writing by hand - not so easy ? -

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
December 2, 2003

Dear Ingvild, Stefan and SW List Members...
What a great message below, Ingvild...Actually Stefan's students do
write by hand, just not as fast as they type, and I believe Stefan was
concerned to take too much time in class on handwriting, since it was
slower than typing....and I believe he was asking if other teachers
feel it is necessary to devote a great deal more time on handwriting
versus typing?

Here is a clip from what Stefan said in his message...you can read that
his students write 6 sentences in SignWriting by hand, versus 16 to 24
typed SignWriting sentences....My reaction was ....Isn't that true in
spoken languages too? I know I can type sentences faster than I can
handwrite English? smile....

------------

Stefan Woehrmann wrote:
 > Writing German  - my students are used to write more than 2 pages a
 > day -- (answering questions, copy texts from the blackboard, writing
 > vocabulary-exercises, translating SW- documents ... ) but almost no
 > expressive writing on their own - besides simple sentences that are
not
 > connected - like: The doctor is busy. The teacher is tall. The apple
is
 > delicious. The ape is eating a banana . .... !! )
 >
 > Writing SW we would get 4 - 6 sentences - but not more! Using the SW
 > program every student will get about 16 to 24 sentences within a
reasonable
 > time. This document can be printed and it is the task to "translate"
it to
 > German in their exercis books.

----------------


I sent this message to Cecilia, and I will also send it to other
teachers in Albuquerque...most of them are so busy, they are not on the
SignWriting List...I know teachers are under stress to complete certain
assignments each day, and I can see how stressful teaching handwriting
must be for teachers, if they have administrators pushing to see a
certain number of sentences written in a day -it must be hard on the
students too...

Val ;-)




On Dec 2, 2003, at 11:58 AM, Ingvild Roald wrote:

> I agrre with Valerie, Stefan, it is important that your students may
> try
> to write their own signs. I thought they already did this? I have seen
> photos from you where they are writing on the blackboars, haven't I?
> Anyway, practice, with the possibility to make mistakes, is important
> in
> all learning. And if SignWritng is ever to become the written form of
> the
> sign languages, it is important that it is not only typed but also
> hand-written. I am sure your students will want to take down notes, or
> write letters, or whatever, in their own handwriting. And it will take
> time - and time is so precious when we are teaching the Deaf kids,
> because
> of all they miss that comes freely trough the air for us who can hear.
> Would they like to make stuff at home, like writing the sign-names of
> their family for gift-tags or greeting-cards, then the rest of the
> family
> would have to use 'their' language to know whom it is for ... Just an
> idea, I'm sure you have many.
>
> The important thing is that they do their own writing - at least most
> of
> the time.
>
> Good luck,
>
> Ingvild
>
> SignWriting List <SW-L at ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA> skriver:
>> SignWriting List
>> December 2, 2003
>>
>> On Nov 25, 2003, at 8:25 AM, Stefan Woehrmann wrote:
>>> They have got the problem to formulate ideas, stories on their own.
>>> Most of
>>> the students started to interact in SL not until before they became 6
>>> or 7
>>> years old. Sometimes I am afraid that we lost this first
>>> speachdevelopement - phase -- And now we are struggling ...
>>> Nevertheless - I am curious to use any means to improve their
>>> expressive
>>> skills.
>>
>> Stefan and Everyone -
>> It has been a holiday week here, so it is possible that the teachers
>> in
>> the US did not see your question...But attached is a nice photo of a
>> Deaf child in Brazil writing rows and rows for practice...They
>> produced
>> some great handwritten documents later...Antonio Carlos posted them on
>> his web site...go to:
>>
>> Brazilian SW Handwriting and Students
>> http://gmc.ucpel.tche.br/signwriting/frei-pacifico/
>>
>> I do not know if writing SignWriting by hand will help increase your
>> Deaf student's expressive skills...no proof of anything...but I can
>> hardly see how it would hurt them?...When students only paste signs
>> already written for them, in the dictionary in SignWriter, that keeps
>> them from practicing how to write or type...that actually might be
>> holding their development back...you never know until you test with
>> and
>> without....you may find their speech skills improve when they write
>> SignWriting on their own, because some deaf students get so excited to
>> express themselves in written Sign, that they rush over to a hearing
>> person and start vocalizing...I have heard of this now several
>> times...so I would suggest testing it...Albuquerque, as far as I know,
>> is in the same boat with you, Stefan...they got dependent on pasting
>> signs from the dictionary too, but there are some students who write
>> by
>> hand on their own, because they choose to...
>>
>> I believe you told me, Stefan, that a Deaf co-worker of yours writes
>> pages of SignWriting by hand and faxes it to you? That is
>> wonderful...if nothing more the handwriting is useful for those who do
>> not have computers... Val ;-)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>