An Interview With John Good - Course Tutor, AmeriCymraeg

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AmeriCymru held its first online Welsh class on Wednesday and there are still places left on both the beginners and intermediate courses for people wishing to enroll. Here is the signup page for those who are interested. Below we proudly present an interview with course tutor John Good .

ENROLL FOR AMERICYMRAEG HERE .

AmeriCymru: What is your background in teaching Welsh?

John: At the age of 40, I found myself living in Phoenix and embittered, wishing I had taken the opportunity at school and at home with my mother and grandmother to speak the primal language of Wales. Resources in those days were thin, even on the Internet, so I taught myself mainly from books, listening to Welsh Internet broadcasts/tapes/music and from trying to talk to my mother and Welsh speaking friends on the phone. Although my Welsh was sketchy in youth, having experienced all of the pitfalls of linguistic self-tuition I'm well placed to help others cross the raging river of I'll never get there, and soaking wet, bedraggled but triumphant arrive confidently on the Welsh bank.

I've been teaching all levels of Welsh learners for over 15 years in Arizona; privately, at the Irish Cultural Center and else where and intermittently on Skype. I was a substitute teacher at Cwrs Madog and regularly speak the language with my brother, students, nephews and nieces and anyone else who will respond to me. Its a passion with me and my mission is to give back to others some of the joy I experienced speaking to my mother in the language of her youth, and reading the great literature and history of my beloved country ... so there!

AmeriCymru: What is your philosophy or approach to teaching the language?

John: I'm a musician and language to me is very similar to music: Sounds that convey meaning and feelings with occasional spiritual overtones. I like to get people to listen to the melody and especially the rhythm of Welsh; It helps memory, makes pronunciation easier and fun, and enjoyment boosts self confidence. I like to use common phrases and proverbs, songs, stories and poems so people can see the language in action, at its finest. And talking of having fun, it relaxes teacher and students and creates a good learning environment: They who laugh a little, learn a lot.

AmeriCymru: How can utilizing modern tech ( google hangouts etc ) make it easier for students to master Cymraeg?

John: Interactive means exactly that. The lines of communication are open 24/7. You/I can post ideas/questions/homework /suggestions when ready. The class room letter box is always open and at hand. The entire web is at our fingertips during the lessons, including our instant message blackboard, Google, Youtube and the entire virtual world

AmeriCymru: How do you see the AmeriCymraeg course developing in the coming weeks and months?

John: As I get to know students needs after all, All children learn differentlyas they sayIll be able to customize interaction and reinforce strengths and strengthen weaknesses. Anyone will be able to drop in/move between the different levels and find their comfort zone or refresh. Time allowing, I will be virtually available when people get stuck.

Eventually I'd like to see an AmeriCymraeg residential weekend (?) and a Welsh language conversation , audio chat room/class, but until then we just need everyone to sign up, do their homework and not chew gum in class! .

For all course enquiries please email americymru@gmail.com

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On this day the General Strike of 1926 began

The strike was called by the TUC for one minute to midnight on 3 May, 1926, for the previous two days, a million coal miners had been locked out of their mines over a pay dispute, which would have seen their wages decrease by 13% and their working hours increase from seven to eight hours.  In solidarity, large numbers from other industries stayed off work, and on the first full day of action, there were over 1.5 million people on strike.  The transport network was crippled, roads became choked with cars,  printing presses ground to a virtual halt, food deliveries were held up, while workers from the docks, gas, electricity, building, iron and steel industries dropped down tools.  Police charged rioting strikers with batons and fights broke out, while in Northumberland, the Flying Scotsman train was derailed,  the Roman Catholic Church spoke out against the strike, declaring it "a sin" 

The government reacted aggressively, the armed forces were quickly moved to escort food lorries while volunteers got some buses and trains back running, thousands of special policemen were recruited and a warship was sent to Newcastle.  Also, the government  tried to exert greater control over the media, by producing its own newspaper, the British Gazette, edited by Winston Churchill and using the fledgling BBC, to get its message out, with Stanley Baldwin, the prime minister, appealing to the people in a series of personal radio broadcasts to the nation. 

The TUC had been involved in secret talks with the mine owners and after nine days called the strike off without a single concession made to the miners' case.  Taken by surprise, the miners struggled on alone, but by the end of November most had drifted back to work.   

Borrn this day 1950 in Pontardawe

Mary Hopkin , folk singer who is best- known for her 1968 UK number one single "Those Were The Days" which was produced by Paul McCartney, Mary had been recommended to him by the model Twiggy, who saw Mary win the talent show. Opportunity Knocks.

