Centre aims to increase number of Welsh speakers

ATTRACTING new speakers to the Welsh language and increasing the numbers using Welsh each day is the aim of the National Centre for Learning Welsh, which launches a public consultation on its strategic plan at its conference today.

The centre, responsible for the Welsh for Adults education programme, shares its vision in the plan, which includes developing a contemporary curriculum, expanding e-learning resources and generating new opportunities to bring fluent speakers and learners together.

The consultation is being launched at the centre’s first national conference, which will see more than 100 Welsh-language tutors meeting in Cardiff to listen to a range of speakers, including the Welsh Government’s Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language, Alun Davies.

Cambridge University language expert Jane Lloyd and poet Professor Mererid Hopwood are also among the speakers, in addition to Sioned Wyn Roberts, S4C’s Children and Learners’ Commissioner, and Dr Emyr Davies and Mike Ebbsworth, from the WJEC, Clive Phillips and Gareth Kiff, from Estyn.

Alun Davies said: “One of the Government’s aims is to see the Welsh language thrive, and the Welsh for Adults education programme has a key role to play in achieving this ambition.”

Efa Gruffudd Jones, chief executive of the National Centre for Learning Welsh, said: “This conference is an opportunity to both thank and support those at the front line of the programme, the language tutors, and share our ambitious plans for the future.

“We welcome feedback and look forward to working to deliver an inclusive service.”

Comments can be made on the plan until July 18. Find it at www.learnwelsh.cymru