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From:
Stefan Woehrmann Date: Sun Jun 4, 2000 9:48 am Subject: Re: Chami | |
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Hi Linda , I read your emails with great interest . It could be that you are exactely that kind of mother teacher for Deaf would like to meet - (You donīt ask the experts - just to do with you child - what they think might work ! (CI would be available so quickly - at least here in Germany !) But that is the point , itīs not a new technical device that changes the chances of a deaf child - itīs the chance to develop a comunication system in early childhood in order to organize the world inside and outside from the beginning. It feels so good to realize that there are hearing parents who accept their children as what they are - and what they need. Your daughter is growing into the comunity of Deaf people and itīs so wonderful to ask "the experts of Deaf experience". As a hearing teacher itīs never too late to add more pieces to my own set of attitudes : Itīs a shame that the Deaf kids canīt speak up against discrimination or rude behaviour until they are grown up und finally get attention from their surrounding. So this is a good method to ask the DEaf adults, to ask them about their experiences during school or childhood -. Sharing these experiences with all listmembers is a gift - thanks Nancy and the others! I think that deaf-culture, deaf-education, questions about the start of reading and writing are connected with SW as it is a part of it. Iīm lucky to have deaf guests from time to time in my classes. Itīs so interesting to watch them interacting with my deaf pupils - itīs simply different - and I learn a lot. And for my little students itīs a big deal if an deaf adult tells them how important it is to do the homework, to learn to write and speak - to become skilled , to indicate that it is almost impossible to understand just from lipreading But the reason why Iīm answering your reply to Valerie is this : Linda wrote :> I look forward to knowing you more and learning this new language for me. Well , once again . Itīs important to understand because that causes trouble with some of my parents when I started SW at our school. SW is not a new language. In case you are or become a fluent signer (ASL ) - you know already this "new language". SW opens new possibilities. SW allows you to write what you sign ! SW allows you to read what you or somebody else expressed in SignLanguage. Therefore you are lucky to be able to start with a working dictionary in ASL .. People in South Africa (hi Ingrid), France (welcome aboard) , Switzerland (hello !) and other countries with different Sign Languages have to write their own dictionaries unless other pioneers (in Norway, Nicaragua, Brazil, ....) havenīt done that before. So it is very important to realize that SW is not a new language , but a writing system which allows to read and write that SignLanguage you are already familiar with. And this can be a big help to improve literacy in both languages . And that is the reason why we use it in our class ! By the way : Little Irina becomes more and more interested to find out how the same things are signed by American deaf children - she browses through the dictionary and loves to find signs she never saw before! All the best Stefan Did you download SW4.3 yet ? Valerie offers wonderfull materials on our homepage - itīs not too difficult to start. SW 4.3 offers files in the SW 4.3 programm that offer additional information. Knowing ASL you and your daughter should be able to identify the first signs just on your own. - and that will be fun !!!! I promise !! ;-) Stefan ;-) |
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