Born this day 1965 in Baglan

Rob Brydon  (born Robert Brydon Jones) BAFTA nominated actor, comedian, radio and television presenter, singer and impressionist.  Best known for playing Uncle Bryn in the sit-com Gavin and Stacey and his chat show The Rob Brydon Show. In June 2012, he was one of the hosts for The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert in London.  

On 3rd May 1951  - Josef Herman's "Miners", a mural commissioned for the Festival of Britain, was put on display for the first time. 

 Josef Herman was a highly regarded Polish realist painter, who studied working people as the subjects of his art.  From 1944, he lived in Ystradgynlais for 11 years and became a particularly interested in coal miners as a subject for his work.  He became part of the community, where he was fondly nicknamed "Joe Bach", but was forced to leave Wales in 1955 because of ill health caused by the damp climate. 

We asked you the following question:-

1. In which city in Wales is this movie set?

Send your answer to americymrucontest@gmail.com The winner will be selected and announced on May 1st. Pob lwc / best of luck.

Nobody got the answer wrong and today we are happy to announce the two winners of our lucky draw. They are:-

Diane Sirkin & Lynette Evans

Congratulations/Llongyfarchiadau to our lucky winners. We will be in touch via email shortly to arrnge shipping of your soundtrack CD and movie posters.

HUNKY DORY ON AMERICYMRU

In May 1177, in order to strengthen his position as King of Gwynedd, Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd was given the lordships of Ellesmere and Hales in Shropshire by his brother-in-law King Henry II of England at the Council of Oxford. The agreement also saw Dafydd marry Emma of Anjou, Henry's half sister.

Dafydd was the son of Owain Gwynedd and Cristin, who were first cousins and as such, the marriage was not accepted by the church and Dafydd was regarded as illegitimate.

Owain Gwynedd was King of Gwynedd was a key figure in Welsh resistance to Norman rule from 1137 until his death in 1170, after which there was rivalry among his many sons, for supremacy in North Wales from the river Dovey to the river Dee. Of these Dafydd, Hywel, Maelgwyn and Rhodri were to be the main protagonists. Another brother, Madog decided to leave his fractious brothers and according to folklore, sailed to America in 1170, over three hundred years before Christopher Columbus's voyage in 1492.

1157 - King Henry II of England invaded Gwynedd. Dafydd engaged him near Basingwerk and Henry was nearly killed.

1170 - Owain Gwynedd died, with Hywel succeedìng him.

1171 - Dafydd was involved in overthrowing and killing Hywel at the Battle of Pentraeth on Anglesey.

1173 - Dafydd drove Maelgwn into exile in Ireland thereby gaining possession of all Anglesey for himself.

1175 - Dafydd imprisoned Rhodri, thus uniting Gwynedd under his rule. However, before the end of 1175, Rhodri had escaped from captivity and was able to drive Dafydd across the River Conwy. Dafydd and Rhodri then agreed that Dafydd would take charge of Gwynedd Is Conwy, the land between the rivers Conwy and Dee and Rhodri would take charge in Anglesey and Gwynedd Uwch Conwy.

1177 - In order to strengthen his position Dafydd sought an agreement with Henry II that saw Dafydd marry Emma of Anjou, Henry's half sister. Dafydd also received the lordships of Ellesmere and Hales in Shropshire.

1188 - Since the agreements of 1175 and 1177, there appears to have been a period of peace, as noted by Gerald Cambrensis, when he stayed with Dafydd at Rhuddlan Castle during his journey around Wales with Archbishop Baldwin, describing Dafydd as a man who showed "good faith and credit by observing a strict neutrality between the Welsh and English.

1194 - Dafydd's nephew Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (Llywelyn the Great) staked his claim to power in Gwynedd and conspired with Rhodri to defeat Dafydd at the Battle of Aberconwy.

1197 - Llywelyn imprisoned Dafydd.

1198 - Dafydd was released by the direct intervention of archbishop Hubert and retired to the Kingdom of England.

1203 - Dafydd died.

In May 1888, Owen Glynne Jones completed the first recorded climb of Cader Idris by the east ridge of the Cyfrwy.

