I finished the SSiW 6-month course a couple of weeks ago, and I wish to provide feedback, which is pretty much all positive…
Firstly, I may not have been a typical 6-monther. I had been learning Welsh, mainly with SSiW, for about two and a half years before deciding on the 6-month course. I had already completed the first two levels of challenges that make up the ‘lessons’ element of the 6-month course. But I felt that I needed a shot in the arm. I have a tendency to take things easy, and think I’m doing something great: which may in itself be true, but it also means that I’m greatly underachieving. I was also attracted to the idea of the weekly talks. I live in Israel where I know of no fellow Welsh speakers or learners, and lack of opportunities to talk has been my major obstacle. I had been practicing my listening skills firstly with the Level 1 exercises and then with the BBC Radio Cymru weekly Pigion (summary of broadcasted highlights).
So much for the introduction… How did I find the course? I’ll enumerate it for convenience.
- The two weekly challenges were irrelevant to me as I’d already done them. Instead, I spent the 6 months doing Old Course 3 and then Level 3, and several revisions of the Course 2 and Level 2 summary lessons, so I got my weekly 2 hours of learning and rather more. However, every week one has to confirm that one has done the scheduled learning for the outgoing week, which would have really kept me on my toes and is a very good idea.
- Listening exercises. We had to listen to the sped-up Level 2 listening exercises, which are harder than those of Level 1. Very good practice. We also had to advance to Welsh on the radio, which I keep up to this day.
- Early in the course we had to compose three short stories in Welsh and record them. What a confidence-booster for me. I couldn’t possibly have done this before I started the 6-month course.
- Weekly chats. At first, I joined the weekly group hangouts with @nia.llywelyn, but I felt that they were not really for me. As there are up to 9 learners in a chat, one ends up talking for no more than about 3-4 minutes per hourly session, and I didn’t feel that I was making much progress here. I must state that this is nothing to do with Nia, who is great! It’s just that the format didn’t suit me. A couple of months or so into the course I joined the Slack Welsh Speaking Practice workspace, where I usually choose a one-to-one conversation, and that’s where my talking started to take off.
- Constant confidence-boosters including the weekly newsletters from Iestyn. Guaranteed to make me feel good.
- Towards the end, we had to have an hour-long chat. Brilliant! Glory! At the very end we had to do one week speaking for an hour every day with someone, and in the last week have one two-hour conversation. I never achieved those due to lack of time, but I was certainly capable of doing so.
What has it done for my Welsh? It’s been a massive kick up the pen ol. I couldn’t have sustained a conversation for more than a few minutes before the course, and now my few hour-long one-on-one chats have been great and enjoyable. My listening has improved tremendously. My confidence has been the biggest winner.
Let’s be honest. I still have trouble understanding a lot, and my vocab is still very limited, but if you dumped me somewhere where only Welsh was possible, not only would I survive, but I wouldn’t even worry about it. I’d manage. It means that I now regard myself as an elementary Welsh speaker, which I would not have said before the course.
What would I like to see different? The possibility of taking a break for a couple of weeks or so - putting the course on hold. I ran out of time at the end and would have appreciated the possibility of finishing off at a less busy time for me. I’d also like more advertising the option of one-on-one chats. Other than that, maybe a bit of grammar here and there - as a means of explaining various things and not as a language cop.
It was a great experience. It’s not for you if you can’t devote the time for it. But if you can, it’s worth considering.
Diolch yn fawr iawn iawn i Aran ac Iestyn for this!
