John Good is well known throughout the West, South, Midwest and in his native Wales as a multi-instrumentalist, Welsh piper, singer/songwriter, composer and poet. Veteran of many Celtic festivals and concerts, including Estes Park, Chicago, San Diego and Denver, he brings the subtly different flavor of traditional Welsh music to the stage. John speaks and teaches the Welsh language (  Y Gymraeg  ), is a member of the traditional band  Tramor   and is the president of the  Welsh League of Arizona   .

A message from John Good:-

Hello everyone, John Good dw i, I am Sioni Dda and will be leading the newydd spon danlli /brand-spanking new flame-colored interactive, on-line Welsh course on AmeriCymru, to be known as Ameri Cymraeg .

Let me tell you a little about myself so that we can understand each other better from the dechrau. I was born in South Wales in the Afan Valley and Welsh/Y Gymraeg and English were spoken in the house. By the time I left school, I knew less Welsh than when I started … I had little interest in a dying language , and anyway the Beatles sang in English and all of my friends spoke it. Fast forward 25 years, having moved to San Francisco, LA then Phoenix all of a sudden I realized I had robbed myself of a major part of my cultural identity and I set about re-learning Yr Hen Iaith/the Old Language so that I could talk to my aging mother in the language of her youth. I achieved that and, in the last 15 years or so, have taught a surprising number of desert dwellers and others, among other things, how to pronounce popty-ping [popty /oven--that goes--ping] or microwave.

The language is now a passion of mine and I look forward to the opportunity to pass on what I cherish: The truly healthiest dying language in the world.

Y Driniaeth/The Approach

I’ve assembled my approach to teaching from a number of sources over the years: John Albert Evans, Rhodri Jones, Heini Gruffudd, and Gareth King to name but a few, but have also assembled a fairly large dossier on how not to teach Welsh. I’ll be working from my own play book, illustrated with the borrowings from the best teachers I know. As a musician I am attracted to the “by ear” method: Language as sound, much like a melody with meaning. After all young children don’t use grammar books (although for adults they have their place), they associate repeated sounds with objects and people.

Adnoddau ar-lein/On Line Resources

We are very lucky these days that there are a myriad of on-line resources that I would have killed for when I was first looking to revive my heritage. I’ll go through these in detail later on, as they all have special strong points, but for now….

Geiriaduron/Dictionaries

http://techiaith.bangor.ac.uk/GeiriadurAcademi/?lang=en

English to Welsh only but an incredible bargain am rad ac yn ddim /for free! The hard copy is $84 from Amazon!!

http://geiriadur.ac.uk/gpc/gpc.html

The first -- to my knowledge -- on line Welsh/English/Welsh dictionary; written by a Welsh learner. There’s inspiration for you.

http://www.geiriadur.net/

Another great free dictionary, with search features I’ll tell you about later.

http://www.cysgliad.com/cysill/arlein/Default.aspx

                                                Free spell-checker/Sillafydd

Well, I hope this has sparked your interest. I got pumped up just writing it! I look forward to seeing you on Google Hangout (Also free!).

Hwyl am y tro/Bye for now, Sioni Dda/John Good.