Stefan wrote...
>One thing that astonished me most was the following episode: Danny - a young
>boy 7 years old - looks at the SW - phrases - written in signed German - and
>didnīt sign - but started to read the with voice !!!!
>I couldnīt believe that at the first moment. But it is no question to him
>that these written signs are simply another way of spelling what could be
>named with various tools.
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December 6, 1999
Stefan - This was the most wonderful and moving message - thanks so much
for the outstanding feedback...This particular message (the entire message)
is very important because a lot of hearing people just cannot imagine that
a writing system for signs could lead to increased understanding of spoken
languages, but it is clearly true - and you are verifying this with telling
us of your experiences!
And soon you will begin the fascinating world of translating
literature....Have you shown the kids the ASL video with the color-coded
SignWriting? That particular literature was written from video - in other
words, it was transcribed based on the video. Darline's excellent ASL
grammar was captured that way....that is one way to do translation...to
have someone sign the story, videotape it, and then make a class project
out of it - show them the video and literally write the whole story sign by
sign in SignWriting with the kids as a group.
Another way to do translation is the way James Kegl does it in Nicaragua -
James can tell you more about their process...they have a very long and
impressive list of literature now...
So anyway, I know you are very tired and working much too hard...the kids
are very fortunate to have such a caring and devoted teacher....
Please say "happy holidays" to your class! I will be posting a well-known
Christmas story here in the USA called "Frosty the Snowman". Lourdes, who
is Deaf, has written the whole story herself in ASL...she did a beautiful
job. I hope to have the whole story posted by Dec. 15th.
You could print it out for your students maybe ;-)
I have warm memories of Cologne and Celle, Germany, at Christmas time....it
is a beautiful time of year there...
Val ;-)
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