[sw-l] Re: SW in Latin American & Spain

[James Shepard-Kegl, Esq.]

To educators using SW in Spanish speaking countries:

As I guess all of your are aware, we use SW a very great deal in Bluefields,
Nicaragua, and we have developed a good deal of reading material:  three
volumes of reading lessons in SW, applied math workbooks in SW, Spanish
texts and workbooks incorporating SW.

Our Deaf teachers and students, of course, appreciate the value of SW in a
teaching curriculum.  Why?  because for them there are practical
applications on a daily basis.

However, for government administrators in the Ministry of Education, SW is
much more of an abstract.  Yes, if they had to think about it, the concept
would seem like a good idea.  However, use of SW in a teaching curriculum is
not a traditional approach in Deaf education.  Everyone knows that I espouse
it, but what do I say when some foreign consultant comes in and says, "This
is not accepted practice anywhere else.  Using SW violates standard teaching
procedures."

So, immediately we have the battle of the foreign consultants.  This is in
part what occurred in Condega, Nicaragua.  And the Columbian oralist had an
advantage in this debate:  He is a Latin American and he speaks Spanish.

At some point (possibly June), I am planning to hold a teaching seminar for
the hearing staff at the Bluefields Deaf School.  This program would be not
merely for government teachers, but also for the supervisors the government
sends to the school from time to time.  These individuals are not
particularly well trained, if at all, in new approaches to Deaf education --
which makes them very vulnerable to oralism or so-called "total
communication" advocates.

I can say that SW is being used at varying levels (pilot programs,
developing curricula, etc.) in other Spanish speaking countries.  But, it
would be much better if a description of the varying programs came from the
sources -- and written in Spanish.  I would be happy to share your one - two
page reports with our own staff and with the participants in this teaching
seminar.

Please address any documents to:  El proyecto de idioma de senas de
Nicaragua
at kegl at maine.rr.com

Thank you for your help.

-- James Shepard-Kegl