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Week Five

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Wednesday, 18th August, 2004

I made arrangements with Jayne the night before to go down to Trevelin to see some of the classes in action down there, so after my customary lie-in (hey, I work hard when Im awake!) I went to check my e-mails, picked up a snack for lunch and then stood down at the bust-stop until the 2pm arrived.

Forgetting how extended Trevelin is as a town, and how far from the centre the Welsh house is, I got off the bus a few stops early and had a ten minute walk down to the chapel.

The 2:30 meithrin class had already begun, so I joined in singing some of the songs and helping the kids. While there I was introduced to Sylvie, who teaches in a school in Esquel, and she invited me along to speak to her choir and explain what I was doing.

After the children, there was an adult learners class and then a primary school class which ranged from between five and nine years old. Unlike the meithrin children, these were choosing to come along to a Welsh class where they could play games and watch videos, none of the children having any connection with Wales or so-called Welsh families in the region. We sat there for an hour, playing bingo in Welsh, naming parts of the body, singing, and then finishing off with a video in Welsh featuring Mici Plwm. They loved it.

After a short break, the final class of the day was a more advanced learners class, who were discussing superstitions, never an easy task and especially hard when there are so many and people have so many different ones.

At the end, Jayne and I were given a lift back to the bus station in the centre of town where we caught the 9 o clock back to Esquel. While Jayne went straight to the Welsh Centre, I went to call on Aled only to find that he had gone off to a farewell party for Uve, who was leaving at the end of the week. Couldnt blame him for that, and I was knackered anyway, so I went for a pizza (again!) at Dos-22 and then walked back to the hostel and sleep!

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