What’s the word for . . . ? Beth yw’r gair am . . . ?

An illustrated dictionary - Geiriadur â lluniau

Compiled by Carol Williams / Lluniwyd gan Carol Williams

ADDITIONAL NOTES FOR TEACHERS OR PARENTS

  1. Familiarize yourself with the section ‘Using the dictionary’, and then discuss the contents with the children as appropriate for the age group and ability (see 3 below also).
  2. Select tasks which you think are most suitable for your pupils (see ‘Suggested tasks’ on this website). Adapt and expand tasks as appropriate as you, and the children, become more familiar with the material.
  3. Discuss the differences between the Welsh and English alphabets with the children (see Suggested Tasks 1–3).
  4. Familiarize yourself with the section that talks about letter-changes (mutations) and how to use the alphabet strips to help look up words (pages 122–4). Discuss these with the children if appropriate (i.e. taking account of age group and ability as well as the task in hand).

In Suggested Tasks 6 and 7, where the children are asked to look up underlined words, a few mutated words are included. On page 123 of ‘Using the dictionary’, two examples of how to look up mutated words are given, and on page 124 there is further guidance on the use of the alphabet strips. Follow the same basic pattern for other letters that have been mutated.

  1. Discuss the format for writing a letter, including the address, the date (for full lists of the days of the week and the months see under ‘dydd’ and ‘mis’ in the Welsh–English section), ‘Annwyl’, and ‘Hwyl fawr’ (see Suggested Tasks 5 and 7).
  2. Encourage the children to choose a Welsh reading book, and to use the Welsh–English section to find the meanings of some words.
  3. Encourage the children to use the dictionary when undertaking writing tasks set by you. Introduce them to the steps outlined on pages 124–5 of ‘Using the dictionary’ for looking up Welsh words. This should encourage them to develop the habit of checking the word that they find in the English–Welsh section in the Welsh–English section before actually using it.
  4. In Suggested Task 4(b) the children are encouraged to use the pictures to find more words for things (e.g. on page 29, the picture of the factory could be used to encourage the children to look up words for: lorry, door, wall, window, chimney, smoke, roof). You will of course find that a child will sometimes want a word which has not been included in the dictionary. Be prepared occasionally to look up words in another, larger, dictionary (see 10 below), or indeed to suggest an alternative word for the child to use. For instance, seagulls appear in more than one picture, but the word for ‘bird’ could be used instead; and on page 82, there is a knight in the picture, but here the word for ‘man’ could be used instead.
  5. On the website you will find a section called ‘Discussing the pictures’. This includes some additional vocabulary related to the pictures as well as suggestions for suitable questions to use as a basis for discussing some of the larger pictures.
  6. What’s the Word for …? Beth yw’r Gair am …? contains just over 1,500 words. Here is a list of other dictionaries which could be useful for you or the children if you need to look up words that have not been included in the dicti