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Andree,<BR>
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Your request reminds me of the fable of the cat and the mice. As you may recall, the mice lived inside the walls of a house where there was ample food routinely left on the dining room table. The problem was that a cat also resided in the home. Hence, the mice were afraid to raid the dining room lest the cat sneak up on them. The mice held a meeting to discuss their dilemma and one thoughtful mouse proposed putting a bell on the cat. The other agreed this was a great idea, and all felt the mouse who proposed it should undertake the responsibility of implementing the concept.<BR>
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When we were teaching SignWriting in Nicaragua back when our organization operated the school in Bluefields, we thought having a body of literature for children would be a great idea -- so we produced the stories ourselves. We are still doing that, and, yes, it is very time consuming, especially as we are all volunteers.<BR>
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I don't think you have to worry so much about the age of the readers. The bigger issue is the signing ability of the individual student. A native signer will develop sign language literacy skills very quickly. A non-signer, in my opinion, needs to develop fluency first. Then, the student can learn to read SignWriting quickly -- at least at a level that will enable that student to use his or her SignWriting skills as a bridge to literacy in a sound based language (such as English or French.) And, where will you find a textbook in English for a Deaf reader who understands SignWriting? That, too, would be a great idea -- worthy of a grant, I should think. We made them for Spanish -- success, by the way, depended upon the motivation of the teacher.<BR>
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-- James Shepard-Kegl<BR>
Nicaraguan Sign Language Projects, Inc.<BR>
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on 10/6/06 5:12 PM, Andrée Gagnon at atg@videotron.ca wrote:<BR>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><B>Dear SW members,</B></FONT></FONT> <BR>
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<FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><B> Because I feel that Val really ought to know who I am, what I do and why I wish to establish contact with the SW members, please find below my message.</B></FONT></FONT> <BR>
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<FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><B> Firstly, I will introduce myself. I am deafblind. I attended the Deaf school in Québec city ( Canada) and I grew up in their dormitory. I use Quebec Sign Language ( QSL). Since 1998, I am professor in the Department of Education at the University of Ottawa</B></FONT></FONT> <BR>
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<FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><B> ( Ottawa is the capital of Canada). I have been teaching six different courses ( literacy and deafness: development of writing and reading for deaf students. The students can obtain a certificate of deaf education in Ontario, Canada.</B></FONT></FONT> <BR>
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<FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><B> At the Deaf school in Ottawa, a project called ³ Fais-moi signe² ( in English, ³ Make me a sign²) is being developed to be presented to the Ontario Ministery of Education for their approval. I am preparing the QSL curriculum as the first language from kindergarten to grade 2 ( 2006-2007), from grade 3 to grade 8 (2007-2008) and from grade 9 to grade 12 ( 2008-2009). Upon approval of the project, the guide of QSL curriculum will be distributed to teachers of Deaf students in the province of Ontario.</B></FONT></FONT> <BR>
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<FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><B> And now I would like to learn more about SW curriculum. Do you have a Sign Writing curriculum from kindergarten to grade 12 for deaf children, not adults? To my knowledge I believe that only 2 teachers</B></FONT></FONT> <BR>
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<FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><B> ( Cecila Flood in USA, Stefan Worhenman in Germany and one researcher(Kegl in Nicaragua) (another may be Brazil) have been teaching sign writing course to deaf children since many years. Also, I know that Juliette ( France), Katheren ( Belgium) and others ( Germany- Swiss, and so on) have been teaching the Deaf children an introduction to SW for a few years. What about the popular hearing trainers ( Val, Ingvil, Stefan) and deaf trainers ( Therirry, Lucyna, Stuart) who give to hearing and deaf adults an introduction to SW.</B></FONT></FONT> <BR>
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<FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><B> While visiting the Centre of Total Communication in Danemark in 1998, I asked the hearing and deaf teachers if they were using the SW in the class in 1998 and the answer was no.</B></FONT></FONT> <BR>
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<FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><B> I already checked your SW book for adults and also found you have a few children books ( literature) for reading. Do you have a strategic instrument to teach deaf children how to read and write SW? As an example, French hearing children in grade 1 learn to form the regular plural of the nouns by adding an ³ s²: chat-chats ( in English, cat-cats). But, they cannot acquire the plural ³aux²of nouns ending in ³al² in grade 1: cheval-chevaux ( in English ox-oxen). It is only in grade 2 that the hearing children can acquire appropriately the plural ³ aux² of the nouns ending ³al². <BR>
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<FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><B> As the level of grades seems important for deaf children to acquire the symbol of rotation, my question is : should it be in grade 2 or in grade 3? As far as I am conserned I do not know. <BR>
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<FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><B>Best regards</B></FONT></FONT> <BR>
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<FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><B>André Thibeault</B></FONT></FONT> <BR>
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