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

[Steve Slevinski]

James Shepard-Kegl,

It seems to me... (as a hearing man raised with English as my first
langauge)

Administrators have a problem of ignorance and misunderstanding.  I
think talking about SignWriting only makes the problem worse.  To me,
SignWriting is like grammar. It has rules and lessons.  It is made up of
best practices.  It can be boring to talk about unless you're directly
involved.

Sign langauge can be written,  just as any other langauge.  However,
sign langauges use a movement alphabet, rather than a phonetic alphabet,
because sign langauge moves.

Only ignorance and misunderstanding makes it possible for someone to say
that using SignWriting violates standard teaching procedures.  You use
written langauge with SignWriting.  Written langauge is the basis of any
modern education.  An education system that rejects reading and writing
would violate standard teaching procedures.

Helping people understand the importance of sign language is the real
problem.  But before we can discuss sign langauge, we have to get to the
heart of the matter.  Langauge is the true foundation of a modern education.

The earlier children are exposed to langauge, the better.  Children
absorb and create langauge naturally.  Humans are linguistic creatures.

While Oralists admit that early exposure to langauge is important, I am
not sure if they accept sign langauges as true languages.

Oralists choose to ignore that the children's attitude and experiences
are important.  A child's involvement, interest and enjoyment in
education makes all of the difference in their development as human
beings.

Deaf history is filled with stories of children who were robbed of their
childhoods because they were mainstreamed.  Their early years were
filled with confusion because they were forced to use a language they
could not fully experience.  Their time was consumed with constant
drills so that they could lip-read and voice.

A basic education is no different for a hearing child or a deaf child:
1) Early exposure to language
2) A love of learning
3) The ability to read and write their primary language

Once a child has been equiped with these 3 steps of a basic education,
there is no stopping the child from becoming a successful individual.
Oralism fails starting with step 1.  Oralism continues to fail with step 2.

-Steve


James Shepard-Kegl, Esq. wrote:

>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
>
>
>
>