The only English medium schools in county being converted to Welsh

[EnglishWelsh]

I live in a particularly Welsh county, that have now put plans in place to turn the one English medium primary school into a Welsh one, despite how many Welsh ones already exist. I obviously understand the motive to keep the Welsh language alive however removing the only choice is appalling to me and the kids already in the school who are not fluent and live in households that are fully English speaking. It's a wide timescale of when they hope it'll be in place, so hopefully my first born won't be affected but my second born will likely be affected and any other kids we have, unless we move out the area. In a Welsh medium school you learn no English until you are 7 years old. Should it really be acceptable to fully remove the choice? For an entire county? I'm really angry, to be honest.

Would you be asking this question if you lived in France or Germany or Italy?

Or would you be encouraging your children to learn the local language (and perhaps learning it yourself)?

I'm Irish, rather than Welsh, so don't know how your school system works. However, I have experience of Irish language schooling where they don't start English until a similar age (3rd year of primary, if I recall correctly).

We speak English at home. The dc went to a Gaelscoil (Irish language medium). It was fully immersive so the first week or two of the first year in school, the teacher would throw a very occasional English word into the mix but other than that, it was totally Irish.

The kids picked up the Irish really quickly and became fluent. It didn't have a negative effect on their English at all. All three of mine did very well in English (and Irish) in secondary school exams.

Learning a second language, regardless of the language, is really good for their cognitive development. They will find it easier to pick up other languages if they already speak two. It mightn't be your preference, but I think the only way it is likely to be a problem for your dc is if you have a negative attitude towards the language and the school.

In an English medium primary school in Wales you still learn Welsh. I want my kids to learn Welsh, what I don't agree with is making the only option for an entire county entirely Welsh medium schools where no child will be taught English (an undeniably more useful language in life) until they are 7. It's the removal of choice for an entire county of children that angers me! Out of 20+ schools, there can't be a single English medium? Not one?

Rwyt ti’n bod yn anrhesymol iawn.

Gobeithio mae hyn o gymorth.

Brilliant news. I went to a Welsh medium primary school (from a non-Welsh speaking family) and became fluent. I have brought my DC up as first language Welsh and I would not be able to do my job if I wasn't fluent.

You point out that children in bilingual schools learn Welsh, can I also point out that children in Welsh medium schools also learn English? My DC attended Welsh medium schools at both primary and secondary, 2 of them took English at A level. It will not hold them back in English.

Meh. As stated upthread, bilingual education is better for a child's cognitive development and makes it easier for them to pick up 3rd and 4th languages further down the line.

If you're living in a Welsh language stronghold, it's perfectly reasonable. Move if it really doesn't suit you, but consider the advantages to your children's education first.

@IGoWalkingAfterMidnight

Rwyt ti’n bod yn anrhesymol iawn.

Gobeithio mae hyn o gymorth.

Cytuno'n llwyr

Good.
I wish there were more Gaelic schools in Scotland.

@JemimaMuddledUp

Brilliant news. I went to a Welsh medium primary school (from a non-Welsh speaking family) and became fluent. I have brought my DC up as first language Welsh and I would not be able to do my job if I wasn't fluent.

You point out that children in bilingual schools learn Welsh, can I also point out that children in Welsh medium schools also learn English? My DC attended Welsh medium schools at both primary and secondary, 2 of them took English at A level. It will not hold them back in English.

My issue is exactly that, kids in Welsh medium schools do not get taught English. At all. Until they are 7+

English medium you learn both
Welsh medium you learn Welsh

They are removing the right for English first language kids to learn their first language in a school setting completely for many years. Out of 20+ schools I don't think it's unreasonable to want one English medium. It's wrong to remove any opportunity to learn English outside the home.

I don't think the kids will suffer in the slightest by having a home language and a school language. In fact it basically guarantees they will be bilingual which has huge advantages. I think you're worrying unnecessarily.

I agree with you that there should be a choice. I know children who have struggled in Welsh schools and have had to switch to English.
Obviously there needs to be a demand for English medium education in the local area for it to be viable though.

Unfortunately we left Wales pre kids (We’re not Welsh)
Would have sent them to Welsh medium primary, not sure about secondary,
Offspring regularly berates me for our move, as “being monolingual is the new illiterate” and reckons that further languages are easier once you’re fluent in more than one. (Now speaks English, German, Russian Spanish and reads Latin)

@PostingForTheFirstTime

Would you be asking this question if you lived in France or Germany or Italy?

Or would you be encouraging your children to learn the local language (and perhaps learning it yourself)?

None of those countries has more than one official language. It is not a valid comparison.

Belgium or Canada on the other hand...

@Nomorescreentime

I agree with you that there should be a choice. I know children who have struggled in Welsh schools and have had to switch to English. Obviously there needs to be a demand for English medium education in the local area for it to be viable though.

Thank you. It's not an outlandish statement that people should have a choice. It's correct the majority are Welsh medium, I get it, but it does not need to be all. We have one English primary and one English secondary. Both with over 500 pupils. They should not be taken away.

I'd love to know how you'd manage to avoid your child learning to read and write in English tbh.

All of mine could read and write in both at roughly the same age, despite only being taught in Welsh in the Foundation Phase. I don't think they are the exception in any way.

I presume you speak English at home, read to them in English, count with them in English, watch English TV?

@bluejelly

I don't think the kids will suffer in the slightest by having a home language and a school language. In fact it basically guarantees they will be bilingual which has huge advantages. I think you're worrying unnecessarily.

Hang on.

Isn't it widely accepted now that it was a huge injustice for Welsh-speaking children to have to conduct their schooling and exams in English and that they were disadvantaged by this? Hence the change.

So why wouldn't it be a problem for English-speaking children to have no choice but to conduct their schooling in Welsh?

How can it simultaneously be disadvantageous for a Welsh-speaking child to be educated in English but advantageous for an English-speaking child to be educated in Welsh?

Bearing in mind that both languages have official status in Wales, not solely Welsh.

You do have a choice. Move if you don't like it.

What's your issue anyway? Surely your child would be better off being fully bilingual. Sounds like you live i the wrong country never mind county.

If your children live in a very Welsh speaking area surely they will benefit by becoming fluent in welsh. while they might learn welsh at an English medium school they are unlikely to become fluent.

@BingBongToTheMoon

Good. I wish there were more Gaelic schools in Scotland.

I can't think why. Gaelic was never a national language but was spoken in the Highlands and Islands. The bulk of the population spoke Scots. You can see that in mediaeval Scots poetry. Also in Sturgeon's road signs which are in Gaelic which so few of us speak.

They already speak English, they wouldn't be learning it in school.
You cannot compare learning Welsh numbers and Tedi Twt in an English medium school to not having formal lessons in a language in which they're already fluent.

Your point isn't valid.
You could always give them lessons at home if you're that worried.

The point that children don't learn English until 7 is not valid at all. They are not only learning Welsh, they are learning literacy and all the skills that entails.

They are learning how to read and how to write and how to spell and how to form letters. They are breaking the back of learning language.

So when English is introduced at 7 they have all those skills and quickly and efficiently apply them to the English language.

I imagine that will also mean making any non-fluent Welsh speakers who work there redundant.

You're making a problem where one doesn't exist. I'm in your situation - English speaker raising children in a Welsh language village/ attending Welsh language school. Its only a good thing. For my children (and yours) the wider community and for the Welsh language. If you're worried that your kids will somehow lose their English in the time they are at school, I can promise you they won't. They will be fluent in 2 languages. It's a good thing.

Paid a poeni