Bobl bach - Wrexham kids can't speak Welsh o gwbl!

This just proves what myself and many others have believed for a long time, one hour of Welsh lessons a week in school is not enough to preserve our language let alone grow it. By providing such a limited amount of time for Welsh lessons I feel that our schools are not providing our children with a key skill for their future lives. Whether the children choose to use the language at a later date is up to them but we should ensure that they have this option to take. More support is needed for learners to encourage them to start using the language and to gain confidence in speaking in public. I hope that the Eisteddfod in August plays a part in providing such an environment. As parents we have an enormous role to play in ensuring that our children have the opportunities to learn the Welsh language and use it. In the 'blame culture' days we live in it's very easy for us to point the finger at someone or something else but isn't it about time we stood up for what we believe in and did something about it? Maybe we should follow in the footsteps of the TV show 'Popeth yn Gymraeg' and speak only Welsh when we're out and about in Wales?
One thing is certain though, if we don't use and teach others our language we will lose it and that would be a great loss to our culture and identity.

Cytuno hefyd (I agree too). It was only when I realised what little Welsh my kids were learning in school in Flintshire that I decided to learn the language myself so I could at least try to teach them.

Welsh is an important part of our heritage and culture. I used to teach Welsh as a second language within the primary school. More lessons were definitely needed! Learning Welsh (or any language) can also help in the learning of English!

Unless a child goes to a school taught through the medium of welsh or has a welsh speaking family then they will struggle to learn the language. I left school two years ago. I did well in Welsh at school but have struggled to use and improve on what I have learned.
It is not much good teaching a child a language if they're not going to use it! Without speaking Welsh regularly you start to forget.
The lack of Welsh is not just down to the schools. The local area and the attitudes of children are as much to blame.

I learnt Welsh throughout primary school and secondary school, for 11 years in total. I learnt French for five years and German for three years and I feel I can speak more in these two languages than in Welsh. Learning Welsh for all those years has effectively been a waste. I understand the point of preserving the culture, but more Welsh lessons would mean sacrificing lessons in more important areas such as English, maths and science, lessons which would be relevant to any person in any environment. Although it is always nice to speak another language, lets face it, it is not necessary to speak Welsh any more. Basic Welsh lessons have the use of preserving the culture but lessons to make people fluent should be optional, not compulsory and certainly not at the expense of other more useful lessons.

Welsh, or indeed any language, is best learnt through constant immersion in the language and its environment. Service in several Mediterranean/Middle-eastern countries, and becoming involved with the native population, enabled me to learn enough Arabic, Greek and Italian to be able to converse reasonably fluently, especially the Greek, with the people I needed to deal with. Slightly rusty after some years but, like riding a bike, it soon comes back to you. German came through some long drawn-out family business, but via the same method. Yes I made mistakes but people laughed them off and helped with corrections because they appreciated my efforts to learn. Education through the medium of Welsh has helped three of the junior members of my family obtain reasonably well paid Welsh essential jobs. Oh, and by the way, I learned how to speak Welsh, with a slight, I hope, Liverpool accent in the same fashion.

I absolutely and wholeheartedly agree with Mair's first point that "one hour a week of Welsh lessons in school is not enough". Seems to me that because of the relative unimportance of the Welsh language for students, educators, and employers this wasted hour would be better used for extra teaching in some subject that has relevance and importance ... maths, English, ICT, and sciences.

In the seventies I was subjected to several sessions of Welsh language teaching every week right through secondary school (near Wrexham) and I can neither speak nor understand the language. I wasn't suprised to learn that my contemporaries didn't manage to pick it up either. Seems to have been a bit of a waste of time don't you think ?!

Yes, an hour or two of anything a week at school is pretty useless when that knowledge has no practical value beyond the classroom. Think of all of those complicated mathematical equations, functions of bodily organs, chemical structures we had to learn - did this knowledge have any practical value beyond the need to regurgitate it at a future exam? No. Consequently, most of us forget it pretty quickly. This also applies to Welsh - but only if one doesn't use it outside the classroom. For people who want to engage in Welsh culture, however, and with Wales in general - such as listening to Welsh language music, poetry, history, travelling throughout Wales, Welsh literature, Welsh media, increasing employment opportunities, attending eisteddfodau, even pronouncing Welsh place names properly, etc, etc, - then knowledge of Welsh becomes highly beneficial and even vital. I also grew up in a predominantly English speaking part of Wales but these are things which even monoglot English speakers can enjoy once a grasp of Welsh has been attained. It really does open up a whole new side to Wales which English-only speakers miss out on. You simply cannot penetrate Welsh culture and history without a decent grasp of Cymraeg.

The only answer to the lack of Welsh proficiency in Wales is for ALL schools in Wales to become Welsh Medium Schools. I know that's the only way to do it. My mother-in-law is Welsh and she can remember a surprising amount of the language since she left Wales aged 14. She's now 65. One hour a week of French is not enough to learn French, never mind a national language. All tuition must be in Welsh: That's the only way.