Mae Josh Parry yn dadlau taw addysg trwy’r Gymraeg yw’r allwedd i dwf yr iaith.
Beth bynnag yw eich barn bersonol ar ddysgu Cymraeg fel ail iaith i blant, nid oes modd gwadu bod y status quo yn aneffeithiol ac annerbyniol. Nid yn unig oherwydd bod tros 75% o’n plant yn cael eu hamddifadu o’r gallu i siarad yr iaith yn rhugl, ond hefyd oherwydd bod y gyfundrefn addysg yn ceisio sicrhau bod pob un disgybl yn rhugl, ond yn methu’n llwyr i gyflawni’r nod. Felly, mae gennym gyfundrefn sydd yn anelu at nod clodwiw iawn, ond nid yw hi’n gweithio. Dyna pam mae consensws ymysg addysgwyr ac yn drawsbleidiol dros newidiadau sylweddol i’r system.
Ni allai unrhyw un sydd wedi darllen adroddiad Yr Athro Sioned Davies ddod i unrhyw gasgliad ond bod angen chwyldroi’r system, yn hytrach na’i chadw. Y broblem sylfaenol o ran dysgu Cymraeg fel ail iaith yw nad oes fawr neb o ddisgyblion mewn ysgolion Saesneg eu cyfrwng yn medru gair o’r iaith ar derfyn y cwrs. Mewn geiriau eraill, mae’r gyfundrefn yn methu, er gwaethaf ymdrechion nifer o athrawon talentog yn y maes.
Nid oes angen ail-esbonio budd dwyieithrwydd neu aml-ieithrwydd i fwyafrif helaeth pobl Cymru. Mae barn y Gymdeithas yn glir: mae gan holl blant Cymru yr hawl i ddod yn ddwyieithog gan bod y Gymraeg yn etifeddiaeth unigryw i bawb sydd yn gwneud Cymru yn gartref iddynt, nid ychydig ohonom yn unig. Mae’r Gymraeg felly yn sgil hanfodol i bawb, er mwyn i bawb allu cyfrannu’n llawn at ein gwlad ddwyieithog ni, ac er mwyn i bawb gael byw yn Gymraeg.
Mae’r Gymraeg yn wynebu argyfwng, ffaith mae’n amhosib ei wadu. Dangosir hyn gan y llun uchod — gan fod 6500 o siaradwyr Cymraeg yn marw bob blwyddyn o gymharu a 5100 o blant sy’n caffael yr iaith. Wedi cynnwys effaith patrymau mudo, collwn 3000 o siaradwyr yn flynyddol: nid oes digon o blant yn dod allan o’r gyfundrefn addysg i wneud lan am y newidiadau demograffig. Ffaith sydd hyd yn oed yn gliriach wrth edrych yn fanylach ar ganlyniadau’r Cyfrifiad: roedd niferoedd y bobl ifanc a oedd yn siarad Cymraeg yn 2001 wedi gostwng o tua 85,000 i tua 37,500 ddeng mlynedd yn ddiweddarach.
Mae adroddiad Sioned Davies i’w groesawu gan ei fod yn gwneud argymhellion difrifol, ac argymhellion sydd angen eu gweithredu’n syth os ydyn ni am sicrhau twf yn yr iaith dros y blynyddoedd i ddod. Mae casgliadau’r adroddiad yn drawiadol, gan amlygu difrifoldeb y problemau sydd angen eu datrys ar frys. Ymhlith y problemau a amlygir yn yr adroddiad y mae athrawon Cymraeg na fedrant yr iaith eu hunain, asesiad llafar wedi dysgu darn ar gof fesul gair, a’r methiannau lu a adnabyddir gan adroddiadau Estyn.
Dywed yr adroddiad yn gwbl glir: “Ni ellir gwadu ei bod yn unfed awr ar ddeg ar Gymraeg ail iaith. … mae’r safon yn gyffredinol wedi gostwng yn flynyddol yn ôl adroddiadau Estyn; yn wir, mae lefelau cyrhaeddiad disgyblion yn is nag mewn unrhyw bwnc arall. Petai hyn wedi cael ei ddweud am Fathemateg, neu am y Saesneg, diau y byddem wedi cael chwyldro. Ond mae cyrhaeddiad isel mewn Cymraeg ail iaith wedi cael ei dderbyn fel y norm. Os ydym o ddifrif ynglŷn â datblygu siaradwyr Cymraeg a gweld yr iaith yn ffynnu, rhaid newid cyfeiriad, a hynny fel mater o frys cyn ei bod yn rhy hwyr.”
