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From:  Valerie Sutton
Date:  Mon Sep 6, 1999  3:41 pm
Subject:  Letter from German School using SW


September 6, 1999

Dear SignWriting List:
I would like to welcome a new school and a new country, Germany, to the
SignWriting Literacy Project.

Here is the letter of confirmation from the school's teacher, Stefan
Wöhrmann, and the school's director, Prof. Dr. Michels:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

August 20, 1999

From:
Stefan Wöhrmann, Studienrat


& Prof. Dr. Michels,
Director of the Landesbildungszentrum
für Hörgeschädigte Osnabrück


Dear Ms. Sutton,
Our school would like to participate in your SignWriting Literacy Project.
We are one of four educational establishments for hearing impaired pupils
in Niedersachsen/Germany. For more information, have a look at our homepage:

Landesbildungszentrum
für Hörgeschädigte Osnabrück
https://home.t-online.de/home/lbzhos

I am a psychologist and teacher for the Deaf and hard of hearing. I'm
confronted with the problem that some deaf pupils demonstrate great
difficulties in developing appropriate reading and writing skills in
German. I'm teaching 5 deaf pupils at 7th grade and 5 pupils at 1st grade.
In my first class that will start on September 2nd, there are several deaf
pupils with foreign backgrounds. The families are from Lebanon, Kirgistan,
Kasachstan and Germany. One child has deaf parents while the other kids
come from all hearing families. They communicate in home signs, which are
highly idiosyncratic. As these signs differ from one family to the next, it
will be the first task to establish a common basis for communication. For
these kids it must be an additional problem to realize that lipreading
depends on what language the other person performs at home (Arabic,
Russian, Russian Sign Language, German) or at school (German). Teaching
these children makes it necessary to practice Signed German (LBG)
throughout the day.

A combination of printed German words and photos, sketches or SignWriting
symbols may help to improve our efficiency in teaching these pupils. I am
always looking for ways to develop and increase my pupil's literacy levels.

I know that you have already donated various materials including workbooks,
videos and a computer program to different schools in return for the
teacher's feedback. I would be happy if you could support us as well and
donate some materials.

I agree to complete three Web Reports in return for the SignWriting
materials and technical support you donate to us. It's a matter of course
that other teachers in the field of special education may take advantage of
our experiences with your materials. So I understand that this letter and
all three reports will become public information and will be posted to the
SignWriting List and posted on the SignWriting Web Site. You have our full
permission to use the information as needed.

As I don't know whether your materials can be used for our classes
immediately, I would like to ask you in the beginning for one set of your
SignWriting materials for one instructor and one pupil.

Thank you for considering us for your project.

Sincerely,

Stefan Wöhrmann, Studienrat


and

Prof. Dr. Michels,
Director of the Landesbildungszentrum
für Hörgeschädigte Osnabrück
https://home.t-online.de/home/lbzhos

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Valerie ;-)



  Replies Author Date
1820 Letter from School in New York State Valerie Sutton Thu  9/9/1999

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