Pembrokeshire College - New Course in Basic Skills through the Medium of Welsh

The course is part of a pilot project, led by Liz Saville and Ann Lewis at Coleg Meirion Dwyfor, being run in six centres around north Wales. The aims of the pilot project are:

• to increase the capacity to support basic skills through the medium of Welsh
• to improve the quality of basic skills teaching through the medium of Welsh, by offering training sessions, and creating a network of tutors, teachers and support workers in every sector in Wales
• to promote the Quality Mark and basic skills teaching through the medium of Welsh, disseminate effective practice, create partnerships and increase the availability of comprehensive resources across Wales.

It was the project’s task to identify organisations willing to test out the approach, and very soon Pembrokeshire College had signed up to take part.

The driving force behind the course at Pembrokeshire College is Janice Morgan, Welsh Language Development Officer. Janice was keen to develop the course at the College as she could see the potential to support the College’s Welsh-speaking students with their vocational course work. Some 10% of the students are Welsh speakers, and Janice’s first challenge was to identify those who would benefit from the course and were interested in brushing up their Welsh basic skills. Eighteen students aged 16-18 from a range of vocational courses, such as childcare, beauty, hairdressing and business studies, expressed interest.

The next step was for them to undertake the initial Welsh medium literacy assessment, to determine their level of Welsh language skills. They were all at Entry Level 2, working towards Level 3, though the range at Level 2 was quite varied. As it happened, since the demands of their other course work meant they were often out on placements or outings, Janice had to teach them at different times and days, often in pairs. This meant that work could be geared to their particular situation, interests and level, although the timetabling challenges were significant!

The course started in mid-October 2007, based on a model of one hour per week over 10 weeks, and following an OCN Accredited Unit. Janice had discretion to choose the Unit she felt would be most appropriate, and the students were asked whether they wanted to focus mostly on speaking, reading or writing - all opted for writing as the priority. Janice therefore decided on the “Writing to a Purpose” Unit, at Entry Level 3, with a credit value of 3.

There are four components to this Unit:

• Using Writing to Communicate (understanding different modes of writing)
• Punctuation (capital letters etc)
• Using Grammar (Welsh grammar rules, tenses, commands)
• Planning Written Work (mapping, ordering, developing vocabulary).

Janice tried to relate all the material to the students’ vocational training area. For example, in practising punctuation with catering students, she would use a relevant piece of text, such as a letter of complaint to a restaurant, as the basis for work on punctuation, and drafting a reply. In diary work, students would write about memorable events or a recent work placement experience; and Welsh newspaper cuttings would be used to pick out verbs, nouns, tenses etc or for précis work. Other work included expressing an opinion, picking out sentence errors, writing a c.v. and job applications.

 The final assessment is based on:

• a written task
• a reflective diary of their work placement
• the practice file
• a small project related to the vocational course (e.g. beauty students might be asked to prepare a promotional flyer, a poster, a business card and an information sheet).

Of the original eighteen, only six have pursued the course to the end. This was mainly due to the demands of their other course work, as the course was not able to be built into their programme of study. It is hoped however that a more integrated approach in future will make it easier for students to take advantage of this support.

Meantime the six ‘finishers’ are on target to achieve the OCN Certificate. As one childcare student says, she’s delighted with the course and how it has helped her prepare for working in a nursery. It has also helped her think ahead more confidently to future aspirations to become a nursery leader, which would mean coping with such things as writing letters to parents, progress reports etc. For Janice, the course has given her an insight into the basic skills needs of Welsh-speaking students, useful strategies for developing basic skills through the medium of Welsh, and an awareness of the need for more tutors to develop these skills. As she says “the need is there, and I hope this course will be built into the curriculum for all our Welsh-speaking students.”