Hi, I noticed that some members have requested additional vocabulary units.
If there is still any intention to create some may I suggest that some concentrated practice in the uses of numbers may be very helpful for learners.
I do remember some help with numbers one to ten - I think in course 1 - but I’m thinking about things like:
asking about/ talking about the time,
asking about prices/fares - using money generally,
talking about ages of people,
talking about sizes including weights and measures
distinguishing where traditional and newer numbering systems may clash,
using ordinal numbers,
etc.
Would this be too wild an idea?
This is a huge area of confusion for me too. One suggestion Gerald, if you haven’t already, is to check out the BBC’s Original Catchphrase lessons. They are divided up into rough categories/subjects. I remember doing ones about prices, ages, telling time, and ordinal numbers. It isn’t as good as SSiW for learning (IMHO), but it is a good way to fill in the gaps.
Thanks, Joanie. I do have some books that cover these areas but the way that Aran and Catrin provide such intensive and comprehensive practice in these areas would be really valuable. In any case, it’s sometimes difficult to know whether what the books teach corresponds to how things are said on the street or in the shops. With SSIW vocab sessions, what you learn becomes part of your way of thinking. In any case, numbers are a really important element of everyday speech.
It’s not a very easy fit with the general approach - but it might be something that would work better when we get to the (planned) listening vocab acquisition exercises post-Level 3…
Thank you Aran and Joanie. I’ll have a look at the BBC series, Joanie. Thank you for your suggestion.
Aran, I guess that one of the problems with numbers is both that not only are there so many ranges ( 1-10; 11-99; 100-999; .1000 ), but also so many options (clock times - including fractions; ages; sizes; two different numbering systems (thinking of clock times again); units of measurement - volume, distance, length etc).
To provide comprehensive practice of real life examples would probably entail preparing several lessons.
I do sympathise - but this is an area where confidence in usage would bring to life so many conversations that could otherwise be out of reach except by reverting to English.
To do it in the kind of detail we do everything else, I think you’d be closer to a full course, actually!
I think it’s important you don’t avoid conversations that might have numbers in them - reverting to English for numbers, as for bits of unknown vocab, is a) absolutely fine and b) very common even amongst first language speakers - and the more ‘numbery’ conversations you get into, the more likely you are to hear and start to acquire the bits you’re most likely to need
My current line of thought is that none of us learns our first language through actively producing all those words - instead, we build core strength with huge production of key words and structures (which we’re trying to replicate with the lessons) and then add a large (and largely passive) vocabulary to that via exposure. I’m hoping we can shorten the time it takes to get that level of exposure by having custom-written content, and I suspect that there is a kind of critical mass event at some point when your passive vocabulary is large enough - after which, you can acquire naturally by hearing a word in context a few times.
@geraldmurphy Just as an example of Aran’s point b above, all of the Welsh-speaking staff in my regular give me the price in English in the middle of a Welsh sentence, so don’t worry about it. It seems that it’ll make you sound more natural, not less! : -)
I remember playing cards (cribbage) with two Welsh speakers, where as one started using Welsh numbers in the game, both of us other two followed. After the game, the second one said to me he had trouble keeping up as quickly as he would have in English, as it was the first time he had used Welsh numbers in the game!
Yes, English numbers pop up a lot in Welsh.
Mind you, it does depend on the context, and Welsh numbers do pop up as well
(Quite a lot, in fact )
Just mentioning this so as to say if you are doing something you enjoy with another Welsh learner/speaker using numbers - card games, dominoes, darts - even keeping score in Scrabble in English, or playing monopoly! - then you could try simply using the numbers in Welsh.
I found that to be an enjoyable thing to do, and my speed and comfort at using Welsh numbers increased noticeably through the evening!
