[sw-l] NICARAGUA...SignWriting Report April 1, 2005

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
April 3, 2005

Dear SW List...
James Shepard-Kegl has pioneered the use of SignWriting with Deaf 
children in Bluefields, Nicaragua for almost a decade. James just wrote 
an excellent report. Here it is:

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April 1, 2005

TO:  Valerie Sutton
          Center for Sutton Movement Writing, Inc.
          La Jolla, CA

FROM:  James Shepard-Kegl
               Nicaraguan Sign Language Projects, Inc.

Re:  SignWriting at the Escuelita de Bluefields, Nicaragua

Dear Valerie:

How do we use SignWriting in our school in Bluefields?

SignWriting remains integral to our teaching methodology.  All students 
are introduced to SignWriting as soon as they enter our program.  
Teaching SignWriting serves several objectives including:

1)  Teaching decoding strategies;
2)  Demonstrating our respect for the indigenous sign language;
3)  Instilling self-esteem;
4)  Teaching children’s literature.
5)  Enabling us to exploit a student’s literacy skills in Nicaraguan 
Sign Language so that we are better able to teach math and Spanish.

Because we already have a sizeable collection of reading lessons 
written in SignWriting, our need for additional material is no longer 
critical.  Nevertheless, we continue to add to our collection.  Our 
most recent addition is the Aesop fable: “The Ant and the Cricket.”  
Last month, our grade school teacher presented the story to her class.  
Please understand that this teacher is herself Deaf and able to read 
Spanish at only an elementary level.  Providing stories in SignWriting 
enables Deaf Nicaraguan teachers like her to share these stories with 
Deaf Nicaraguan children, thereby removing hearing staff from the 
equation.  If programs for Deaf children in impoverished countries like 
Nicaragua are to be sustainable, in our experience,  then dependence 
upon hearing personnel must be minimized, or eliminated.

One of the foster children, age 11, was sick for a short time in March 
and had to stay at home with me for a couple of days.  He was eager to 
read a new story, and while he still struggles a bit with SignWriting, 
he is not yet ready to tackle Spanish at all.  I had him successfully 
reading the Aesop fable  in short order.

We continue to develop Spanish reading lessons that present new or more 
complex grammatical concepts while improving the student’s recognition 
of Spanish words.  For example, one new lesson describes the sharks 
that inhabit Nicaragua’s largest lake.  These reading lessons contain 
words that might be unfamiliar with the students.  In the text, these 
new vocabulary words are italicized.  At the beginning of each lesson, 
these vocabulary words are listed alongside their counterparts or 
definitions in Nicaraguan Sign Language.  (See illustration below.)

Excerpt from glossary preceding Spanish reading text:


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