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From:
Valerie Sutton Date: Mon Aug 6, 2001 4:03 pm Subject: Visitors from Nicaragua ;-) | ||||||||||||
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SignWriting List August 6, 2001 Dear SW List Members: I have been blessed with guests from Nicaragua this weekend. They have left now, and I miss them already! In fact, I would have loved to have more time with Ancelmo and Daphne...the two Nicaraguan Deaf people who sat with me this weekend, discussing SignWriting. Ancelmo is a Deaf teacher at Escuelita de Bluefields...the school for the Deaf in Bluefields, Nicaragua. Bluefields is a poor city on the east coast of Nicaragua, and Deaf people do not have much chance for a good education....until now of course...thanks to the Kegl's work there. James and Judy Shepard-Kegl established a school in Bluefields, and another in Condega, Nicaragua. Deaf students in their schools are reading SignWriting literature, and some are also writing it. Ancelmo is one who writes, types and teaches SignWriting. That is why I feel so honored that Judy and James made the effort to visit San Diego, to bring Ancelmo and Daphne to meet me. Ancelmo is one of the rare Deaf people in the world who is fluent in SignWriting and uses it as his primary written language. Daphne is younger, age 17, I believe, and she assists Ancelmo when he teaches, by copying SignWriting lessons onto the blackboard for him. She can read SignWriting, but tried to explain to me that she was not that skilled in writing...According to James, most of the students read well, but only some write well. And I had two meetings...a two-hour meeting with Judy Kegl...and a brief one with James Kegl. Their feedback and interest means a lot to me. I had the opportunity to show them SignBank, the new database I am working on in FileMaker. Judy was the first person to view the SignBank database (outside me and my programmer of course!) and I felt very happy to know that Judy felt it would be a useful database and plans to use it. James was kind enough to interpret for me in Nicaraguan Sign Language, while I showed SignBank to Ancelmo and Daphne. I am not sure how much they could grasp under the circumstances, but I hope later, they will use SignBank as well as the SignWriter Computer Program, to create SW dictionaries. So all in all...it was a wonderful experience meeting everyone! Now James is driving towards Albuquerque, New Mexico, to visit with teachers who use SignWriting there. He left with a car filled with children, Nicaraguan guests, and a dog!! I believe they will be driving to several cities, stopping along the way, to end up back home in Maine, where the Kegls live.... That's my weekend report... Many thanks once again to the Kegls for coming!! -- Val ;-> ----------------------------- Valerie Sutton SignWritingSite: https://www.SignWriting.org SignWriting List Archives: https://groups.yahoo.com/group/sw-l/ To post a message to the SW List: | ||||||||||||
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