AIBU to expect my kids to not to told off for speaking English in a welsh medium school?

[Hairyfairy01]

I have 2 dc in year 3 and 6 who attend a welsh medium primary school and have been taught in the welsh medium since they started school. However both dc are brought up in an english speaking household. English medium education at primary level is not available in this area of wales. Both dc have reported to me that they get told off for speaking English in the classroom, corridors, lunchtime and playtime by both teachers and pupil members of the school 'welsh' council. Now I have no issues with encouraging the welsh language and totally support their scheme of rewarding pupils for speaking welsh in social situations. However I do have an issue of telling kids off for speaking english, not so much in lesson time, but more at lunchtime / playtime. Surely at these 'downtime' occasions kids should be able to speak whatever language they like, be it French, Chinese or whatever. I can only imagine that this is what happens in other primary schools where children's home / first language is different to the main language of the school occurs? Are they all told off for speaking French / Chinese etc? Feeling furious but not sure if iabu?

Oh no - Muslim kids speaking Hindu? Embarrassing...

Isn't this necessary to preserve the Welsh language?

If you don't enforce it, the English kids will insist upon speaking English (an ignorant national trait) and then everyone else will have to speak English to accommodate them. Look at the rest of the world, most people speak many languages, but not the English (as a nation) we make everyone speak out language. It's ignorant and arrogant.

Your kids are in a Welsh school, they need to speak Welsh. The more Welsh they speak, the better they will do in their lessons.

I went to a Welsh language school and we would get detentions for speaking English. English is the dominant language so it does make sense because there really is no way to enforce speaking Welsh and the whole point (for non-Welsh first language people) is the immersion and if they just speak English all the time they won't learn.

But as a child it does feel very unpleasant especially if you are very articulate in your home language and absolutely awful and Welsh.

People think we are purposely being ignorant or awkward in Northern Ireland for the DUP not wanting the Irish Language Act. This is why. Being made to speak a foreign language or needing to speak it for job requirements eg public sector etc.
We speak English. If you want to speak Irish go to an Irish speaking community in Ireland.
(though this not have a local government in place is a bit of a bitch)

I see the Welsh language not so much as 'dead' as like a coma patient on a life support machine, with very expensive drips.
It's a bloody waste of time tbh. If people speak it then they speak it, but creating this whole linguistic apartheid around education and professional jobs is beyond sad.

“Hindu” is not a language.

I think it's really important and very difficult to protect regional minority languages, so whilst I wouldn't expect them to be punished, they do need to be proactive in preventing the dominant language taking over. Looks what's happened to Irish and Scottish and Cornish regional languages. Look what's happened to Breton and occitan etc. A generation or two and they're gone.

Dc are 8 and 11 and 100 % fluent welsh (more than can be said for the majority of 'welsh people').
So your children are 100% fluent in Welsh, go to a welsh speaking school but are speaking English during break times? They are old enough now to follow rules but they appear to be breaking them surely that is the issue . I am sure if they were struggling with welsh they would be given some slack but they are not so I think teachers are well within their rights to pull them up on it. If it is a welsh school with the idea to fully immerse children in the Welsh language then 1 or 2 not cooperating effects everyone. I assume if they speak English to another pupil that pupil may respond in English and it snowballs so they have to nip it in the bud. You also started off by saying they were being told off for it and then in further posts you said they were being punished for it. Which is it?

I take your point that it must be frustrating that you have no other school option for them which to me is an issue surely there should be more choice for parents when choosing schools for their kids in Wales?

I moved to a Welsh primary from England when I was about ten. I remember a teacher (who knew full well I couldn't yet speak Welsh - i'd only lived there about a fortnight) speaking to me in Welsh and I asked her what she meant and she went into full nuclear bollocking mode. It was made worse by the fact that I didn't understand the words she was screaming at me in front of my classmates (who I was trying to make friends with). I remember just bursting into tears in front of the whole class. Arsehole.

I'm half Welsh but my mum never taught us any Welsh as we were raised in England, and I went on to learn it after i'd lived in Wales for longer than five minutes. Fully sympathetic to the preservation of the Welsh language but some people are just on a weird power trip about it.

Being made to speak a foreign language or needing to speak it for job requirements eg public sector etc. Not sure TOADfan that is what the Irish language act is doing? surely it is just about recognising both languages and respecting both? Doesn't seem to be any issues with it in wales or Scotland so why are the DUP denying some of their citizens the same language rights as other UK citizens?

