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<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>Hello Antony.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>Were have you lived in
Dordrecht?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>I have lived in Dordrecht all my
younger years. My home was in Rozenhof, or Levensverzekering straat as it was
called for a while.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>Tini Pel.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=adaamen@OPTUSNET.COM.AU href="mailto:adaamen@OPTUSNET.COM.AU">Antony
Daamen</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=sw-l@majordomo.valenciacc.edu
href="mailto:sw-l@majordomo.valenciacc.edu">sw-l@majordomo.valenciacc.edu</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, October 13, 2004 9:12
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [sw-l] BELGIUM: New SW
Literacy Project and new web area...</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
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<DIV>14/10/04</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Hallo Kathleen!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>welkom to this site!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I am Antony and am a 'listener'. Ik bedoel dat ik all de
verhaaltjes lees, maar niet vaak antwoord...... (I mean that I read
all the posts, but rarely answer.....)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I live in Australia, but grew up in Dordrecht,
Nederland. I always understood that Nederland was a very
oral-oriented country.... So how excited I was when you shown me
your website! wowowowowow.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I never knew any of this!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thank you ver very much, you made my day! </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Also good to see that you use SignWriting in this webiste and with
the teaching in the class!!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I myself work for the Qld Deaf Society (I don't know for how much
longer...) and have been to busy with my work, to be involved with the
promotion of sign writing. I have shown this method to anyone htat
wants to listen, but most educators here are very much set in their
ways....</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>QDS staff themselves are also very very un-interested! very
disappointing...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Nevermind we will plot along.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>OK, if you feel like a chat in Dutch (don't understand French) pls
tell me! I love to hear more from Belgie Nederland etc.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV id=IncrediOriginalMessage><I>-------Original
Message-------</I></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV id=receivestrings>
<DIV dir=ltr style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt" <i><B>From:</B></I> <A
href="mailto:sw-l@majordomo.valenciacc.edu">sw-l@majordomo.valenciacc.edu</A></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt" <i><B>Date:</B></I> 10/14/04
06:06:42</DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt" <i><B>To:</B></I> <A
href="mailto:sw-l@majordomo.valenciacc.edu">sw-l@majordomo.valenciacc.edu</A></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt" <i><B>Subject:</B></I> Re: [sw-l]
BELGIUM: New SW Literacy Project and new web area...</DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>SignWriting List</DIV>
<DIV>October 13, 2004</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Kathleen Heylen wrote:</DIV>
<DIV>> What can I tell you about Belgium? Better ask me what I can't
tell you</DIV>
<DIV>> about Belgium because it is such a fascinating country ;o) We
ARE the</DIV>
<DIV>> capitol of Europe ;o)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>This is absolutely fascinating, Kathleen! Thank you for sharing
with</DIV>
<DIV>us. So Belgium is the capital of Europe? grin...a side note....I
come</DIV>
<DIV>from California and I know some Californians feel we are the
capital of</DIV>
<DIV>the USA...but the rest of the USA does not agree - ha!!
smile...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>But now I realize maybe Belgium is the head of the European
Community?</DIV>
<DIV>is that right? In 2004 I believe you have a Dutch president of the
EU?</DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.eu2004.nl/">http://www.eu2004.nl/</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>> And we have some beautiful city's to visit. Like; Antwerp,
Brussels,</DIV>
<DIV>> Brugge, Gent, Liège, Namur, ...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>oh yes! They are beautiful! I have been to Brussels, Brugge,
Gent,</DIV>
<DIV>Leige, and Antwerp...I love Belgium...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>> It is so that we officialy have 3 languages:
Flemish, French and</DIV>
<DIV>> German.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I had no idea that German was spoken in Belgium!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>> Flemish is the upperside close to Holland where people
understand us</DIV>
<DIV>> pretty good because they speak Dutch. Brussels is situated
in</DIV>
<DIV>> Flanders, but used to be and still mainly is French (Wallon)
speaking.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>So there is a French-speaking city in the middle of Flanders, and
the</DIV>
