Looking for an article for my students

[dac]

SignWriting List
July 7, 2003

Dear Polly -
Thank you for your email message below. I am posting it to our 
SignWriting List, which has around 200 members. Most are teachers of 
Deaf children, or Sign Language researchers. I am hoping some of them 
will give you the ammunition you need to prove to your co-workers that 
Sign Languages are true languages...

One thing I personally believe...that Sign Languages are becoming 
written languages too...and perhaps that would help convince them?

And yes yes! Dennis Schemenauer was one of the ten Deaf native signers 
that I hired to work on the SignWriter Newspaper staff, back in 
1982-1984....Dennis and Frank Allen Paul created a cartoon series in 
ASL...the cartoon characters had SignWriting in the bubbles instead of 
spoken language! Would you like to see those cartoons? I can scan them 
in and post them to the SignWriting List....

Both Dennis and Frank were brilliant and wonderful to work with...And 
yes! I know Brenda Castillo too...Her name is soooo familiar and I am 
trying to remember if we worked together or not - I believe so...maybe 
a decade ago...I do not know Bob Schaufele...

OK List...what ammunition can you give Polly?

Val ;-)

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

On Thursday, July 3, 2003, at 08:14 PM, Barack wrote:

> Hi,
> I am a hearing teacher who teaches ASL at Kentwood High School in 
> Washington state.  I am tired of defending the fact that ASL is a 
> language.  Do you have statistics that show how many world languages 
> have no written form?  Also, do you have an article that would be good 
> for my students to read so when the French teacher (or any of the 
> other world language teachers) make remarks to my students that, ASL 
> isn't a real language...." they can respond with some authority?  I 
> got my interpreter training at Mesa College back in the mid-1980s.  I 
> then moved here to Washington and interpreted for several years.  I 
> began teaching in 1998.  I am articulated with Seattle Central 
> Community College so offer college credit to my students.  However, 
> still no respect from any of the other language teachers at my school.
> Did any of you down there know Dennis Schemenauer?  Brenda Castillo?  
> Bob Schaufele?
> Hope you can give me some 'ammo'.
> Thanks,
> Polly Barack
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