Y shifft allweddol mae’r adroddiad yn ei argymell yw dechrau cyflwyno, fan leiaf, peth o’r cwricwlwm drwy gyfrwng y Gymraeg ym mhob ysgol yng Nghymru. Mae hynny’n cefnogi prif neges ein cyflwyniad ni i’r adolygiad, sef cyflwyno addysg gyfrwng Gymraeg i bawb yn ogystal â’i haddysgu fel pwnc, yn hytrach na’i dysgu fel ail iaith. Yn wir, mae angen dileu’r cysyniad ail iaith.
Cefnoga’r farn nid yn unig gan academyddion, ond hefyd, yn hanfodol, gan Strategaeth Addysg Gymraeg Llywodraeth Cymru ei hun a ddywed: “Addysg cyfrwng Cymraeg o’r blynyddoedd cynnar, gyda dilyniant ieithyddol cadarn drwy bob cyfnod addysg, sy’n cynnig yr amodau gorau ar gyfer meithrin dinasyddion dwyieithog y dyfodol.”
Mae adroddiad Sioned Davies felly yn adlewyrchu’r consensws ymysg cymdeithas sifig am sut i wireddu nod y system bresennol – sef rhuglder Cymraeg i bawb. Mae ystod eang o gefnogaeth i’n cynigion i newid trefn Cymraeg “eilradd” sydd yn methu. Er enghraifft, llofnodwyd llythyr diweddar gan y Gymdeithas — yn galw am addysg Gymraeg i bawb — gan llawer o bobl megis Robin Mcbryde, Adam Price, Susan Elan Jones AS ac Ann Jones AC.
Mae ei hadroddiad hefyd yn cydnabod nad yw plant yn amgyffred cyd-destun arwyddocaol na’r rheswm dros ddysgu’r iaith. Er enghraifft “nid oes gan ddisgyblion … ddealltwriaeth o gyd-destun ehangach yr iaith – yn hanesyddol, yn ddiwylliannol ac yn wleidyddol”. Gallai’r sefyllfa anhygoel godi yng Nghymru fod gwadu hawl rhai tan 18 oed i ddysgu siarad Cymraeg yn rhugl, ond bod gorfodaeth i ddysgu am frwydr Bosworth.
Dylsai canlyniadau Cyfrifiad 2011 fod yn gatalydd i sicrhau gweithredu newid ym mhob rhan o fywyd Cymru. Yn anffodus, ac, er gwaethaf yr argyfwng sydd yn wynebu’r iaith ac argymhelliad yr Athro Sioned Davies bod angen gweithredu ar frys, mae Llywodraeth Cymru eisoes wedi penderfynu oedi rhag gweithredu. Mae diffyg ymateb gan y llywodraeth yn eglur ym mhob maes o bolisi sy’n berthnasol i’r Gymraeg.
Dyna pam mae’r Gymdeithas wedi galw ar Carwyn Jones i roi ymateb o fewn 6 mis i gynigion mewn 6 maes o bolisi allweddol. Un o’r rhain yw i weddnewid y drefn o ddysgu Cymraeg Ail Iaith sy’n fethiant llwyr.
Bydd y Gymdeithas yn trefnu rali yn Aberystwyth ar y 14eg o Ragfyr i alw ar i’r Prif Weinidog ddarparu’r allweddi i agor y cloeon sy’n atal ein pobl rhag byw eu bywydau’n Gymraeg. Os ydych chi’n cytuno bod angen trawsnewid y system addysg fel bod pob plentyn yn cael byw ei fywyd yn Gymraeg, ymunwch â ni yn y rali.
Josh,
I have to reply in English. This disappoints me no end, but some of the negative comments on the previous article really annoyed me and I couldn’t bring myself to chip in. I do think my input here may be relevant . Things may be different now, but I was a product of Welsh as a second language in school, albeit in the 1980’s – pre GCSE era. I had great teachers – one from the North and one from the South, who were both passionate about us learning Welsh, but the course that they had to deliver was 2 maybe 4 hours a week and no more than a mechanical language exercise, verb tables and grammar, with periodic tests on vocabulary and useful phrases. French was taught in the same way, with the same results i.e. no-one could speak a word when they finished. I could write great essays, always loaded with a smattering of phrases and expressions, that I picked out to impress, things like ar bugai’r drain, ar hyn o bryd, yn y cyfamser. Technically I don’t think I was that bad when I completely my O level, but I couldn’t speak a word – if the oral exam at the time had carried more weight then I would have certainly have failed.
The big disappointment for me was that I didn’t actually care about having a Welsh qualification (that never mattered to me) – I genuinely wanted to learn to speak the language and speak it socially (where to do that was and still is a big problem). If I was able to, I would have gone to the Welsh lessons, even if there was no qualification at the end of it and many of my friends carried on with Welsh in the sixth form even though they weren’t doing a Welsh A level. It gave us all a great affinity for the language none-the-less and the language is not alien as it may be to many. This was a different era also, because this was an era when the school would have two assemblies a week predominantly in Welsh, with Welsh songs and hymns – these were great preparation for singing in the Old Arms Park and really made you feel proud to be Welsh. The one thing that has changed in the intervening years I think is that the language has become alien to many, As little kids we thought cae dy geg was rude and we would shout it out in a very English speaking playground, as if it was English, just for fun. We never learned Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau we just knew it and this was in an English speaking Heartland.
