Sign languages taught in primary/elementary & secondary/high schools?

[Thierry Haesenne]

French Belgian Sign Language (LSFB) is taught in at least one primary and secondary school, in Namur. This is a bilingual school which deaf and hearing children attend. Sign language courses (2 hours/week) are compulsory for deaf children and are taught by a qualified native signer. LSFB is also the language of instruction in that school for deaf children. There are two teachers in class : a signing teacher and a speaking teacher. In secondary school, there is sometimes an interpeter instead of a teacher because of the lack of qualified teachers who know LSFB. 

For more info, contact me. I teach a few hours per week in that school. I will relay and translate your questions to the coordinator of the bilingual team. 

Hope this helps

Thierry Haesenne

Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2011 14:13:13 +1100
From: A.Schembri at LATROBE.EDU.AU
Subject: Sign languages taught in primary/elementary & secondary/high schools?
To: SLLING-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACC.EDU



A colleague is preparing a response to a recent Australian government paper on teaching languages other than English in primary and secondary schools here which lists a range of spoken languages as 'priority languages' for teaching, but does not list Auslan among those languages (a change from a former government language policy in which it was included as a 'prority language'). She asked me to ask colleagues on the SLLING-L: is/are your national sign language(s) taught to hearing children in primary/elementary and secondary/high schools in your country?Does anyone know where my colleague can obtain information about sign language instruction in schools in other countries (NB: we are not looking for information about the use of sign language as a language of instruction in schools/units/programmes for deaf children)?Thanks,Adam
-- 

Associate Professor Adam Schembri

Director, National Institute for Deaf Studies and Sign Language

La Trobe University | Melbourne (Bundoora) | Victoria |  3086 |  Australia

Tel: +61 3 9479 2887 | Fax: +61 3 9479 3074 | www.latrobe.edu.au/nids (under construction)




 		 	   		  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/slling-l/attachments/20110401/a2292397/attachment.htm>