Coleg Cymraeg appoints new Further Education Ambassadors

Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol has announced the names of 39 new ambassadors who will help to raise awareness of the benefits of bilingual education, and encourage their fellow learners to continue to use their Welsh language skills after finishing their courses.

The new ambassadors will work across further education colleges in Wales for the 2024-25 academic year, including four national ambassadors.

The national ambassadors will also have the opportunity to be part of the Learners’ Voice Forum, to ensure that the voice of further education learners is central to the Coleg’s work.

Social media

Among the new crew this year is Magi Roberts who studies Media at Coleg Cambria’s Deeside campus.

Magi is looking forward to promoting the Welsh language to her fellow learners on social media and building on her previous experience of creating travel vlogs.

She said: “It’s very important to remind young people of the benefits of being bilingual, especially in my area which is very close to the border.

“Social media is a powerful resource to influence, and I have experience of creating Welsh language creative content in the form of vlogs when I recently travelled to Asia. I therefore look forward to using all my creative skills in becoming an ambassador for the Coleg.”

Aidan Bowen, main photo, who studies Accountancy at Cardiff and Vale College has been appointed as a national ambassador.

He said: “I’m lucky that I’m able to speak three languages – Welsh, English and Patwa, which is the language of the Caribbean islands, so I understand how being multilingual can be advantageous.

“I am honoured to have been chosen to be a national ambassador and look forward to promoting the Welsh language at my college and specifically to people from diverse communities..”

New ideas

Bethan Eleri Phillips, who is studying Business at Coleg Sir Gâr, added: “In my spare time I create content on weightlifting on social media, and some of my content has gone viral!

“I have new ideas on how to use my platform to promote the Welsh language amongst my friends who are less confident in the Welsh Language.”

The ambassadors will begin their work this month. They will represent the Coleg Cymraeg and their further education college at a variety of events, create social media content, and offer ideas on how to promote the Welsh language within their colleges.

The scheme also provides many opportunities for the ambassadors to gain confidence and skills, and to be part of their college’s Welsh-speaking community.

The 39 ambassadors have been appointed across 12 further education colleges, and Elin Williams, the Coleg’s Marketing Manager is pleased to see the scheme growing.

She said: “The further education ambassador scheme is going from strength to strength with a number of colleges and their learners very enthusiastic to be part of the scheme.

“We now collaborate with colleges from all over Wales, and it’s great to see the relationship developing.

“We look forward to working with the new crew of ambassadors and national ambassadors and sincerely hope that they will be able to inspire their peers in their college and beyond to use and be the proud of their bilingual skills.”

To find out more about the ambassadors and to follow the scheme during the year visit the Coleg Cymraeg’s social websites. Tik Tok, Instagram, X and Facebook: @colegcymraeg