FOR five teachers at a Denbigh school, the lockdown has provided time to tick “siarad Cymraeg” off the bucket list.

Denbigh High School Head of Welsh Linda Evans, who is also the Associate Assistant Headteacher, set the challenge to her colleagues, who varying degrees of skill in the language.

The staff taking up the challenge using a varitey of apps are Assistant Headteacher Becky Williams, the Headteacher's PA Lisa Allington, teaching assistant Anita Davies, head of maths Katrina Flannigan and Becky Jones from student support.

Ms Williams said: said: “I have been living in Wales off and on since I was 13. I achieved a GCSE in second language Welsh but have never been confident speaking any Welsh.

“My husband's first language is Welsh and my two small children are bilingual so it is really important to me that I can speak Welsh with them.

“When I started, I was able to follow some Welsh and tried hard to use incidental Welsh around school. We have been using an app called "Say Something in Welsh" to work through sessions independently. Then Linda sends us phrases to translate and we all post a voice recording of us saying it.

“Within two weeks of starting to learn, I had to put my Welsh into practice in the local hub provision at St Brigid’s. We had a five year old girl attend who was from a Welsh speaking school and home. She was very nervous and on her own. WIth the basic Welsh patterns I had from the sessions, I was able to reassure her and make her laugh! I couldn't believe how valuable my new skills were so early on.

While Ms Davies and Ms Allington also had some experience in the language , Ms Flanagan moved to Wales from Haydock last year and had no prior knowledge of Welsh.

She said: “ It is definitely testing my brain on a daily basis and I'm sure it's taking me longer than most for it to sink in but it's working! I am really enjoying it and I really didn't think I would as languages were my worst subject at school - It's amazing what a little bit of encouragement can do.

“It's also lovely to hear other familiar voices on our little whatsapp group during our daily tests.”

Ms Evans said said: “ I've been incredibly proud and amazed at how the staff at Denbigh High School have taken to the Welsh lessons! Although most of them had a little prior knowledge of Welsh, they wanted to be able to hold conversations through the medium of Welsh. I came up with the idea at the start of lockdown and thought this would be a fantastic opportunity to encourage staff to take up this challenge. The results to date have been amazing and this will be a positive lasting legacy from coronavirus that will benefit our current generation at Denbigh High and hopefully future generations to come”.