Mountaineer and schoolteacher, Jones was born in London in 1867 to Welsh parents and on the death of his mother in 1882, moved to Barmouth. He went on to achieve a first class honours degree in experimental physics and became physics master at the City of London School

In 1888, he took an interest in climbing and knowing no more about organised climbing than he had absorbed from books on the Alps, ascended the east ridge of the Cyfrwy on Cadair Idris alone. At this time, rock climbing had hardly begun in earnest but in the English Lake District, W.P. Haskett Smith and others had been climbing for about 3 years. So in 1890, Jones visited the Lake District and soon came to the notice of the pioneers, because of his incredible strength, his ‘almost supernatural’ climbing ability and his scientific outlook. As a rock climber, he was reputed to be fearless though some have suggested that this was because of his short-sightedness. Nevertheless, he achieved many first climbs and was also at the forefront of new techniques in rock-climbing.

From 1891 onwards Jones visited the Alps annually and made some important first ascents. In 1897, he published, with George Abraham the classic Rock Climbing in the English Lake District, which along with Jones's exuberant style did much to popularise the sport. He had made plans to be the first to climb Everest, but in 1920, at the age of 32, he fell 1,650 feet to his death on the Ferpècle arete of the Dent Blanche in Switzerland.

On 2nd May 1230, William de Braose was publicly hanged, on the orders of Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, after it was suspected that he had committed adultery with Llywelyn's wife, Joan (Princess of Wales and Lady of Snowdon)

William de Braose (c. 1197 – 2 May 1230) was born in Brecon, the son of Reginald de Braose, who he succeeded in various lordships in 1227, including Abergavenny and Builth. The Welsh detested him and called him Gwilym Ddu (Black William). He was captured in 1228 by the forces of Llywelyn in the commote of Ceri near Montgomery and ransomed for £2,000. de Braose later made an alliance with Llywelyn and his daughter Isabella married Llywelyn's only legitimate son Dafydd ap Llywelyn.

At Easter 1230, William was discovered in Llywelyn's bedchamber with Joan, which resulted in Joan being placed under house arrest for twelve months and de Braose being hanged on 2 May 1230.

Born this day 1926 in Port Talbot

Clive Jenkins , former chairman of the general council of the TUC. Jenkins was a frequent guest on television chat shows and wrote his own regular newspaper columns. He listed his stated recreation in "Who's Who" was "Organising the middle classes".

Born this day 1982 in Cardiff

Timothy Benjamin , former Olympic athlete who is regarded as one the best British 400 metre runners of all time.

Catrin R. Davies will be performing at this year's North American Festival of Wales . Catrin is a former winner of the David Morris Memorial Award, the Solo Voice/Semi-professional competition at the annual NAFOW Eisteddfod. She went on to win first prize in the Mezzo-soprano category at the National in the Vale of Glamorgan last year. She will be performing at the Grand Banquet on Friday evening.

AmeriCymru: Hi Catrin and many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed on AC. When did you first become aware of your vocal talents and how did you go about developing them?

The Fairmount Royal York Hotel, Toronto - This years NAFOW venue

In Wales Calan Mai or Calan Haf was a time for celebration and festivities as it signified the beginning of summer.

* Wales has a wealth of May Day customs and traditions. Many date from the time of the Druids, such as the lighting of fires for Beli Mawr, Celtic god of Fire and sun, purification, science, fertility, crops and success, known as the festival of Beltaine

* 'Spirit nights', or ysprydnos, took place on May Eve. It was a night when the world of the supernatural was closest to the real world.

* May Day was the point in the year when herds would be turned out to pasture.

* Villagers would gather hawthorn branches and flowers to decorate the outside of their houses to celebrate the new growth and fertility of the new season, but it was believed to be unlucky to bring them into the house

* The maypole played a central role in Welsh May Day tradition. in south Wales it was called 'codi'r fedwen', 'raising the birch', the maypole was painted different colours and the dancers would wrap ribbons around it, then it would be raised and the dancing would begin. In north Wales it was called 'y gangen haf', the summer branch and was often decorated with silver watches and spoons. Young men dressed in white and decorated with ribbons would then sing and dance around it as it was carried by another man called the Cadi.

* May Day was the time that the twmpath chwarae (the village green) was opened, where villagers would gather in the evenings to dance and play sports. A mound was prepared and decorated with oak branches on top of which a fiddler or harpist would sit and play.

* A 12th century, poem celebrating Calan haf, welcoming the new season

The beginning of summer, fairest season;

Noisy are the birds, green the woods,

The ploughs are in the furrow, the ox at work,

Green the sea, the lands are many-coloured.

Today is the feast day of Saint Brioc

Saint Brioc c.520 was from Ceredigion and became the first Abbot of Saint-Brieuc in Brittany. He is known to have travelled through the areas of modern day Gloucestershire and Cornwall.

On 1st May 1992 - The Ebbw Vale Garden Festival opened and attracted over two million visitors to the town.

