[sw-l] BELGIUM: New SW Literacy Project and new web area...

Wed Oct 13 18:07:26 UTC 2004

Hello nice people ;o)

What can I tell you about Belgium? Better ask me what I can't tell you about Belgium because it is such a fascinating country ;o) We ARE the capitol of Europe ;o) And we have some beautiful city's to visit. Like; Antwerp, Brussels, Brugge, Gent, Liège, Namur, ... 
It is so that we officialy have 3 languages: Flemish, French and German. Flemish is the upperside close to Holland where people understand us pretty good because they speak Dutch. Brussels is situated in Flanders, but used to be and still mainly is French (Wallon) speaking. The lower side of Belgium is near to France and this is where the people live that we call 'Wallon'. This used to be the 'rich' part of Belgium in the early 19th century, but that changed about 70 years ago. Now Flanders is the economic drive of Belgium. Some people in Flanders want to be seperated from the Wallon part. I myself dont see me going on a trip and telling people i'm from the independant 'state of Flanders'. Who ever heared of Belgium, so WHO will know what Flanders is? :s
And then there is a VERY small part of German speaking people in Belgium, but they are such a smal part that they are fogotten about frequently. (shame on us!)

So far the general situation of Belgium. Now for our other languages that do exist in Belgium but are not recognized are the signed languages. There is a Flemish Signlanguage in Belgium wich consist also of many dialects as you can see on the website of the University of Ghent. ( http://gebaren.ugent.be/ )
There is also a 'French' Sign Language or better said 'Langue des Signes Wallon'. I'm sorry i dont have any information on the existence of 'Germang Sign Language' in Belgium. (Deutche Gebarensprache)
I know the signlanguage in Wallonië is recognized to use in the schools, but not as an official language. There are actions at hand to promote the recognition of Flemish signlanguage. (www.doofactiefront.be) this site is availible in English as well ;o)

Now for my school. Being it is situated in Brussels you will think, Jeezus all those languages?? No, it is true at my school there are Flemish speaking and signing people aswell as Wallon speaking and signing people. This used to be all mixed up, but a few years ago the two groups where seperated. So now the children learn 2 languages: Flemish SignLanguage (FSL) and Dutch (Flemish) written and/or spoken. This is how we see Bi-lingual education. The children are brought up in there mothertongue Flemish signlanguage and learn to read and write (speak) Dutch. I myself teach FSL (VGT - Vlaamse Gebarentaal) and d/Deafculture together with Sara (my sweet friend and Deaf coöperator).
We teach the children the grammar and sytaxis of VGT and do this by using SignWriting. What is our population? Well all the children run trough our classroom, no matter there hearingloss. Some student have more ours VGT a week then others.

I would love to get some information on other people using SignWriting in Belgium, the people i know dont really use it or are not working as educators. My french is not as good as I would want it to be. So i get more information in English and Flemish then French. It's more difficult for me to read a book in French then in English. But i will do my best to work with my Belgian partners ;o)

More news WILL follow ;o)
Greetings Kathleen 
ps: hope i don't make to many mistakes (my spelling isn't that great)
pps: i have a disk that has a DOS program for SignWriting (Kristof De Weerdt gave it to me ;o)
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Valerie Sutton 
  To: sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu 
  Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2004 6:47 PM
  Subject: [sw-l] BELGIUM: New SW Literacy Project and new web area...

  SignWriting List
  October 13, 2004

  Kathleen Heylen wrote:

    My name is Kathleen Heylen and i'm a motivated teacher from Belgium. I work in a bilingual school for d/Deaf children in Brussels, our beatiful capitol ;o)
    I started to use SignWriting with my pupils last year and it was an amazing experience for the children and for me too. Suddenly Flemish Signlanguage became more clear, and a full and worthy language. Just like our majority 'spoken' language, Flemish. I hope to learn more about SignWriting and how other teachers in different country's use it. Not only that, i really wanted to see something about Flemish signlanguage and SignWriting on the internet ;o)
    Greetings, Kathleen Heylen

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

  Dear SW List, and Kathleen!
  Thank you for this description of your school in Brussels. And welcome to the SignWriting Literacy Project!

  Because our List members are from 27 countries, perhaps you could tell us first, a little bit about Belgium, and the signed languages of your country?

  In the city of Brussels, they generally speak French, is that right? But your school for the Deaf in Brussels, is bi-lingual....Do you mean two signed languages? one for the French speaking part of Belgium, and one for the Flemish (Dutch) speaking part of Belgium? Smile...I know I ask a lot of questions...but I personally am interested too...I visited Belgium several times while I lived in Europe years ago, and it is such a beautiful and multi-lingual country!

  As you know, there are already some groups in the Flemish speaking section of Belgium using SignWriting, so we can also put you in touch with several groups. Maybe they will want their projects listed on the new Belgian web area I am creating for your school...

  And way back in time...in the mid 1980's, we were also working briefly with a group in the French speaking section of Belgium...they used SignWriting and I even created a version of the SignWriter DOS computer program just for them...so I will also try to place that history on the Belgian web pages too...

  Val ;-)

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