I’m in - though I’m afraid I can’t promise more than participating in discussion (single mum, full time job … the time outside all that is not very dependable ).
One thought that springs to mind is that, while the govt target is specifically about increasing Welsh speakers in Wales, SSIW by its nature addresses a more global audience. Sustained SSIW success might translate into a different sort of success to that aimed at by the govt, i.e. the promotion and appreciation of Welsh as a language globally, not just within Wales. This is not meant as constructive advice, just an observation about different aims or modes of operation …
I’m in too. Am retired so have time. Ex NHS so maybe could do some promotional stuff there -perhaps with Anthony.
I was Welsh Language champion when working and we were always frustrated by the finance restrictions of the . NHS and competing clinical needs. It would be great to be able to promote Level 1 as free perhaps in conjunction with 10 lesson challenge.
My Impression is that the strategy is based heavily on increasing Welsh medium education. (Although I was quite shocked this week to hear that a colleagues health visitor told her that she thought that her choice to put her daughter into Welsh stream education would put her at a disadvantage as they weren’t Welsh speakers at home! Not sure how much emphasis is being put on Welsh learners but I think that a lot has to do with mind set. It’s easy not to speak Welsh when you don’t have to. I keep thinking that it was actually easier at bootcamp because there was no choice. As a friend, another learner, said when I got back, ‘well if I couldn’t get a beer without speaking Welsh then I’d speak Welsh!’
I make that a pretty impressive team of 14 with a wide range of skills already… right, let’s start to try and put some initial structures together…
First up, how about I create a separate area for the project, under ‘Welsh’ - so that we’ve got a place to collect a range of different discussions… and to welcome new people who want to get involved?
What shall we call it?
Just ‘Million Speakers’ for now? Keep it plain and clear?
Hi, I’d like to be involved too - I’ll contribute ideas from my experiences, work away in the background on research, evaluation, summarising reports and things like that. As long as it doesn’t involve being on television, radio or videos - how I admire people who can do that. And my son’s happy to proofread in English.
I genuinely think that we have an absolute A list in this community - and that if we structure this correctly, we’ll be able to make a game-changing contribution…
Oddly, the most adamant opposition to learning Welsh that I have come across has come from Welsh speakers! Admittedly they are in England, as am I, and not in Wales.
).
And that sounds like a seriously helpful collection of skills…