For myself, I would have preferred it, if speaking and listening came first and the technical side of things had followed. Learning languages is meant to be fun – rydym yn dysgu trwy chwarae – it’s vital to get a feel and a ear for any language first and it’s vital to rapidly lose any inhibitions about trying to speak it. Even rote learning expressions would be fine in the first instance, just to get used to saying things, enjoying it and gaining confidence. Obviously this would be better in Primary School, when there are no real inhibitions anyway, but later on this could still have been done in Music and Drama lessons very easily and even in Games or sports lessons – slowly bringing in simple informal everday expressions would have made the real learning of the language in lessons later and speaking it in front of friends, much more fun and natural.
Instead structured lessons were very formal – we had great teachers, but they never used real spoken Welsh, we never sang songs in lessons or learned to converse, which is a real shame. The most common words you would hear would be Eisteddwch and Sefwch, and the lessons would comprise of trying to think of words you could use to follow rydw I, leading to roeddwn I when you got a bit more advanced!. It wasn’t natural – has anyone actually heard a conversation that went along the lines of Bore da Mr Thomas, beth ydych chi’n hoffi … Diolch yn fawr iawn I chi Mrs Jones, rydw I’n hoffi coffi ond nawr mae rhaid I fi fynd i’r ysbyty. My welsh may be rubbish, but I knew what I was learning wasn’t what I wanted. I had welsh speaking grandparents and the Welsh I was trying to learn at school didn’t feel or sound right or natural to me. This made it very hard work and laborious learning.
Most of us English speakers are supporters of the language, many are too busy to consider it properly or that often, it’s not on the everyday radar any more which is life, but I really dislike the hard core goaders and snipers, who seem to have a mission to destroy the language – why would anyone get joy out of going the extra mile to do that. It’s a bit sick really, there are a few who constantly try their best to chip away at something they don’t care much about in the first place, for no obvious reason. I can’t imagine Wales without the language and better for it to be part of the present than the past – it will still be here in 100 years time, unlike some of its dissenters. I hear the doomsayers, but I’m a dreamer and I really think a resurgence in support is very possible (dare to dream as they say). It’s all down to goodwill – it needs a political will and I don’t see that anywhere and it never has been.
Everyone doesn’t have to speak Welsh and never will, but it is time to stop robbing our kids of the opportunities to have the chance to speak the language properly – complete immersion from three or earlier is obviously the best option, but the nuseries and schools aren’t there, More worrying for me, is that I never hear Welsh spoken anywhere in public anymore – hence it’s not on the radar and risks becoming alien to many. We live in an age where saying lush or cwtch is considered a badge of Welsh identity – we can be more than that.
The Welsh Language is important to Wales – its entwined with our history and who we are – an ability to speak it may very well have economic and educational positives, but not everything can or should be measured in those terms – some things are just culturally the right thing to do in a good society. Supporting the rights of people in Wales who wish to access learning though the Welsh Language is simply the right thing to do – we do live in Wales and we have a great language – fantastic – this should be an easy and available choice for all parents, but it isn’t, because a few who have always ensured that it has been denied to a great many. Token teaching of Welsh is pointless – the goal should be to engage a younger generation so that they want to confidently and fluently converse in the language and be proud of it – having pride in it is key– the desire to learn and improve literacy will then follow. We need more Welsh language used in the high street and shopping malls – not just signs, but music, comedy, food and dance.
Aled – cytuno gyda ti am y sywladau ar y blog Saesneg. Fi wedi rhoi’r gorau i ddarllen sylwadau Saesneg am Gymru a’r Gymraeg mae wastad yn llawn o bobl hollol wrth-Gymraeg.
Mae dy neges di yn hollol gywir ac yn codi’n nghalon. Rwyt ti’n llygad dy le. Nawr, mae angen i Carwyn Jones fod yn ddewr a bod yn ddyn a gwneud job o waith dros y Gymraeg o ran addysg a chreu cyfle i bobl ddefnyddio’r Gymraeg.
Pob hwyl i ti.
**
Basically – I’m 100% with Aled. I’ve mostly given up on reading postings about the language on this blog or, poor Betsan Powys’s blog on the BBC. The anti-Welsh vitriol is just too depressing and tiresome after a while. We’re attacked by people who want to live in Wales but a Wales with no Welsh.
There ae 90+ states where English is the only official language. There is one very small (as we’re continually told) where English is an official language with Welsh. This is the only country where Welsh is spoken. People who want an English-only state have 89 to chose from. Those of us who want one where Welsh is also used and promoted have just one.
