Clare Vaughan started her career as a teacher in Wales, going on to spend 20 years preserving and promoting the Welsh language in Patagonia, Argentina. Claire McAuley talked to her about the adventure of a lifetime.
Clare began her career as a secondary school teacher in North Wales, but for much of her working life she was project coordinator for the British Council’s Welsh Language Project. Her work has helped hundreds of people reconnect with Welsh, ensuring the language thrives thousands of miles from home.
What started as a ten-month stint became a life-changing journey. Clare said: “I was a Head of Welsh with a secure job and everything was fine. Then in 2000, I was diagnosed with cancer. It was like a bombshell. I was very ill for about 18 months, and when I recovered, nothing felt the same. I knew I had to do something meaningful with the time I had left.”
She saw an advert seeking Welsh teachers for Patagonia and she took a leap of faith - leaving her stable life behind for a new chapter nearly 7,000 miles away.
She initially planned to stay for just a year - but the experience changed her life forever. “I fell in love with the place very quickly,” she said. “People there live for today, because they don’t know what tomorrow will bring. After everything I’d been through, that way of living just made sense to me.”
Clare soon found herself immersed in a cultural landscape shaped by 19th-century Welsh settlers, who created a permanent settlement in the Chubut Valley in 1865 after being invited by the Argentine government. When Clare arrived, many older residents still spoke Welsh as their first language.
“But times have changed,” she explains. “When I first arrived, many people still spoke Welsh as their first language and used it daily with family. But their children often didn’t continue the tradition after marrying into other communities. Argentina is very cosmopolitan - a melting pot of immigrants - so we lost a generation of native Welsh speakers.
“Now, however, Welsh primary schools have been established, something unimaginable 20 years ago. Back then, teaching was limited to after-school clubs, and children weren’t becoming fluent. Currently, some of the adults who learned Welsh later in life have become teachers themselves, passing the language to new generations.”
Today, Clare continues to teach some adult classes online, but her primary role is coordinating Welsh language teaching across Patagonia - a particularly challenging task given the region’s vast geography, with around 700 miles separating coastal schools from her home in the Andes.
She said: “Thanks to WhatsApp, emails, and other technology, we stay connected, and I try to ensure each school has the resources it needs. Every school faces unique conditions and serves different student groups, so there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.”
She also collaborates closely with educators in Wales who are up-to-date on primary education developments. “That’s why it’s so important to have teachers sent from Wales through the project - they bring the latest knowledge and practices.”
Outside the classroom, Clare opens her home to welcome visitors and volunteers regularly, supports local events, is active with the eisteddfodau (festivals of the Welsh language and culture) as a judge and coach, and takes part herself. She is a member of choirs and recitation groups and does everything she can to promote Welsh culture and language.
And what does Clare see for the future of the Welsh language in Patagonia?
She said: “We’re at a tipping point - of the 7,000 languages spoken worldwide, more than half are expected to disappear by the end of this century. Nothing is certain. But Welsh people have tenacity. Despite external pressures, they’ve kept the language and traditions alive. As long as there are Welsh people and Patagonians who care about their roots, the language will continue.”
Clare was among journalists, politicians, artists and educators who were nominated for the 2025 Gorsedd Cymru honours. The Gorsedd honours people who have made a significant contribution to the Welsh language and Wales. As a second-language Welsh speaker who learned the language in school, Clare never imagined such recognition.
She said, “When I read the email, I couldn’t believe it. Half of me wanted to cry. I’m someone who learned Welsh at school - I didn’t grow up speaking it at home - but I was brought up to feel Welsh, not English. Learning the language opened a new way of seeing the world. I always saw the Gorsedd as something for others. I’m dedicating this to all my students - past and present - who’ve shared this journey.”
She continued, “The Welsh Language Project is about more than lessons. It’s about shared history, culture and pride. The people who came out here 160 years ago were willing to leave their homeland to find a place where they could keep that tradition alive. You can’t fully understand the culture if you don’t know the language. That’s been my aim - and to see that recognised now… I’m just chuffed to bits.”