a good overall arguement for saving the language but its useful for self advancement if you plan to live in Wales too speak it especially in the more  Welsh bits of Wales.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Stere

[Steve Bullman]

On 06/05/2020 at 19:41, Squaredy said:

Half the UK medal winners from the 2012 Olympics went to private school.

Is this because they’re brighter or their rich parents are better connected?

[Mick Dempsey]

1 hour ago, Steve Bullman said:

Is this because they’re brighter or their rich parents are better connected?

That private schools can afford better coaches and better facilities is a big factor, but there are others.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Mick Dempsey

[breffni]

16 minutes ago, Big J said:

But that doesn't actually make any sense. For a person who speaks perfect English to hold it against someone that doesn't speak Welsh is obtuse. Communication is the key objective here. How it's acheived is largely irrelevant. What does a command of Welsh actually bring to a public sector job? Would Welsh speakers not have broader horizons and more opportunities if all the investment in Welsh language education was put into Mandarin, German, French, Spanish etc? 

 

I can't see a modern day advantage to it. As I said earlier, I understand the cultural and historical context, but how does it objectively improve the lives of those that speak Welsh? If you're bilingual in English and Welsh, you can integrate easily in Wales or the English speaking world. If you're bilingual in English and (say) Spanish, you can integrate in the English speaking world, and then converse with another 477 million people in 20 other countries. 

I think learning more than one language helps with others. My daughter has been learning Welsh 4 years and is now fluent. She also can speak basic Spanish as well as some Irish. Learning Welsh has definitely made it easier for her to pick up other languages. To Welsh/Irish/Gaelic speakers it's important culturally to keep the language alive. What's your criteria for keeping a language alive?

 

[Mick Dempsey]

Imagine if she was fluent in Portuguese or Italian, bit more useful than Welsh or Irish.

 

[breffni]

2 minutes ago, Mick Dempsey said:

Imagine if she was fluent in Portuguese or Italian, bit more useful than Welsh or Irish.

 

She's only 7 so give her time. Wouldn't be more useful if she stayed in Wales or Ireland. 

[Mick Dempsey]

The older you get the harder it is to learn a new language.

It is great that she’ll be able to understand Pobyl y com on the tv and understand the road signs, but it’s a dead language kept alive to the detriment of the youth.

 

 

[PeteB]

Thinking of the original post, I did say to my son that I'm glad that he and his sister are done with formal learning and don't live with me. Partially because I'm not sure that it would go well, I'd struggle with it and partially that I'm "old school", and my education wouldn't suit the modern temperament! Proper maths, trig tables, equations etc, no calculator etc. Hand writing rather than electronic typewriters and keyboards. Books rather than screens etc, and the biggy - discipline! 

 

Very best wishes to those who are having this task and to teachers in ordinary times!

[topchippyles]

19 minutes ago, Big J said:

Languages are tools and allow the speaker access and participation in societies that speak them. My point with regards to Welsh is that everyone who speaks Welsh also speaks English. And English is also spoken by another 1.5 billion people, so objectively, it's a much more useful language. If the time and expense of teaching someone Welsh was put into one of the World languages, the children growing up there now would have far broader horizons.

 

Also, anecdotally from contributors to this thread, it appears that the English teaching is suffering to an extent due to the Welsh teaching. I may of course be wrong.

 

The UK is woefully awful at languages as a whole. Compared to our European neighbours, we're generally pretty mono-lingual. The Swedes teach English from an early age with a third language being taught slightly later. As such, they all have pretty much perfect English by the time they leave school. 

You are very wrong Big J. There are many people in wales who do not speak english believe it or not. Mostly now the older generation who have never had access to the world wide web.

[topchippyles]

14 minutes ago, Big J said:

I had a quick look on Google, and the consensus seems to be that there are a very small number of elderly with minimal English, and also young children in Welsh speaking communities, though they quickly learn English once at school.

 

It honestly just seems like a wasted effort to me. Teach in two languages, as clearly that's a great idea, but ensure that both are useful. Imagine if they were bilingual as a matter of course in Spanish? They could seamlessly explore from Mexico to Argentina and everything inbetween. Angelsey to Pembroke doesn't quite hold the same appeal.

 

I know it seems like I'm unnecessarily driving home a contentious point, but educacation has to be prioritised. You can't learn everything, and nor should you try. I just believe that ensuring everything we learn is as useful as it can possibly be is important.

Its the celtic blood that runs deep which keeps welsh people the way we are i suppose. Tradition- passion-and the steep history going back centuries. On the BBC radio local app the lo  nan Gaidheal  station still has a big following. I had never come across it until a few months ago. Its operated on the outer shetland islands and speaks a dialect unlike i have ever heard. (gaelic) 

Edited May 8, 2020 by topchippyles