In a previous life I have attempted to learn Welsh by the more traditional route. Yes some of what I learnt has been useful in my ‘SSIW journey of discovery’
So when I started SSIW 6mws, after each challenge I would look at the vocabulary list and write it down in a book. Now on level 2 and forgot to write vocabulary down for a couple of weeks… Going back to the weeks missed in order to catch up on the vocabulary i now find there is very little that needs to be written down. The Welsh has magically been imprinted on my brain!!!.
I confess to still having a sneaky look at the vocabulary list if I’m not sure I’ve heard things correctly.
What do others do with the vocabulary list?
I don’t use it, but have had a look once or twice after someone has corrected my misheard pronunciation. I was cheerily saying all sorts of things were, ‘soffach llwyr’ '(‘complete rubbish’) until corrected; it’s ‘sothach’…
Personally. I have found the lists to be very helpful AFTER each challenge is completed.
I found that I needed to just go by the sound of the sentences while actually doing(?) each challenge, but that reading the constructions afterwards helped me to know where one word ended and the next one started, if you know what I mean.
Especially the case with some of the lovely sounding alliterative or rhyming long sentences, when you think “that sounded great, but what did I just say there?”.
I copy and paste the vocab lists into a Word document and have a look back through every now and then - it’s a bit like getting reacquainted with old friends
There was a pre-made version of this for level 1 (well, up to challenge 23 I think) which I thought was very nice.
I would just add that when I was struggling trying not to use “pause” button I had also tried to keep the vocabulary list open while doing the challenge the first time, thinking a reminder or sneak peek would help. Wroooong!
The next day I could NOT remember the meaning nor sound of ANY word/sentence from that challenge. Never again.
Ah great. Proving where the SSiW method works so well by learning how the sentences sound, and then reading afterwards for confirmation. Rather than the opposite more traditional way,
Couldn’t agree more there John. We don’t teach a child to write first so it seems strange for adult learners to do it that way. Wonder why language teaching developed like that?
I use it quite a bit, but only to help organise what I hear, or confirm whether I’ve actually noticed a pattern between phrases or words. I have the sort of mind that finds it very difficult to not quite know what I’ve heard, so being able to see it written just helps to file it away cleanly afterwards, if that makes sense. Or, for words like “byddai fe” which I looked up immediately because I couldn’t quite believe I was saying “beveve”. So I think it’s a very, very useful resource if used carefully…
And with my music teaching hat on, one of the key principles for effective teaching is “sound before symbol”, which developed in part from the way we learn language as children, so SSIW definitely seems the better way round
I am very new to SSiW but I do find the vocabulary list very useful to look through when I finish each lesson so that I can correct the sounds that I have mis- heard before they get too entrenched in my brain only on Level 1 lesson 2 - the timing of the gap appears shorter than lesson 1 so, for the longer sentences, I am afraid I hit pause but hope not to as words and sound patterns become more familiar.
I suspect it developed like that back in the days when there were no recordings, CDs, internet sites etc where people could access sound files, so the written word was the only way to practise between classes. I tried going to an Italian class once years ago where they had the “listen to it first, then read it” idea but without the resources to really implement it. We were introduced to something verbally in class, went home with NOTHING to help us remember it, then were given the written version when we went back the following week. No one could remember a thing and it was really frustrating!
It’s fine to look at it, especially if you are not sure you’ve heard it correctly.
However, it’s not quite “textbook SSiW” to write it down though. (However, as SSiW doesn’t use textbooks, that’s a bit of a contradiction in terms).
However, if you find writing them down helps, I don’t think it will do any harm, and may do good.
The only big no no really in SSiW is to try to read the material before you have heard it.
If you do that, there is a strong possibility that you will attempt to use English language “phonetics” to pronounce the words, and that’s always going to be misleading, and once you’ve got those misleading sounds in your head, it might be hard to get the right sounds into your head.
One little tip about writing them down though: try to copy them down from your short-term memory of how they were written, rather than copying direct from the text. i.e. read it quickly, then put the text away, then maybe do something else for a minute or two, then write it down (and hear the sounds that you heard on the recording as you are writing it).