They seem to be cherry picking the laws they want and don't want in NI. Arlene Foster when addressing a LGBT event yesterday had the gaul to ask them to respect her right not to want same sex marriage but she is quite happy to let her belief deny them their right to have it. Bonkers!

Children using the language which they don't use at home need to practise it in all situations: in class, watching tv, leisure activities....and in the playground; that's why it's expected to be used at all times at school, not just in lessons.

surely there should be more choice for parents when choosing schools for their kids in Wales

It depends where you are. There's a lot of choice in South Wales until you get west of Swansea, then it's much harder. It's the same for non-Welsh speaking teachers, it's hard to get jobs (and there aren't many in Wales as it is). Even "English medium schools" will usually employ a Welsh speaker over a non-Welsh speaker.

Unless you are looking to work in the public sector in Carmarthenshire, or in a Welsh language specific job, it's pretty pointless to attend a Welsh medium school if you are first language English. Everyone speaks English here anyway.

It's nice to preserve the language, yes. But to punish little children for not using it? No chance.

" Unless you are looking to work in the public sector in Carmarthenshire,"
or Ceredigion/ Gwynedd etc

Sorry, yes, I should have said generally West/North. I was talking about my county

well that's exactly how English became the dominant language in the past. Punishing people who spoke their own local languages. We have just lost so much history and linguistic diversity. These languages need to be protected.

I don't think a lot of people understand the difficulties of achieving fluency in a non dominant language

I think you are so lucky that your kids have the opportunity to learn another language. My mum is welsh and speaks a little but she never taught us. I would have loved my kids to have learned welsh.

I would just encourage them to speak welsh at all times in school op. Why not they can speak English at home. It’s a lovely language. Encourage them.

i can't be bothered to read 6 pages of slagging off welsh. however, it is totally normal for children in emersion classes in ANY language to be made to speak the language at all times. this is the case in all welsh medium schools, school= welsh. its just how it is, in order to get kids fluent as quickly as possible, especially if they come from english speaking homes.

Even "English medium schools" will usually employ a Welsh speaker over a non-Welsh speaker

Hold on. Do you mean that speaking Welsh is a desirable skill that could give you the edge in the job market?

The very worst way to promote bilingualism is to reserve one language for home and one language for school.

I'm not sure I agree with keeping old languages alive for the sake of it. You can keep up Welsh/Irish traditions without having to speak the language. Learning different languages is great but ones that are useful in different parts of the world not just a tiny place

And it is far better to teach bilingual children to read in both their languages simultaneously than sequentially.

TBH I feel part of a lost generation , not taught Welsh to any usable level and then finding it far harder to work in Wales because we don’t. It doesn’t make me feel valued by my country of birth.

Everyone I went to school with who became an academic, IT whatnot, teacher or doctor now works in England (unless they spoke Welsh at home) - it is a phenomenal loss of skill.

I went to a Welsh school too and I agree that they are actively encouraged to speak Welsh, that’s the whole point of putting them in a Welsh school. By years 3&6 they should be fluent so there’s no reason why they should be speaking English in school.

Maybe a Welsh education isn’t for you or your children. I doubt they were ‘told off’ they were probably just pulled up and reminded that it is a Welsh school.

Here in Brimgham the schools do not allow the use of home langauges on the play ground because the staff do not understand the langauge (and no you cannot expect staff members to become fleunt in every langauge of the in take) So its a blanket rule of English only during school time.

Because at my children's EX school there was a massive problem with children speaking hindi too racially bullying (Think calling black children APE white children milkies) other children and the problem only cam to light when a supply teacher who spoke Hindi started working there as maternity cover so the school decided to ban ALL langauge bar English to stop this problem occurring again.

Unless you hire staff that can speak every langauge under the sun how do you expect Schools to sort problems when children decide to use another lanauge the staff dont understand?

Hold on. Do you mean that speaking Welsh is a desirable skill that could give you the edge in the job market

But it shouldn't, if you're applying for jobs in English Medium schools.

IME, the Welsh speakers I've worked with in English medium schools have a much lower standard of the English language, which could be why children are leaving Primary School not being able to use basic spelling and grammar in the language they are being taught to use.

Of course, that could just be my experience.