I’m starting a U3A Welsh Learners group and am hoping to use SSiW as a basis for our learning. Has anyone any tips as to how we should structure our meetings?
Just seen this. I’ve been asking for one in our area but to no avail. So it is an understatement to say that I’m interested. Where are you?
Hi Raymond,
I’m in Swindon, Wiltshire.
Thanks for link.
Alison
Whoops! The link was automatic! I’m very new to this!
I’ve tried SSIW in a group two different ways. One with me hovering on the pause button for a sort of greek chorus from the learners and the other with turn taking round the room and everyone else chipping in with agreement or correction.
Both are slower and prossibly less effective than doing it alone but as a taster or social in addition to solo practice I think it works.
I also made up “magnetic poetry” style cards (in English) for pick-a-mix sentences in English, and prompts for ways to apply the structures to actual stuff they could talk about straight away, and printed some flashcards pictures of relevant vocab and set challenges of ‘say anything you can about this picture with the vocab you’re got so far.’
The lesson resources I used are online but based on the old Course 1 not the new Level 1 but y can get the idea.
Here and select “Login as Guest”
http://www.swanseaitec.co.uk/moodle/course/view.php?id=110
A bit more stuff here
http://www.swanseaitec.co.uk/moodle/course/view.php?id=120
1 Like
Thanks, leiafee, for your helpful reply. I was planning to use your Greek chorus plus going round the room approach, but was concerned it might not work. Your ideas for activities are good too and thanks for the links to the Swansea site. I love “pass the pethau”!
Diolch yn fawr!
In the Leeds group we have evolved a structure to each meeting mainly because we hjave only two fluent speakers and a bunch of learners all at different stages. If you look at the Leeds meet-up thread you will see it.
We do like to extend our vocabulary, though, and collect pictures of objects so that we can associate the Welsh word with the object without using English. The sorts of topics that are easy to collect pictures for are fruit and vegetables, clothes, household objects, etc. because the pictures are available in various catalogues. Then we can take turns round the table and go to, say, the greengrocer to buy whatever picture we are given, all in Welsh.
Just a tip as I don’t know who administers this site.
This could actually be good but it’s not exactly the Welsh forum. I predict the link still leads to the old forum which is (probably) not accessible this way anymore so the link should be rather updated.
Link at the very bottom is probably OK as it brigs you directly to the Lessons site and from there you can go to the new (now used) forum.
Hope you don’t mind I’ve noticed this and reported it here.
Pob lwc with group learning.
1 Like
I look after that Moodle site - it’s what I use at work. Haven’t used that course for ages, so yep, probably dead links aplenty.
I’ve fixed the ones mentioned.
2 Likes
Another person who might be able to add to Leia’s terrific input here is @elizabeth_jane - I hope tagging her means she’ll see this 
I believe that @elizabeth_jane 's method is based on “flip learning”, where the learning is done as homework (ie do challenge 1 at home), and then instead of formal lessons, the two hour lesson session is taken up with excercises to get the learner to use their Welsh, and expand a little on what they’ve learnt.
So, an obvious target for the first SSiW challenge would be to increase some times (you can say I;ve been learning for about a week or about a month, what about two months, 3 weeks, 2 days, etc), some subjects (I’ve been learning Welsh, so what about learning to drive, or learning to paint, or learning French). The trick would be, I think, to get suggestions of relevant extra vocab from your students in English sentences, keep it down to a few extra words for each new pattern, and to intorduce a bit of humour and fun (How long have you been in the shower? Oh about two months…).
I know that EJ’s classes have seen an exceptionally low drop out rate (I think she said 0 - yes really, none at all - which is hardly believeable to anyone who has ever tutored an evening class!) partly because if you ever “fall behind” (ie miss a class), it doesn;t matter, because the main learning is done at home.
I hope that helps, just in case EJ doesn;t have time / internet connection to get back to you here!
Edited to add:
You might like to take a look at this blog (in quite formal Welsh) by Glen (or Mr G) Wall, who teaches Welsh Second language in a secondary school. I know he was considering experimenting with SSiW flip learning - there’s a blog about it there somewhere! - and he certainly uses SSiW as part of his classes.
1 Like
Thanks to everyone for the very helpful advice! I’ll let you know how we get on. Our first session is on Friday and I’ll ask everybody to bring pictures we can talk about to the next meeting.
Pob hwyl!
2 Likes
It’d be great to hear how it goes 
Hi All,
Sorry to be so slow to reply. Internet is still a bit and miss for me. Iestyn has described the method we use perfectly. Class members do the lessons. I simply devise games and exercises to facilitate opportunities to practice the patterns. I made flash cards for all the verbs in the old first course - pictures and the word in English only. We would talk about a pattern we have learned then put the cards face down in the table. Then them up turn by turn and make sentences. People were free to add extra sentences or ask each other questions. They got more and more adventurous as the weeks went on. I used the picture dictionary for memory repetition games like: I went to the shop and bought a… Also, I used cards with lots of Welshtown names and also English words like garej, siop, tafarn, ar y bws, car, beic, pensel, etc to increase the range of things people could say quickly. I also wrote short dialogues in English, initially, based on the patterns learned. People worked through them in pairs. I learned not to try to introduce too much too quickly. We had one disastrous lesson when I tried to introduce a list of professions. Duh!
What was I thinking?
I have dialogues on my computer, some images, really messy lesson plans (I’m happy to share these). Oh, and most importantly, we had a class lolly jar, for when it all got too much, or someone had a big breakthrough, or when things just need to lighten ups bit.
I hope that helps. 
feel free to get in touch.
2 Likes
Thanks so much. Elizabeth. You’ve given me lots of ideas
Pob hwyl.
2 Likes