A PEMBROKESHIRE beauty therapy lecturer has been learning to wax lyrical in Welsh to ensure her students get the best out of their careers. Eleri Hunt, who teaches at Pembrokeshire College, is one of a growing number of education professionals to take advantage of the Welsh language Sabbaticals Scheme, an intensive course designed to give them the skills they need to teach through the medium of Welsh or bilingually. The Welsh Assembly Government-funded scheme was developed to boost the number of bilingual practitioners in response to the increasing demand for Welsh medium and bilingual education. Although Eleri's first language is Welsh, the mum- of-two felt that her vocabulary and grammatical knowledge weren't adequate enough to enable her to teach through the medium of Welsh. So when she found out about the Sabbatical scheme through a colleague, she jumped at the chance to get on board. "I really wanted to be able to teach beauty therapy through the medium of Welsh," said Eleri, "because many of my students will eventually live and work throughout Wales and it would be an advantage to them if they were able to converse fluently with their Welsh-speaking clients. "Although I grew up speaking Welsh, I was never really taught the technical words relating to my job. For example, I didn't know words like 'teaching style' and 'waxing'. I now know the Welsh words are 'arddull addysgu' and 'cwyro'! "The course was a bit of an eye opener, especially as I wasn't aware of many of the grammatical rules - especially where mutations were concerned. "But now I'm a lot more confident and knowledgeable and use the method of micro- teaching with my students. This involves teaching the Welsh-speaking half in Welsh and the English speakers in English during the same lesson." Eleri, who lives in Maenclochog, opted to do the Sabbatical course by distance learning, which involved three separate residential courses in Bangor. "The course was fantastic and the tutors were really, really helpful," she said. "I would definitely recommend it to any teacher or lecturer who wants to improve their Welsh." Education Minister Jane Hutt said: "With the ever- increasing demand for bilingual and Welsh medium education, it is vital that we have enough people who can teach bilingually at every level. The Welsh- language Sabbaticals Scheme is proving to be a real success and the responses from people who have taken part have been overwhelmingly positive. I would encourage anyone who is considering teaching bilingually to make the most of this opportunity." The Sabbaticals scheme allows teachers, lecturers and training providers to take time away from full- time work to complete a course providing intensive language tuition and guidance on preparing Welsh medium teaching resources. All supply and travel costs are met by the scheme, which has now been extended until July 2009. The course runs at Bangor University and Cardiff University. There is also the option of studying by distance learning. The next courses begin on September 15. Anyone interested in taking up the opportunity of a Sabbatical should visit http://www.wales.gov.uk/sabbaticalsscheme">www.wales.gov.uk/sabbaticalsscheme
