NEW LANGUAGE CHARTER FOR CARMARTHENSHIRE SCHOOLS

A new language charter for Carmarthenshire schools has been launched in Carmarthen.

Codi Caerau Sir Gâr, our new language charter, was launched at an event at Yr Atom, the new Welsh centre in the town’s King Street.

The aim of the charter is to encourage young people to learn Welsh and to use the language, developing from only speaking Welsh to teachers to using the language around the school, with friends, parents, using Welsh technology such as apps and listening to Welsh music and watching Welsh language programmes.

The  word ‘Caer’  in Codi Caerau, comes from the Welsh word for Carmarthen, Caerfyrddin. The origin of the word Caer is the Latin castrum which means castle or stronghold.

Carmarthenshire County Council executive board member for the Welsh language Cllr Mair Stephens told the launch: “The purpose of the charter is to support bilingualism. As someone who has learned the Welsh language you can see the advantages of speaking it.”

She said that people who were bilingual learned to think outside the box.

The council’s Chief Education Officer Gareth Morgans said the purpose of Codi Caerau Sir Gâr was to create strongholds of the Welsh language in the county.

Poet and author Mererid Hopwood gave an informative presentation on the development of the Welsh language.

Gwynedd County Council language charter officer Gwenan Ellis Jones said that Gwynedd was regarded as a very Welsh county but there were schools where no pupils were Welsh speaking and schools where 30 per cent of pupils had neither Welsh nor English as a first language.

She said Gwynedd’s charter was used to encourage pupils to speak Welsh outside the classroom.

Elfed Morgan Morris, headteacher at Ysgol Llandygai in Gwynedd, described how the charter and the school’s Cled Celt character were used to help parents appreciate the value of being bilingual and inspire pupils to use the Welsh language.

Improving Welsh and Bilingualism Teachers hosted workshops on the language charter, DJ Marky G (Marc Griffiths) gave a talk the use of radio in schools, and pupils of Bancffosfelen School performed an enthusiastic ‘Rap Siarter Sir Gar’ which was co written between the pupils and the  Welsh Children’s Poet  Aneirin Karadog.

Carmarthenshire County Council executive board member for education and children’s services Cllr Gareth Jones said: “It is a historic day in Carmarthenshire in launching the new language charter. It is another step forward as we try to restore the position of the Welsh language in the county.”