Finding practice partners - a new resource - please share

So, one of the startling side-effects of the 6 Month Welsh Speaker course is what huge enthusiasm the 6 Month learners are showing in terms of hunting for practice partners.

And it turns out that Slack (the platform we use to support our 6 Month learners) is particularly brilliant for this kind of stuff - because you can just click on someone’s name, open a direct message channel, and hop on an audio or video call right there in Slack.

Also, you can use Google hangouts to fire up group calls any time you like, as well.

It’s a lot of the kind of functionality that we were imagining when we first started to try and put the ffrinDiaith project together - and I think now that if we can build a large enough community of Welsh learners all practising with each other, it might become a place where Welsh speakers will start to help as well.

So I’ve gone ahead and created a Slack for this idea - Welsh Speaking Practice - I’ve deliberately not branded it with SSiW, because I think it ought to be a place which welcomes anyone who wants to find someone to speak Welsh to…:slight_smile:

If you’d like an invitation, email admin@saysomethingin.com and we’ll get one sent out to you.

Once you’re a member, you can yourself send invitations to other people - but PLEASE only send invitations to people you have mentioned it to who have ASKED you for an invitation!

:slight_smile:

@Deborah-SSi - ebost?! :slight_smile:

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Just bumping this to keep it visible - we’re going to start spreading the word on other platforms, but it would be lovely to have a bunch of forum users in there to help build the SSiW friendly feeling from the very start… :slight_smile:

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Ok, so you know I’m a bit skype-ophobe, but I’m considering (considering :wink: ) giving this a go, but I’m not entirely sure how it works. I’d be using it on a laptop not a phone app. How do I know if someone ‘calls’ me? Do I just log in and wait about a bit at a certain time? I have no idea about etiquette and protocol with this type of thing!

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It’s a chat-driven environment - so you can log in, post to see if anyone’s around, and agree to fire up a call - or you can schedule (using the /events tool) - or set up group calls. It’s impressively flexible… :slight_smile:

Hmmm. Ok, well I’ve had a look at the site. Do I need to create a workspace in order to receive an invitation to Welsh Speaking Practice?

… still considering going ahead :wink:

Nope…:slight_smile:

If you’d like an invitation, email admin@saysomethingin.com and we’ll get one sent out to you.

Email sent. I’ll try and get up the nerve to get my head around it!

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It’s a lot of fun Siaron! You’ll be fine. It doesn’t take long to get the hang of it, and it’s so versatile!

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Hi, I’d love to be in on this.
Incredibly busy at work for a few more days, but would be great to get involved after that. that’s why I’ve been a bit quiet(ish) on here.

Anyway, I’ll send an e-mail now, to keep things rolling. :slight_smile:

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Milla has, rather wonderfully, offered to do a weekly practice Hangout on Mondays, between 7 and 8, in the new Slack for practising speaking. It’s a fantastic extra opportunity for you to practice your Welsh - and the more people take it up, the more people will be in the Slack community for you to find speaking practice partners…:slight_smile:

So, two things - a) do please spread the word, about Milla’s weekly Hangout and about the Slack community for practising (anyone who’d like an invitation just needs to email us at admin@saysomethingin.com saying ‘Welsh speaking practice group’ and giving us their name)…

and b) do we have any other committed, confident learners who would like to lead a weekly Hangout on a different evening? Or one every month? :slight_smile:

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Also - @Deborah-SSi - maybe we could run with news of Milla’s weekly Hangout, and the request for other Hangout leaders, in the email next week? :slight_smile: :star2:

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I’m happy to run another weekly hangout if there’s a market for it?

What about Wednesdays?

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Yes, I’d be keen on that as long as I’m not working nights on a given week.

Lazy question:
In our specific case, what in a nutshell are the basis of:
Slack
Hangout

I’m only looking for a sentence for each one, so I can understand what to do.

Many thanks,
John.

I would be interested in a hangout on Wednesday Nicky :grinning: my hours of work are evenings some weeks, but I’d let everyone know if I was unable to make the hangout.

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Awesome sauce right there :star: :star2:

@JohnYoung - Slack: good chat place where you can do 1-on-1 video/audio chat, and also easily share Hangouts… Hangouts: group video for up to 10 people at a time… :slight_smile:

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BTW, about that… 11 people, not counting me, have put “I’m interested” on the hangout event thing for Monday. What happens? Hope they don’t all join at the same time? Turns? First come first serve? :smile:

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Well what about me doing a Wednesday 6-7?

What have I got to do In slack to facilitate this? I know how to set up an individual hangout but not sure in a recurring one.

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First come first serve is pretty much the only way it works… :slight_smile:

Nicky - brilliant - um - would 7 to 8 be possible for you at all? It feels really cheeky to ask, but I have a feeling if we’re the same time every evening, it’ll build more momentum… :slight_smile:

As far as promoting it in Slack - Milla, could you show Nicky the ropes with /events? :slight_smile:

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Yes the later the better for me, but not wanting to be selfish, so 7pm sounds ok

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7 should be fine for now. If we need to roll with the punches some weeks then we will come to that as it happens. For now yeah 7 sounds good

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