It was poetry that inculcated laws and maxims; it was by the harmony of its lines that traditions were handed down at a time when memory had to supply the place of writing; and it was the
first language of wisdom and of inspiration." It has been above all the recreation of statesmen and great officials, a means of escape from the weariness of public life and the burden of ruling.
Earlier this year an Estyn report criticised Welsh exams, warning youngsters who should have been entered for the
first language exams were being entered for those for learners in an attempt to inflate their grades.
Despite his assertion that a ``majority'' of parents are similarly anti-Welsh, the reality is that the majority of Welsh people, whatever their
first language and ethnic background, are proud and supportive of the Welsh language and its unique culture.
A study compared graduation and licensure examination pass rates of Mexican American nursing students who spoke English as a second language and students who spoke English as a
first language. Mexican American students were surveyed or interviewed concerning the effect on graduation and licensure examination pass rates of English as a second language, non-academic English proficiency, non-English speaking parents, and parental financial support.
The results compared the GCSE performance in French of pupils who also sat the Welsh
first language examination with the national average in French.
Rhag chairman Heini Gruffudd said, ``Currently, at least a third of pupils who sit examinations in Welsh as their
first language at 11 are sitting examinations for Welsh as a second language at 14 and 16.
Inuit teachers and pedagogical counselors know their
first language and their culture.
It warns that standards of written Welsh and exam results for many pupils are simply not good enough, adding that a large proportion of pupils from Welsh-speaking areas of Wales are not taught Welsh as a
first language.
This article reports on a psycholinguistic study of
first language attrition in German first generation immigrants.
I would like to add to the benefit of learning in one's native or
first language. Research suggests that educating young minds in their
first language makes their learning a pleasant experience because they understand concepts well.
BORIS Johnson has been described as "out of touch" with Wales after saying there were too many places in the UK where English wasn't the
first language.
first language - one's native language; the language learned by children and passed from one generation to the next