I think it might turn out to be one of the most valuable things about this board - the way people can see others succeeding. I remember when I was learning, I just almost never met (or really got to know, anyway) more advanced learners - mostly because they scared the hell out of me!
But here, on a mostly English language board, where everyone has permission to be using English because we're concentrating on speaking and listening not reading and writing, you can get to know people at all sorts of different levels without the fear factor. Which means that you can get to hear about the wonderful feeling of all sorts of different kinds of success - and that will, I hope, be genuinely inspirational for a lot of people...
One of the key parts of success - believing that it really CAN be done - became for me (because I didn't know any advanced learners) all about self-belief (which for most of us can be a bit of an unreliable thing!). But here, we've got proof - it really CAN be done. If you know that, and you know that you just need to keep taking simple step after simple step through what we've got here, you don't NEED to have massive self-confidence - you just need enough determination to keep on doing it...
RobertBruce wrote:If Aran owes you a pint and you're going to be in his 'hood, but you have a holiday rule about no internet access and no mobiles (try it!), it's probably best to fix up a meeting with him beforehand, because you'll never be able to do it otherwise. Sorry Aran, my disorganisation, but you still owe me one - I'll be back up there before too long!
Ah, just in time, before I got into 'Hey, what the heck happened to that pint you owed me? What do you mean, I owed it to you?' mode...
RobertBruce wrote:BTW, the owner of Cob records in Porthmadog today said - I think - "Dwi'n tybedu" - is this the same as just plain "tybed", or what?
That sounds as though it might have been 'Dw i'n tybed i...' - depending on what he said after that. Like for eg 'Dw i'n tybed i hynny ddigwydd...' 'I expect that that happened...'
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So, field trips, as and when we can arrange them. What we really need is somewhere that would put a bunch of learners up for free (or for very low cost). Thinking hats on, everyone!
And then perhaps we also need some kind of SSIW awards ceremony, for the most inspiring stories of the year. Maybe we could get that to happen somewhere like Aberystwyth? I'll have a word with some of the hotels down there...
, but on the spare of the moment it was fine. I'm not churchy, but it was great, because the people had took the time to talk about the history of the place and the learners in the church, then afterwards lots of cacen and chat. The whole thing was in Welsh and there was a fantastic harpist that played a Welsh Harp (3 sets of strings). Speaking really does help your language.
