I come from an English family and I had no connection with Wales until I met Einir. She comes from a Welsh family and was determined that Welsh would be the first language of our home and our children.

We lived in Bristol for a long time and it was difficult finding the time and the opportunity to learn Welsh. But when we were expecting our first child I really began to take things more seriously. But it wasn't until I went on a course to the Welsh language centre at Nant Gwrtheyrn that I met Elwyn Hughes, a Welsh language tutor at Bangor University, and found out you could do courses through the post. I did up to A' level standard that way.

I don't think we've missed an Eisteddfod in the past 15 years and we've recently been taking the children camping there. As we lived in Bristol until two years ago it was important to take the children somewhere where they'd be totally immersed in the Welsh language.

The first time I went I didn't speak much Welsh and I was very nervous speaking in Welsh to Welsh speakers. Lots of learners suffer from a lack of confidence - it's one thing chatting to the tutors and other learners, but speaking to real Welsh speakers is another matter entirely. When I first decided to use Welsh to order a drink, I would practise what I was going to say and imagine what answers I would get - of course, I never got those particular answers!

One of the most interesting things was that I, as an Englishman, was totally unaware of this different world in Wales. When I was young we didn't learn anything about Wales in school and it was a total eye opener to discover the world that exists at the Eisteddfod.

To be honest, things like the bards and the gorsedd looked really odd to me in the beginning (it probably looks odd to lots of Welsh people too actually!) The idea of bilingualism isn't familiar to lots of English people - English is the language and all others languages are foreign, so many English people just don't realise how important their language is, they take it for granted.

There's no threat to the English language and so English people don't think what the language actually means to them. So all this dressing up, the crowning and the chairing might look a bit odd, but it symbolises the importance of the past and of the language. There's a meaning and importance to it for the Welsh people and the language that is sometimes hard to understand to begin with.

This is the first time the Eisteddfod has been in my area. Me and some other learners got invited to be on the learners' committee for the eisteddfod as the tutors felt it was important to have our perspective on things.

We decided to change the name from the learners' tent to Maes D ('for dysgwyr, or learners). We thought this would help attract lots of people to the pavilion - Welsh learners, those who don't yet speak Welsh and also Welsh speakers. It's important for Welsh learners to practice their Welsh with fluent Welsh speakers instead of other learners all the time.

There will be stewards around to help non-Welsh speakers. It's sometimes hard to go somewhere where everyone is speaking another language because adults don't like to feel like they don't know anything, so it's important to make everyone feel welcome.

There will be someone to interpret what's going on in the crowning and chairing ceremonies - simplify the speeches a little for Welsh learners. We're also going to have competitions on the Maes D stage - learners telling the best five jokes, performing sketches and singing, really getting in the eisteddfod spirit.

There'll also be a café and different people will be dropping by for a chat, as well as a tutor on hand to practise Welsh. The structure of the classes will depend on who turns up really.