Most TEFL induction courses start with a lesson in an exciting and remote language spoken by one of the course instructors: Pashto, perhaps, or Wolof or Indonesian. It’s a valuable exercise, helping the trainee to appreciate the magnitude of the challenge a Pre-A1 learner faces. But it’s just an hour, and it’s generally never revisited.
After 36 years of teaching and writing, I finally relived that lesson when learning materials I’d created for English were adapted to teach Welsh, and I had a chance to give them a go. This is an account of what I and my colleagues learned.
Background
Arrivals in English, the base program for which the team in Wales is creating an equivalent, provides essential, everyday language to newcomers adjusting to life in their local community. Aimed at Beginner-level (Pre-A1) learners, the program is organised around practical activities such as meeting people, buying food in a supermarket and opening a bank account. It includes a dedicated learning skills section, systematic vocabulary development, and interactive practice so they can try out the language they’ve learned.
In this experiment, ten staff members at the Clarity office in Hong Kong volunteered to use the program for two weeks to learn Welsh, practising for at least 15 minutes a day. The chosen focus was the prototype unit teaching vocabulary and functional language for the supermarket. This was the first time any of the participants had had any contact with the Welsh language.
Outcomes
1. In the post-test feedback, 80% of learners stated that they had completed the experiment, with 20% dropping out. Those who finished were able to ask at least one question in Welsh, such as ‘Excuse me, where are the vegetables?’ / ‘Esgusodwch fi, ble mae’r llysiau?’ They were also able to name at least four things they might want to ask about in a supermarket, for example: fruit / ffrwythau; fish / pysgod; cash / arian parod; checkout counter / desg dalu.
2. Learners reported that they made a lot of use of Google Translate (or equivalent) as they went through the program. Everything is in the target language, so while a picture of a fish with the word ‘pysgod’ next to it was seen as very accessible, it was somewhat intimidating, at first, to see sentence-level language. The use of Google Translate is, in fact, facilitated and encouraged within the program, and one participant suggested that it promoted a problem-solving engagement with the language: ‘It was almost like doing a crossword puzzle, and that made it a lot of fun – and satisfying when a word or phrase suddenly fell into place.’
3. The target language of the program was much more authentic compared to their experience of other language apps, especially Duolingo. ‘I felt I was really learning something I could use in real life. When I was learning Spanish on Duolingo, I had the sentence “Why did the cow put salt in your coffee?”, which just seemed weird. Sentences like “Can I pay by card?” seemed like things I could say to a real Welsh speaker.’
4. Having authentic Welsh audio was highlighted as one of the best features. Being able to listen to a Welsh speaker model the vocabulary, questions and responses was instrumental in bringing words like ‘ffrwythau’ to life. It also helped learners get the right intonation, and word and sentence stress. Listening, recording, repeating, and listening again was seen as a useful cycle by all learners.
5. The final question in our survey was, ‘Do you think you could have a genuine exchange of information with a Welsh speaker, and how would that make you feel?’ One of the key aims of the program is to help newcomers build confidence and integrate into their local community, and it was therefore very pleasing that all participants thought they would be able to engage authentically with a Welsh speaker, even if it was on a very simple level. People thought that being understood in Welsh would be very satisfying (‘It’s a kind of magic’) and that the person they were speaking to would appreciate the effort they had made to learn a few words of the language.
It’s unusual to learn a language for a few hours for no other reason than that you want to experience the learning process. But for language teachers, it’s an exercise worth repeating: it shows you the size of the mountain you have to climb, but it also gives you a taste of the ingenuity you’ll need to find the best paths, the fun you’ll have on the ascent, and, yes, the magic of completing each small step.
We are looking for people to work with on the project to create learning materials for Welsh. If you are interested in any aspect of this project, please contact katie.stokes@clarityenglish.com. If you’d like to have a go with the prototype, click here. Arrivals in English is here.
