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From:
Valerie Sutton Date: Thu Mar 16, 2000 4:43 am Subject: Re: SignWriting as a gateway? | |
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On 3/4/00, INGRID FOGGITT wrote: >I realised that there must be something very important in this! >Those kids who find writing English virtually impossible might be >able to rather write in SignWriting??? Exams, tests, worksheets, >etc in SignWriting as a percentage of the whole exam? This is a >very interesting insight. One boy, Glen, who is functionally >illiterate (he missed YEARS of schooling) has already taken to >jotting down SignWriting in his other subjects: maths, biology, >english, etc. The present lack of having a book that serves as a >`dictionary' to what ALL the symbols in SW mean (e.g. the big black >dot, the 'number' symbol #, etc) has not deterred Glen at all -- he >has independently worked his way around this by attaching his OWN >meanings to symbols. I have not encouraged this otherwise he might >end up with his own SW system that no one else understands. >HOwever, for now it is working for him and I told him that when we >receive more SW materials, we will work on substituting his own SW >symbols with the more `universal' ones. Hope that this is the >right thing to do? ------------------------------- SignWriting List March 15, 2000 Finally I am getting to read some of these older messages. I posted all of Ingrid's messages on her new web pages... SignWriting in South Africa https://www.SignWriting.org/teach037.html ....before I had really had the chance to study what Ingrid said myself! And now Ingrid has sent us some GLORIOUS photos of her Deaf students writing SignWriting all over blackboards - it was enough to give me goosebumps when I first saw them! So I hope all the teachers will send me photos so I can add them to your web pages in time... But in regards to your question, Ingrid, about letting your students who love and need SignWriting to write as best they can...even if the symbols are wrong etc....Yes...I agree with you...encourage them and let them go right ahead...I would not worry about that at all... I say that with all confidence...I have found that people want to communicate so much, that when they find the right way to write something later, then they switch to that correct writing because they know others will be able to read it too. When there is a need, people find the way. SignWriting definitely opens literacy to some Deaf people, and it would be a crying shame to hold them back now, when they finally have a tool they can use. So just believe in the higher intelligence of your students - they will adjust and learn through experience. Remember that just a few weeks ago, they had no SignWriting at all...so something is better than nothing... For those students who are clearly benefitting from SignWriting, I would suggest that you teach them to use the SignWriter Computer Program - even young Deaf children in poverty-stricken Nicaragua are learning to type by computer and enjoy it and learn from it. And the dictionary in the computer program is the same dictionary we have in book-form - so you have an ASL dictionary right now in the computer...why not print it out for the students? Then they can take red pens and change all the signs to make them more "South African", and then they can sit at the computer and fiddle with the software until they figure out how to re-type them! Great way to learn - fiddling with software.... Val ;-) ----------------------------- Valerie Sutton SignWritingSite: https://www.SignWriting.org SignBankSite: https://www.SignBank.org SignWriting List Archives: https://www.egroups.com/group/sw-l To post a message to the SW List: To manage your SW List email: for No Mail: SET SW-L NOMAIL for Digest Mail: SET SW-L DIGEST for Regular Mail: SET SW-L MAIL for Member List: REVIEW SW-L by NAME |
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