The National Garden Festivals were a Government initiative to help areas adversely affected by the decline of heavy industry. They were held biannually , with the first being held in Liverpool in 1984 and subsequent festivals being held in Stoke on Trent, Glasgow, Gateshead and Ebbw Vale. They were attended by millions of visitors, but were not generally successful in attracting long-term investment for the affected areas.

The first ever edition of the Western Mail was printed on May 1, 1869.

The Western Mail was founded in Cardiff by John Crichton - Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, it describes itself as "the national newspaper of Wales" although it has a very limited circulation in North Wales.

Born this day 1957 in Gorseinon.

Richard Moriarty , former Wales rugby international and captain, best remembered for captaining Wales to third place in the i naugural Rugby World Cup in 1987, which is, to date, the best performance by Wales in a Rugby World Cup.

THIS POST IS OUTDATED. FOR THE LATEST ENROLMENT DETAILS GO HERE:- AMERICYMRAEG

The meeting times are:- 6 pm Pacific time/9 pm Eastern on Wednesdays. It is possible that, by mutual agreement, we can change the times if this does not suit everyone but of course, we are trying to cater for all participants in all time zones. The first meetup ( which is purely introductory to hash out timing and technical details ) is tomorrow, Wednesday 1st May, at the above stated time.

The 'Donate' button is just below 'Top Videos' on the right hand side of any page on AmeriCymru ( where it says 'The Meriwether Lewis Memorial Foundation'. Course fees for the first two months are $40 ( special introductory rate ) If you prefer you can simply log in to your PayPal account and make payment to the following PayPal email address:- americaneisteddfod@gmail.com

As soon as we receive payment we will invite you to the private group on AmeriCymru where all further course details will be discussed.

Born this day 1770 in London (of Welsh parents),

David Thompson , possibly one of the greatest land explorers and geographers in history. His maps of western North America formed the basis of all later maps, contributing significantly to our understanding of the culture and history of Canada and North America.

Thompson was the first white man to explore the whole length of the Columbia River, enduring incredible hardship and danger. He was respected by the Native Americans, who knew him as Koo-Koo-Sint ('you who look at the stars') because of his constant use of his sextant in map-making. He took a firm stand against the highly profitable use of alcohol as a trading commodity with them.

Born this day 1888 in Cardiff,

David Jacobs , an athlete who won a Gold Medal with the British 4x100 m relay team at the 5th Summer Olympics, held in Stockholm in 1912.

On this day 2011, charter trains ran for the first time on the Heart of Wales railway line.

The Heart of Wales Line is a railway line, that runs from Llanelli on the South Coast to Craven Arms in Shropshire, passing through some of the most breathtaking countryside in Mid Wales. It was opened in 1861 for access to the once fashionable spa towns of Mid Wales, such as Llandrindod Wells, Llanwrtyd Wells and Builth Wells.

William Critchlow Harris, born 30 April 1854 , was an architect noted mainly for both his church buildings and domestic residences in Maritime Canada.

He was born in Liverpool to Welsh parents but moved to Prince Edward Island with his family as a young child. He travelled widely throughout Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia executing design commissions, and many of his Romanesque and Victorian gothic architectural creations can still be seen today .

George Maitland Lloyd Davies, born in Liverpool to a Welsh family on 30th April 1880 , was one of Wales's most influential pacifists during the first half of the 20th century.

He formed a Christian society to promote peace in 1914 called the Fellowship of Reconciliation (Cymdeithas y Cymod) and was imprisoned for opposing the Great War and conscription.

In 1937, as a second World War seemed imminent, Davies and Gwynfor Evans established the Welsh National Pacifist Society and published the pamphlet Ymorthodwn â Rhyfel (We Reject War).

TICKET GIVEAWAY CONTEST! FREE MOVIE TICKETS!

AmeriCymru is proud to partner with Variance Films to GIVE AWAY TWO SETS OF TICKETS to the Portland, Oregon premier run of "Hunky Dory" -

Two winners will each win a set of two tickets - win, win, WIN! and take a friend!

Showings are 7:15PM on May 6th, 8th and 9th at the Hollywood Theatre on Sandy Boulevard - The contest is open to anyone, you need not be an AmeriCymru member to win.

To be one of our TWO LUCKY WINNERS, just be the first or second person, In the Portland area or close enough to use the tickets, to answer this one, simple question correctly, by commenting on this post, below, or by emailing your answer to americymrucontest@gmail.com before May 4, 2013:

In what town in Wales does the film take place? Merthyr Tydfil? Tredegar? or Swansea?