<DIV>French dialect is called Wallon ? smile...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>> The lower side of Belgium is near to France and this is where
the</DIV>
<DIV>> people live that we call 'Wallon'. This used to be
the 'rich' part of</DIV>
<DIV>> Belgium in the early 19th century, but that changed about
70 years</DIV>
<DIV>> ago. Now Flanders is the economic drive of Belgium. Some
people in</DIV>
<DIV>> Flanders want to be seperated from the Wallon part. I myself
dont see</DIV>
<DIV>> me going on a trip and telling people i'm from the independant
'state</DIV>
<DIV>> of Flanders'. Who ever heared of Belgium, so WHO will
know what</DIV>
<DIV>> Flanders is? :s</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Oh. Wow. I see. I think Belgium is fascinating as one country with
many</DIV>
<DIV>regions and languages!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>> And then there is a VERY small part of German speaking
people in</DIV>
<DIV>> Belgium, but they are such a smal part that they are
fogotten about</DIV>
<DIV>> frequently. (shame on us!)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Do they use German Sign Language, or is it a separate
Belgian-German</DIV>
<DIV>Sign Language?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>></DIV>
<DIV>> So far the general situation of Belgium. Now for our
other languages</DIV>
<DIV>> that do exist in Belgium but are not recognized are the
signed</DIV>
<DIV>> languages. There is a Flemish Signl anguage in
Belgium wich consist</DIV>
<DIV>> also of many dialects as you can see on the website of
the University</DIV>
<DIV>> of Ghent. ( <A
href="http://gebaren.ugent.be/">http://gebaren.ugent.be/</A> )</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>All those dialects can be written in SignWriting, as you
know...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>> There is also a 'French' Sign Language or better said 'Langue
des</DIV>
<DIV>> Signes Wallon'. I'm sorry i dont have any information on the
existence</DIV>
<DIV>> of 'Germang Sign Language' in Belgium. (Deutche
Gebarensprache)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>You answered my question above...thank you!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>> I know the signlanguage in Wallonië is recognized to use in
the</DIV>
<DIV>> schools, but not as an official language. There are actions at
hand to</DIV>
<DIV>> promote the recognition of Flemish signlanguage.</DIV>
<DIV>> (<A
href="http://www.doofactiefront.be">www.doofactiefront.be</A>) this site
is availible in English as well ;o)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Great!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>> Now for my school. Being it is situated in Brussels you will
think,</DIV>
<DIV>> Jeezus all those languages?? No, it is true at my school there
are</DIV>
<DIV>> Flemish speaking and signing people aswell as Wallon speaking
and</DIV>
<DIV>> signing people. This used to be all mixed up, but a few years
ago the</DIV>
<DIV>> two groups where seperated. So now the children learn 2
languages:</DIV>
<DIV>> Flemish SignLanguage (FSL) and Dutch (Flemish) written
and/or spoken.</DIV>
<DIV>> This is how we see Bi-lingual education. The children are
brought up</DIV>
<DIV>> in there mothertongue Flemish signlanguage and learn to read
and write</DIV>
<DIV>> (speak) Dutch. I myself teach FSL (VGT - Vlaamse Gebarentaal)
and</DIV>
<DIV>> d/Deafculture together with Sara (my sweet friend and
Deaf</DIV>
<DIV>> coöperator).</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I see. Very interesting. So you have the school divided into
two</DIV>
<DIV>sections...one section for the Flemish and the other the
French</DIV>
<DIV>(Wallon)? So do the Deaf kids inter-mix on the playground? Because
we</DIV>
<DIV>could also write their Wallon Sign Language too, and then the
kids</DIV>
<DIV>could learn each other's signed languages! Just a thought...but for
the</DIV>
<DIV>future...smile</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>> We teach the children the grammar and sytaxis of VGT and do
this by</DIV>
<DIV>> using SignWriting. What is our population? Well all the
children run</DIV>
<DIV>> trough our classroom, no matter there hearingloss. Some
student have</DIV>
<DIV>> more ours VGT a week then others.</DIV>
<DIV>> </DIV>
<DIV>> I would love to get some information on other people using
SignWriting</DIV>
<DIV>> in Belgium, the people i know dont really use it or are not
working as</DIV>
<DIV>> educators. My french is not as good as I would want it to be.
So i get</DIV>
<DIV>> more information in English and Flemish then French. It's
more</DIV>
<DIV>> difficult for me to read a book in French then in English. But
i will</DIV>
<DIV>> do my best to work with my Belgian partners ;o)</DIV>
<DIV>> </DIV>
<DIV>> More news WILL follow ;o)</DIV>
<DIV>> Greetings Kathleen</DIV>
<DIV>> ps: hope i don't make to many mistakes (my spelling
isn't that great)</DIV>
<DIV>> pps: i have a disk that has a DOS program for SignWriting
(Kristof De</DIV>
<DIV>> Weerdt gave it to me ;o)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Please send my best wishes to Kristof! Your English is excellent -
no</DIV>
<DIV>problems at all! I will send you some contacts in Belgium -</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>it may take a few days before the web area is ready and I will
write</DIV>
<DIV>when it is!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Val ;-)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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