Careful now. Posting excerpts from the England World Cup Squad Handbook could get you into trouble…
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Okay, the application is sent. I will consider myself Wiley successful if I even get past the first round.,at the moment I am basking in the satisfaction of having completed a two page description of myself. Which my proof readers said I managed to make quite interesting. So, when do we start practising?
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Okay. What kind of questions am I likely to be asked? Any clues?
Obviously, why your learning Welsh. But, I think it would be great to mention your helping to lead a group and teaching others - if I remember rightly: This appears to go down well with the judges.
Yeah, what Kim says. Prep yourself for a brief-but-colourful ‘Why I wanted to learn Welsh and how I started’ intro, then have a decent bit of stuff ready for ‘How I’m using it now and what I want to do next’, and then (top tip right here) prep a few relevant questions that you could ask the panel at the end of one of your paragraphs - they won’t be expecting that, and it’ll make you seem confident and be memorable 
Okay, thanks. I have sent the application. I kind of told it as a piece of memoir in my application (that’s the interesting bit). Bringing in stuff my mum said when I was a kid, the reason I started trying to write a novel with Welsh characters, how I it was all going quite well until we had a difficult patch with our daughter - suicide attempts, narcotics, running away from home etc. - how I came across SSiW in that dark and difficult time. How I basically walked through it clinging to the tail of a language and listening to these kind, encouraging people who told me repeatedly I was doing well and that I would succeed. I believed them. It felt like I had nothing else to believe at the time. How I met Aran and Cat in Llamystumdwy and that Aran told me about Cwrs Haf in Aberystwyth. How I came and did Cwrs Haf for a year later and how it was the best holiday of my life (apart from Bootcamp but I only had two pages and it seemed expedient to spread the love). How I have been teaching Welsh ever since. It was a banger application, if I may say so myself. I’m always better with my pen than in real life. But I now need interview practice. Any takers? After Easter? I am at home foge mornings a week (Aussie time) and most evenings (UK mornings). We turn our clocks back this weekend so the times should be more compatible.
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What kind of questions?
Well, I don’t want to write a list for you, because they should be ‘you’ kind of questions, not ‘me’ kind of questions - but as an example, I’d look for opportunities (most of which will be at the end of one of your answers, while you still ‘have the floor’) to ask something like ‘What does it feel like for a first language speaker to hear someone talking Welsh with a foreign accent?’ or something else to do with their experiences of the language and/or of learners - but I’d want to tie it in to something I’d just been talking about, so it seemed more like ‘you lapsing into a genuinely relaxed conversation’ rather than ‘you taking an unexpected jump to somewhere completely different’…
Okay. That makes sense. Do we find out who the interviewers are so we can do some homework? I’m supposed to be doing a phone hook up for Bore Cothi next week. I will prepare for that over true weekend. There will be some over lap. Like one of the questions is why you learn Welsh… It will be the same answer and story. 
Just answering my own question by re-reading the thread:smile:
In the semi-final you will be interviewed by the judges, Heini Gruffudd, Alison Leyland and Sian Lloyd."
http://www.eisteddfod.org.uk/uploads/publications/1419.pdf29
I wouldn’t worry too much about that - might look a bit over-cooked - just think of stuff it might be interesting to ask any first language speaker…
Mwynha dy hun ar Bore Cothi! 
Hmm… that’s either someone I don’t know, or (more likely) a typo for Alison Layland. If it’s the latter, don’t ask her what she thinks as a first language speaker, because she’s an adult learner. And she’s also, ta-da, a writer, so plenty of interesting overlap there
I did Sîan’s show recently and I wouldn’t worry or over-tax yourself over it. I pondered in my head what I’d say - which was actually pointless as until she asks the first question there’s really no idea where the conversation will go; or what she’ll ask. But, I’m sure you’ve already to spoken to a nice researcher, I guess, and they know you’ll manage or you wouldn’t be on the show.
Me: can’t wait to hear you.
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I have been assured that it will not be live and that they can edit out my worst mistakes.
Okay. I am learning fast. There is only one round to this competition and then the finals (if I have read the instructions properly). So, no need to panic. I’m quite unlikely to be picked out of the hundreds of applicants. I will simply relax and enjoy myself.
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Actually, as all entrants go through to the semi-finals and, it’s been mentioned that there hadn’t been a lot of people enter this year, you’ll be in with a good chance. There’s no guessing what this years judges will be looking for.
Pob lwc i pawb sydd yn cystadlu heddiw/Good luck to everyone competing today!!!
I know Elizabeth in Aussie is competing and I guess, Gabby as there’s an entry from Italy…
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AYE! Pob lwc pawb! 
Joiwch!
Just spotted, Elizabeth’s comments on today…English translation my quick attempt.
Dw i wedi gorffen y cyfweliad. Dw i’n hapus iawn am siwt oedd yn mynd. Wnes i lawer o gamgymeriadau dw i’n siwr. Ond dw i’n hapus. smile emoticon. Diolch yn fawr i bawb sydd wedi fy helpu fi baratoi. Mae fe wedi bod diwrnod dwys. Oedd hi’n rhyfedd treulio diwrnod Cymraeg yn fy nghartref i. Ond awgrymodd Aran Jones y dull ac, achos dw i wedi cael llwyddiant gyda dulliau Aran Jones yn y gorfennol, o’n i’n hapus i drio. smile emoticon Dw i’n lwcus dwedodd e ddim wrtha i i sefyll ar fy mhen i. Achos byddwn i wedi wneud e. smile emoticon Dyma joc wrth gwrs. Nos da pawb!
I’ve finished the interview. I’m very happy about how it went. I made a lot of mistakes I’m sure - but, I’m happy. Many thanks to everyone who helped me prepare. It has been an intense day. It was a strange day spent in Welsh in my home. But Aran Jones suggested a method and, because I have had success with it in the past, I was happy to try. I’m lucky he didn’t tell me to stand on my head: Cause I would have done it. That’s a joke of course. Good night everyone!
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