A PhD student from Bangor University has launched a new website to open the door to Welsh literature for youngsters during the coronavirus crisis.<\/p>\n
The S\u00f4n am Lyfra (Talk About Books) website created by Morgan Dafydd offers bilingual reviews of Welsh children\u2019s books to help them develop a passion for reading in Welsh.<\/p>\n
The former primary school teacher said children studying Welsh as a second language often struggled to grasp Welsh literature which affected their confidence and enjoyment of reading.<\/p>\n
The aim of the website is to make it easier for parents and young people to find the perfect book.<\/p>\n
The new venture has been launched amid the Coronavirus lockdown as parents struggle to entertain their children and deliver home-based learning.<\/p>\n
It features a wealth of resources including useful reviews, guest vlogs and educational tools and introduces children to an array of exciting authors.<\/p>\n
Welsh-speaking Morgan, 29, who lives in Llandudno Junction, is currently studying a PhD at Bangor University\u2019s School of Education and Human Development.<\/p>\n
The three-year research project, funded through a scholarship from the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol and match-funded by Bangor University, will examine the extent to which different types of bilingual books contribute to children\u2019s enjoyment, understanding and willingness to read in Welsh as well as improve their vocabulary.<\/p>\n
Morgan, who previously taught at Ysgol Dolgarrog in the Conwy Valley before it closed, has created the free resource in support of the Welsh Government\u2019s ambitious goal to achieve a million Welsh speakers by 2050.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all stemmed from my background as a teacher,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are lots of children and parents who don\u2019t engage with Welsh literature at all. It can be a confusing area for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe children I taught were from non-Welsh speaking backgrounds and they found reading in Welsh difficult. I once did a show of hands and nobody in the class had ever been to the Welsh book shop down the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did a little bit of work in the classroom without really thinking about it, making adjustments to the teaching resources and that really has become the basis of my PhD.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought this website would be a good idea to specifically support children and their parents on which books to buy. It\u2019s more than developing comprehension it\u2019s about getting them to enjoy Welsh books more and encouraging them to read for pleasure.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s essentially a \u2018good reads\u2019 website providing reviews of Welsh language books for children and young people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morgan grew up in Conwy, attending Ysgol Maelgwn in Llandudno Junction and later Ysgol y Creuddyn. Following school, he completed a degree in Geography at Bangor University before going on to do a PGCE teaching course there. He then studied a masters\u2019 degree in Educational Practice whilst teaching as part of a government-backed programme.<\/p>\n
While still teaching, Morgan worked with Prof Enlli M\u00f4n Thomas from Bangor\u2019s School of Education and Human Development to put together a PhD proposal for a Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol grant.<\/p>\n
The topic was inspired by an influential report commissioned by the Welsh Books Council in 2017 and written by Dr Siwan Rosser, from Cardiff University\u2019s School of Welsh, which looked at the Welsh books industry in its entirety. It set out a number of recommendations including the need to research the nature and purpose of bilingual books further.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel very passionate about this,\u201d said Morgan, who volunteers as a crewman for the RNLI in Conwy.<\/p>\n
\u201cReading plays a big part in everything. You can normally tell the children who read and those who don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of pressure on schools to deliver a million Welsh speakers by 2050. Yet we know that second language speakers are often unwilling to use Welsh for various reasons, which limits children’s experiences of using Welsh conversationally with others.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnlike speaking, reading is a solitary activity that does not require a conversational partner, whilst still offering new vocabulary and phrases for the learner to explore.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, at the moment, Welsh literature is something a lot of children and young people only associate with school and they would not necessarily buy and read in their own time. We want to get them enjoying it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was teaching, I\u2019d swap certain difficult Welsh words with English words so you get a kind of bilingual mishmash book in the hope that it makes it easier to understand. There are really difficult Welsh words which we don\u2019t use very often that we find in Welsh books.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy aim is to help children understand the book so they enjoy what they\u2019re reading and are reading for pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morgan built the website\u00a0 with the help of his partner, Llio Mai Hughes, a Welsh language officer with Gwynedd Council, but without any external funding.<\/p>\n
He has already amassed 100 reviews including helpful tips such as content and difficulty level to help children get started and the lockdown restrictions provided the perfect opportunity to launch. He hopes to continue improving the service through donations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Welsh Books Council have been very supportive and we are grateful to them for their help.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are currently\u00a0 looking for funding for the website, it\u2019s all being done voluntarily,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI ideally want children and young people themselves to contribute to the website. Children would much prefer to read content from their peers although parents appreciate my reviews. This is something I want to develop further.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still early days and the message is still getting out there. This is a time where people are stuck at home and there\u2019s little else to do so it\u2019s a good time to try and get children reading a book, especially if they don\u2019t normally read.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re plugging all the new books as well as the industry and publishers, and drawing some attention to the older classics too.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy plan is to increase the number of book reviews on there so it becomes the biggest collection of bilingual Welsh language book reviews on the web \u2013 it possibly already is. I\u2019d like it to be known as the \u2018go-to\u2019 place.\u201d<\/p>\n
The website is available at:\u00a0<\/strong>https:\/\/www.sonamlyfra.cymru\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n