Nothing small about it! Well done 
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Iāve enjoyed my 6 month course so far very much and have done a little bit of practice when Iāve been out and about but the thing that has given me the most satisfaction was this past week. I had my first one-to-one Slack conversations after two very kind and patient folk, @AlanP and @BronwenLewis, said they would be happy to chat. I then did a few Hangout sessions with the SSiW stars, @Deborah-SSi, @nia.llywelyn and @beca-brown. The result was a very under confident and nervous person (me!) being given such a boost and such a great feeling. A big thank you to you all. If anyone else is feeling as reticent as I was to get stuck into chatting using Slack or the Hangouts then I can recommend facing your demons and have a go. Its a great feeling when you have manged to tell the butterflies to be still! 
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Awwww what a lovely message, and such fantastic news! We had a great hangout and you spoke very very well. See you next time!
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Spreading the word.
(If anyone can think of a more appropriate place to post this, please move it)
Today has been a good day. Immediately after an excellent match with a very pleasing result, I was invited by my son, Chris, and his wife to join them upstairs in a spin-off group of Welsh learners. They have all been attending a class in the local community centre. Chris has taken the initiative of organising supplementary meetings in local pubs and in their home for which he has developed games and activities. Tonight, I met two couples in the group (one from North Staffs and the other from Warwickshire) who have chosen to move here. There were in fact only two native Welsh present ā me and my granddaughter. Everyone else had been born in our neighbour, England.
My pleasure came not only from sharing my enjoyment of learning Welsh with some interesting people but also from pride in my sonās proactive initiative.
Many (perhaps half) of my conversations with Chris are now conducted in Welsh and he tells me that most of his communication in LlGC/NLW is also in Welsh.
I am very clear in my own mind that these successes are largely attributable to SSiW. I hope that it is widely recognised that, for every SSiW learner, there is an extensive āknock-onā benefit to the language amongst the family, friends and wider community of that learner.
Iāll never tire of expressing my gratitude to SSiā¦. Diolch o galon, cyfeillion
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2 milestones for me so far this week. The first was introducing myself to a group of first language teachers at a training event I was presenting at in Plas Menai. The second was talking in Welsh to my conversational group about the irony of having technical difficulties with computers whilst trying to show aforementioned teachers how to use technology in their teaching. The third will be attempting to include some Welsh in a presentation I am giving for a job interview tomorrowā¦
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Pob lwc am yfory.
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Superb - well done! 
The phone rang late last night - nearly 11 oāclock - and I was surprised to find it was the chap from Llety Arall on the line, just checking everything was sorted out. Only the second time Iāve attempted to speak Welsh on the phone, and a short conversation, but quite unexpected, and we both survived!
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I enjoy parkrun home | Gnoll parkrun | Gnoll parkrun
I often have short conversations yn y gymraeg with some of the parkrunners.
Today I was Run Director and managed to say a few words in welsh to the 100+ gathered parkrunners during my announcements at the start 
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I was out having a meal with friends recently in the pub when a young man came in wearing a cuddly toy across his shoulders. Needless to say, we all giggled quietly about it, wondering why? Eventually, a couple of my friends asked the waiter ( yn Gymraeg) if he knew why?
Now, I wonāt tell you why because it is rather sensitive but I was really chuffed because I understood my friends and the waiterās answer! All in Welsh! I could just kick myself for not even thinking about joining in. 
But, that will come though.
I have a long way to go but this was a great achievement for me!
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On Monday I spent the day in a Welsh school supporting one of my workshop leaders. I joined in the warm up games and contributed in Welsh and I led an evaluation exercise in Welsh. SO Chuffed! The pupils were so helpful and seemed to really enjoy encouraging me!! Back there for more tomorrow!
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Wow, well done! 
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OK - day 2 on my project in the Welsh School got even better! I wrote a mini Mabinogion story of my own as my 5 sentence story weekly task. Then my workshop leader made me read it to the class! It was very scary but they listened so respectfully.
It was so useful to be in a totally Welsh language environment and definitely increased my confidence. Iāve had two conversations in Welsh with friends since then. Iāll be back in the school again in May and June - and I canāt wait.
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Thatās hugely brave - but youāll definitely reap the benefits! Well doneā¦ 
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Well, we went to Caernarfon last week, and what with constantly swapping back to English with family and friends, I spoke some horribly ungrammatical and incorrect Welsh (the one that sticks in my head was asking someone Gewch chiā¦? and getting a good-humoured Medraf, tad in reply) ā but this time I did have the confidence just to barge in and start every conversation in Welsh. On a few occasions I could see the staff member addressed clearly deferring to a Welsh-speaking colleague to serve me ā only once (in a shop with a Welsh name, full of red dragons) did I get an embarrassed, apologetic āI donāt speak Welshā as a reply.
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If you walked past my office, Iād have waved if Iād known you were there!
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I hope itās OK to blow someone elseās trumpet? Iāve just been speaking to someone who was sounding quite sceptical about Iestynās repeated encouragements of, āYouāre now a confident Welsh speaker!ā He said he didnāt have anything like enough words to have proper conversations, and he wondered how long it would be before he became fluent. Then we talked for 45 minutes about sushi, his sonās school project and language revitalisation policies in his country. And he hasnāt finished Level 2 yet! You know who you areā¦
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