Welcoming Welsh speakers to the College

This year, for the first time, Gower College Swansea held a Welcome Day for Welsh-speaking young people who have applied to start college in September.  The aim of the day was to help new students become familiar with the campus, meet other Welsh speaking applicants, meet Welsh speaking staff, and learn about the Welsh language opportunities at college.

Sessions were conducted by Sport lecturers Wayne Price and Sian Fowler, Eleri Griffiths from Menter Abertawe and the college’s Bilingual Champion Anna Davies. The students had great fun with a variety of team building tasks, ice-breaker activities and organising an event to promote the Welsh language at the College.

“We were very pleased with the response to the day as it showed that there is an interest amongst young people to use their Welsh,” says Anna. “It was an excellent opportunity for prospective students to meet other young people from across the area, and prepare them for the college start in September. They all had one thing in common, and that is their unique skill of being fluent Welsh speakers.

“The purpose of the day was to bring everyone together and raise awareness of the value of that skill, in the hope that they will not forget their Welsh here at the college. I would like to say a big thank to all the staff that helped to ensure a smooth day, especially to Sian Jones, Wayne Price, Sian Fowler, Mari Jones and Helen Bjork.  Hopefully this will be an annual event and something prospective students will look forward to.”