Bore Da, I am currently on week 21 but in reality due to personal circumstances and work commitments I am actually on week 12. My question is now is it possible to catch up and if so how is the best way to go about doing it?
Currently I find that I can read and understand quite a bit of Welsh but can speak very little other than to repeat what I have learned almost parrot fashion which does not lend itself to a conversation!
I would be grateful for any advice from anyone who has found themselves in a similar situation?
Hi Jeff. Firstly, don’t worry - it’s natural for people to have different paces and it’s all too natural for life to get in the way. If you wish, you can ask for a pause (just email admin@saysomethingin.com) while you carry on working through the course and then ask for the emails to resume once you’ve caught up. There’s no deadline, so it’s ok to slow down a little!
As far as speaking goes, it really is vital that you start trying to make up your own sentences with the Welsh you know, and it really doesn’t matter to start with how many mistakes are there - talking out loud (to yourself, to your pet, to anyone who’ll listen!) makes a huge difference. Just about everyone finds speaking to a real person daunting when they start, but it’s the only way! Even if you are on pause with the course emails, you can still join in the chats on the Slack 6/6 group and that will help you a lot. You can also join the WSP group on Slack for more chats (open to those not on the actual course). It feels like a huge step, and your head will try and convince you you’re not ready for it, but ignore it and go for it - I promise once you’ve got over the initial shock, it’ll give you a real boost
In fact, I recommend having your first chat with @BronwenLewis who is brilliant at easing beginners into conversations. She’s usually around for chats on a Thursday and they can be through Slack, skype, zoom or phone - just send her a private message to arrange something.
Slack is a platform in itself, so you can make free calls for one-to-one chats but it also ‘piggybacks’ google hangouts for group chats, or you can put zoom links too, so it’s pretty versatile. To participate in Slack, you can post that you’d like a chat and see if anyone’s available, or answer someone else’s post and arrange a chat, or when there’s a group chat happening, you can click on the link to join it.
I’m not very techy either, and to be honest I think starting speaking in Welsh is a doddle compared to getting your head round all this clever stuff!
No sooner suggested than arranged, but by the way, @siaronjames, there are plenty of other people on Slack WSP just as keen to help beginners get started!
Hi I’m in the same position as Jeff and am way behind but I’ve never done slack and don’t know were to start. I do zoom though. Do you have to download slack to start with? I am on week 15 but should be on wk 22 lol xxx
Slack is just another platform for calls and messaging - similar to others like Teams, Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts, etc, but of course they all do the same thing slightly differently!
You should have had an invite in one of your course emails to join Slack 6/6 (which is our support workspace for those on the course), so all you need to do is click the link there. Then there is our WSP workspace (Welsh Speaking Practice) which is open for anyone and to join that just send an email to admin@saysomethingin.com and they’ll send you an invite.
Don’t worry about being ‘behind’ - there is no ‘behind’ because everyone can go at their own pace, and no pace will suit everyone, so although the course has to, logistically, pick a pace to go at, it’ll be too quick for some and too slow for others. Keeping going is the trick, not necessarily keeping up!
