A RETIRED Abergavenny teacher who travelled to Argentina to teach Welsh to schoolchildren has returned home.

Welsh-speaker Mavis Griffiths, 64, of St Helen’s Road, was teaching adults Welsh at Coleg Gwent when she saw an e-mail from the British Council advertising a teaching post in a Welsh-speaking enclave in Patagonia.

Mrs Griffiths, a special needs teacher at the former Harold Road Junior School in Abergavenny for 38 years, decided to apply.

The grandmother flew to Buenos Aires in February, and caught a second flight to Trelew before travelling to Gaiman.

Mrs Griffiths lived in a house in Gaiman, rented by the British Council, which had a room to teach a small groups of adults.

She taught several classes a week at Welsh schools, including Ysgol Meithrin in Gaiman, ranging from nursery to adults, and helped teachers improve their Welsh. She said she was honoured to judge an Eistedffod in the town, which has a population of 6,000.

Mrs Griffiths returned home in July but keeps in touch with those she met, and was thrilled to learn that all her students passed their Welsh GCSE.

“It was an amazing experience and wonderful to find a small part of Wales thousands of miles from home,” she said.