“Your Welsh is Great” project

The word 'Twf' literally means 'growth' in Welsh and, coincidentally, the “Your Welsh is Great” project literally grew out of an existing project called Twf!

Twf promotes the far-reaching advantages to families of raising their children bilingually, from birth, in the home. These advantages range from ease of learning at a young age, through to enjoying the two cultures, or highlighting the economic advantages of a wider choice of jobs later on in life. This is achieved in collaboration with the mainstream health sector – through health visitors, midwives and even ultrasound departments – people and places where information can be passed on to expectant and new mums.

Following a successful Carmarthernshire pilot project in 1998/99, the Welsh Language Board attained additional funding from the National Assembly for Wales to run a Wales project between 2001 and 2004. The project was publicly launched under the name Twf in March 2002. 

Linda Evans, Twf Coordinator for South West Wales, explains how the “Your Welsh is Great” project then sprung into being.  She says: “Field workers noticed that many people could actually speak Welsh but weren’t using it for a number of different reasons. Some had simply not had the chance to use it often, either in the home, or workplace. Others had partners or friends who didn’t speak Welsh and so used only English in their day-to-day lives. People who are not brought up bilingually tend to lose confidence in their language skills if not using them regularly and as a consequence end up not passing that language on to their children.  And so Twf went about setting up the “Your Welsh is Great” pilot project.”

People invited to join the sessions - those who could speak the language but had lost confidence to do so - were identified through mum and toddler groups and other places where Twf had every day contact with them. 

The object of the project was to devise sessions, held in an environment where people would feel comfortable using the language, which would allow participants to develop their skills.

Linda recommends having 8 – 10 people in a session, although she has had up to 14.  She says: “It’s best to have more than six because, especially with new mums, they can drop out for a number of reasons. Children can become ill, or a mum may have been up half the night and then be too tired to join us the next day.”  

There were no lessons, as such, because the group was already Welsh-speaking. Instead, a programme was formulated of six weekly sessions, 90 minutes long, in which a series of workshop activities took place. These included mug-painting, jewellery-making, card-making and reflexology skills, anything “hands-on”, that the group could also do at home.

However, all conversation was in Welsh, including that by the people leading the workshop activities and giving the demonstrations.

The final session focuses on “language awareness” where participants talk about their families and when and why the habit of not using the language had begun. The session also includes a fairly structured presentation on the history of the language, highlighting information such as that the Acts of Union 1536 and 1542 prohibited Welsh as the language of the courts and in public administration and that children at the beginning of the 20th century who used Welsh at school would be made to wear the Welsh Not sign which led to the child wearing it at the end of the day to be caned. This information had a real effect on the participants on the course.

A particularly useful additional provision by the project was child care for the duration of the sessions, supplied through the Genesis agency. This allowed mums the luxury of 90 uninterrupted minutes to enjoy an activity, totally in Welsh, while not having to worry about their children.

Linda says: “One of the key strategies for success in building confidence was determining not to put too much pressure on those taking part.  The idea of having hands-on sessions, making something for fun, was a device to make them consciously concentrate on those practical skills, and make them less conscious of the fact they speaking Welsh.  In essence they were speaking Welsh without thinking about it too much.” 

Besides the activities, each session featured a subject for discussion that illustrated the benefits of being bilingual – but that was also done in such a light-handed way that the group wouldn’t necessarily even realise that specific topics were being covered.  Discussion might focus on how many people in the group read the local Welsh papers, whether they watched Welsh TV or listened to Welsh radio programmes.

When the Basic Skills Agency Cymru joined forces with Twf, in the second pilot scheme, Linda says another useful tool was added with their provision of a raft of books for participants to use. Every group member would get a copy of the same book, handed out in the second or third session, with many perhaps never having read a Welsh book since leaving school.

Linda says: “The Basic Skills Agency Cymru books were brilliant because they were easy and pleasurable reading – I’d personally be able to read them in a night - they were just right for the group. 

“Sometimes I’d read a paragraph or two to encourage them, but I’d never put pressure on them to read the book, because they would most likely have young children and might not have the time.  I would, however, make a point of discussing the book again, although very often I would leave it for a session and bring it up again later.  It was a nice surprise to learn some had read it all – especially when told it was something they hadn’t done for years!”

Facts and figures

Your Welsh is Great pilot launched in Carmarthenshire at the end of 2006

There have been two pilot schemes - the first one in South West Wales and the other following in North West Wales.

Within the North West's pilot there have been five groups meeting in all

In Carmarthenshire eight pilots have been completed and four are ongoing

Each group meets for six sessions

All participants are women

There were no restrictions on age for the first pilot – young mums through to grandmothers attended

A target was introduced for the second pilot group – that 70% of those attending should have a child under the age of two  

Sessions are free of charge 

For further information telephone Twf:  01745 585120
or contact
Linda Evans, Twf Coordinator for South West Wales – lindatwf@btinternet.com