During National Apprenticeship Week, Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol is proud to announce the names of 16 new apprenticeship ambassadors across Wales for the 2024-25 academic year.
The Coleg’s apprenticeship ambassador scheme was established in 2020 to give young people undertaking an apprenticeship the opportunity to promote the importance of bilingualism in the workplace and to encourage others to do their apprenticeship bilingually.
One of the ambassadors who is very proud to be doing his apprenticeship through the medium of Welsh is Thomas Lindsey-Jones, who is 16 years old and comes from Llanfair Caereinion.
Thomas is a lorry and heavy vehicle mechanic apprentice with the Wynnstay company at their headquarters in Llansanffraid. Thomas said,
"When Wynnstay heard that I was one of the ambassadors of the Coleg Cymraeg, they were very proud. The language is important to them and the fact that I speak Welsh was certainly an advantage when I was applying for the apprenticeship. Colleagues appreciate being able to speak Welsh with me.
"I'm also very happy that I get to do the coursework through the medium of Welsh as all my education has been in Welsh until now, and I would have found it very difficult to do coursework in English. "
Another of the Coleg Cymraeg's ambassadors is Lara Condy from Barry, who is an apprentice with the Deloitte company in Cardiff.
Lara started a degree course at university, but she soon realised that it didn't suit her way of learning. Lara said, "In the sixth form, it's very easy to be influenced by your friends, and follow the crowd to university. But it is very important that young people follow their instincts, and if university doesn't feel right for them, I would encourage them to look at what other options are out there.
"I started a course at university, but that didn't suit my way of learning - I needed to learn by doing.
"So I looked for another way and managed to get an apprenticeship with the international company Deloitte. Although I don't have much opportunity to speak Welsh at work, doing elements of the apprenticeship in Welsh means that I still get the opportunity to use the language after leaving school."
Enlli Jones, who is 21 years old and originally from Llanrug, is an apprentice in Gwynedd Council's accounting department. She sees it as a great advantage to be able to discuss work in Welsh and feels that it makes the experience of learning much better for her.
"Since Welsh is my first language, and all my education has been through the medium of Welsh, it was important for me to find a workplace that offered an apprenticeship through the medium of Welsh. It would have been unnatural for me to do an apprenticeship in English.
"It's great in Gwynedd Council as everyone speaks Welsh.
"Because I’m doing an apprenticeship, I can see the reason behind learning things at college and can give examples from the workplace in exams. I understand questions better from doing the work day-to-day, and know why they are asking them."
The number of apprentices who do an activity through the medium of Welsh or bilingually has more than doubled since Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol began working in the sector, increasing from 10% in 2016 to 25.3% in 2022.
Coleg Cymraeg has supported several strategic projects with 51 grants being awarded to colleges and 11 grants to apprenticeship providers during the 2022/2023 academic year.
In addition to the grants that have enabled colleges and apprenticeship providers to employ Welsh-medium staff, the College has developed several learning resources including the Safe Farm V.R resource and an interactive resource to improve apprentices' understanding of bilingualism.
Follow the Coleg Cymraeg's social media accounts on Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, Linked In and Bluesky to read about the new apprenticeship ambassadors. For more information on the benefits of Welsh in the workplace, visit colegcymraeg.ac.uk.