I definitely do not have a photographic memory!! I do use the ‘say it to myself’ method. I hear it in my head. I’ve never risked doing SSiW without actually articulating, but it might work!!!
@tatjana and I have sight problems, so I do think the dot test is not the best for us!!!
Yah. the hearing test like say a word, then add one more, and one more etc … would be more relevant but I have a feeling I’d fail on that aswell. SSiW is kind of such test just a bit different way and I’m lousy on it. 
Oh, is there a hearing test as well in that working memory test?
I never got it past part-way through the “dot” test, and it wouldn’t go any further for me.
Just to clarify: I only use the “thinking out loud” method for telephone numbers (and similar), not for SSiW. Having said that, I’ve sometimes used it for SSiW when on a crowded bus.
I don’t know. It was just my idea as we often played that “game” in school adding word after word until there were so much we couldn’t remember all in the particular order anymore. I was never good at that though.
Well, you don’t have to, but I strongly recommend it…
The key thing is - you mention that you ‘eventually learn’ from your mistakes - but the fact of it, with solid evidence from good research, is that you learn from every single mistake as you make them - and that’s part of why it really isn’t a very effective use of your time to repeat until you stop making them 
I suspect it is relevant - I’m not aware of any research that suggests that we have different kinds of working memory - and there are question marks over the whole ‘learning style’ thing in general. We all remember pictures (particularly unusual, vivid pictures) better than pretty much anything else - but language is obviously a slightly different kind of knowledge…
I “remember” pictures, might be, but my “remembrance” is many times prety much wrong as I (many times) don’t see them well and if at one point they appear as they actually really are (I’d say when I finally see them right) they mean nothing to my memory anymore … But yes, even wrong vision can help to remember things eventually so it might be that we usually remember pictures better then anything else … being right or wrong, this (if I think more deeply) doesn’t matter actually.
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Thank you for the advice; I’ll pick up on my lesson and continue to the end but I may have to sit on my hands to prevent me getting to the mouse.
It’s not so much a ‘gear crunch’ changing languages between Welsh and English but a momentary pause. Oddly, I was reading a posting on a different topic which was written in French and I went through from French to Welsh without even noticing that the language had changed.
Thankfully I should be into the vocabulary units soon.
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3.5, and I found SSIW so difficult I gave up after lesson 2.
I’m not surprised my score is so low, as I have quite severe SpLDs, in the areas of working memory and processing speed.
Well, I find SSiW hard most of the time too, but I’m still surprised (and quite sad) you’ve given up on it. Did you do Course 1 or Level 1? I can’t quite say what could be easier but it might worth try Level 1 if you didn’t do that already and go on slowly. My result is 4.5 but I just don’t want to give up. I wish I could help you in a way. I can only say try it once again and keep going. You’ll learn at least something in time, you’ll see. Yes it’s hard and a lot of hard work is needed but it pays off at one point (if you still have the desire to learn Cymraeg (and any language at this matter) of cours).
Pob lwc!
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It was Course 1, and a while ago now, but I gave up because it all sounded like incomprehensible vowel sounds and I couldn’t suppress the urge to just parrot back the English at Iestyn (I parrot back at the self service machines in Tesco too sometimes 
)
I’ve given up on the Welsh for the moment anyways, but I’m actually learning quite a lot by osmosis from living in Wales, and seeing it every day. I can understand the station announcements at Caerdydd Canolog now, which is probably about the only practical use I have for Welsh.
I can assure you I’m no stranger to hard work - I learnt French as an adult, still take night classes in it to keep my hand in, and am now teaching myself dutch with francophone resources in between studying physics with the OU… I live a sad life, I know 
My plan for Welsh is to go back to Welsh for Adults once I’ve absorbed enough to be able to keep up with all the Welshies. I tried that once before, but I was the only true beginner in a class full of false beginners, so I was already behind before I’d begun! I do find SSIW a useful resource with the transcripts to hand, but I’ve come to the opinion that the SSiW approach as a whole is not geared towards the particular way that my brain is borked, and yes I have argued with Aran about this before.
At the end of the day, I’m someone who gets on very well in conventional language classes, with appropriate reasonable adjustments. I’m happy to leave SSiW to those who really do need it 
Diolch!
We need it and, most importantly WE WANT IT! (at least I do despite my moanings (upon myself) eslwhere on here.)
Good luck with whatever you decide regarding Cymraeg.
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Highest score 8.
Finished.
10/10
To be fair, I do have a very good memory which I think comes from having a form of synesthesia, (Number form synesthesia to be precise) and playing a lot of computer games.
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Yes, from the example of my son who is also a gamer, I can tell it’s true. And he’s great in math. …
Well done on the test!
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That’s extremely interesting. I’m definitely starting to lean strongly towards asking people to do a working memory test before starting with the lessons.
At some point, I’d very much like to run some tests with people with lower scores on their working memory, to see what kind of alterations to the SSi method might make it more approachable for them - maybe we’ll be able to do that next year.
In the meantime - Ana, have you ever done any specific working memory training?
I’m quite interested in what CogMed are doing, and they seem to have some good research behind it: http://www.cogmed.com/program
It is quite clear that your vision is much worse than mine, but mine has always been very colour dependent. I’m totally nightblind! How about smells? I know they are not useful for teaching a language, but I have always found certain smells more ‘memory evocative’ than any picture!!! There is a certain fresh smell just after rain that takes me to a big hedge, seen and sniffed in my childhood!!
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Smells can really conjure memories for me too. There was a particular cleaning product that was used on the toilets when I was in reception at school. 30 years later if I come across it I am back in that cloakroom.
I also often do SSIW lessons or listening practices while doing knitting or crochet or in the bath (which also keeps me away from the pause button!) Although I can produce the Welsh I’ve learned when I’m not doing either of those things it does seem slightly easier in settings or doing activities that I associate with using that language. Do other people find that?
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No, I do not. I sit and do the lesson. If I’d do one more thing then not one of them would be made properly and quality enough.
Ah, managed to do it at last.
I scored 7.
But got bored and didn’t want to do it again.
Does that mean anything?
For me smells almost miss out the rest of the stuff other senses do and go straight to the emotions.
A certain smell can bring butterflies to my stomach before I remember it as being the smell of school rooms or a hospital, a feeling of comfort before you remember it being the smell of old style sweets in a room with a fire.
A smell of additives to screenwasher had me bizarrely remembering my face being pleasantly smothered on a warm beach before I realised it smelled like wet wipes!
Maybe smell, being a more fundamental and common sense to a lot of animals bypasses the more recently evolved complicated mechanisms in our brain and goes straight to the basic, fundamental feelings. Don’t know, but it definitely brings emotions out in me before I realise why!
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That you’ve got a good working memory, and are otherwise surprisingly normal?..
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