Aled is right. I just hope that Carwyn Jones is man enough and brave enough to keep that choice open to other people of non-Welsh speaking backgrounds and respect the right of those who wish to live their live in Welsh in Wales.
Pleser pur oedd ddod o hyd i erthygl yn y Gymraeg ar y wefan hon; sa i’n cofio’r tro diwetha’ digwyddodd! Os ‘dyn ni am i blant o aelwydydd Saesneg ddod yn siaradwyr Cymraeg, bydd rhaid iddynt fynychu ‘Creche’ cyfrwng Cymraeg megis ‘Cylch ti a fi’ ac o fan ‘na symud ‘mlaen i ysgol feithrin gyfrwng Gymraeg ac o fan’na naill ai i ysgol gynradd cyfrwng Cymraeg neu ysgol gynradd lle mae o leiaf rhai o’r pynciau yn cael eu dysgu trwy gyfrwng y Gymraeg. Wrth gwrs, bydd angen arian, ond mwy na hynny, yn gyntaf oll bydd angen yr ewyllys glweidyddol i’w wneud! Pe byddai cyfundrefn addysg cyfrwng Cymraeg i blant bach di-Cymraeg fel disgrifiais i uchod yn cael ei gwireddu, rhaid cofio bod angen cael rhywle tu fa’s i’r ysgol lle maen nhw’n gallu ei siarad hi a’i chlywed hi ar lafar. Mae hynny’n dod a ni at HOLL-BWYSIGRWYDD goroesiad/bodolaeth CYMUNEDAU CYMRAEG CYNHALIADWY – ond mae hynny’n bwnc arall eto…
Aled,
Too true. I have dubbed ‘hate o’clock’ as the time when ill-informed bile is poured into these pages in response to any allusion to the Welsh language in a blog. Any attempts to respond to these attacks results in personal abuse from people who hide behind pseudonyms. It is a terrible shame that the debates and discourses the IWA seeks to encourage are being devalued by a small number of Trolls.
My father was sent away in the 1920s to ‘have the Welsh beaten out of him’ as was accepted practice at the time, so I was brought up in a monolingual household. Learning in later life has not been at all easy, but thank goodness my children are at a Welsh-medium school that is officially ranked as ‘outstanding’, the only such school in SW Wales.
The moral here:
[1] Good WM teaching in a good WM school works
[2] There is more demand (40%) than supply (25%) for WM education at present
[3] WM education only works where it is meeting a demand and where the teaching capabilities are capable of meeting and satisfying that demand
[4] Extend WM education by offering it as an accessible choice (a school within reasonable reach for all)
[5] Make it an attractive choice (good teaching in good schools, based on the universally accepted understanding that a bilingual education is more effective than a monolingual one)
[6] If and when demand increases, extend WM
[7] Retain choice – no matter how perceptions differ from realities, don’t give people the opportunity to spread scare stories
In essence, it is better to teach 40% well than 100% badly
Ultimately, we need to create an economy which allows the WM educated to thrive here rather than having to head for London and the wider world
Some great new expressions for my vocabulary “fod yn ddewr a bod yn ddyn” ac “Hate O’Clock”. Just looked up troll on Wikipedia and hadn’t come across the Brazilian pombos enxadristas – the wikipedia explanation is quite funny and apt.
I got a torrent of abuse once when I mischieviously posted this great expression in reply to an anti Welsh language posting.
Pub den oll yw genys frank ha kehaval yn dynita ha gwiryow. Yth yns i enduys gans reson ha cowses hag y tal dhedhans gwul dhe udn orth y gila yn spyrys a vredereth.
I was told this was “the intellectual equivalent by the crachach of rude people of Wales who change to speaking in Welsh in a shop whenever some English speaker comes in”
Not much to say – we know those views are out there and they are expressed for the sole purpose of alienating and discouraging the use of the language. The people who say them, know it’s not true, but they don’t care – it may be a bit of fun to them, but the consequences aren’t funny. I am a parent as well, delighted with WM education, but no parent wants their children to be potentially subjected to pressure from bigots when they grow up (what other word could I use).
If we can change attitudes on drink driving and all the rest, then it should be possible to make attitudes and comments like those socially unacceptable. You can’t legislate for things like that and unfortunately I think it is normal human behaviour, but that doesn’t make it right. It needs the decent majority of people to exert a bit of polite social pressure, because vitriolic anti Welsh language sentiments are simply wrong in any decent society.
Translated; the expression from the universal declaration of human rights is:
“Genir pawb yn rhydd ac yn gydradd â’i gilydd mewn urddas a hawliau. Fe’u cynysgaeddir â rheswm a chydwybod, a dylai pawb ymddwyn y naill at y llall mewn ysbryd cymodlon”. or “All folk are born free and even in worth and rights. They are bestowed with mind and heed and should behave towards one another in a mindset of brotherhood.”