SW in England & Scotland

[Shane Gilchrist O hEorpa]

Thierry,

youre our real hero!!! :-)

i'm trying very hard to sell the idea to the Durham people - my work
(hopefully) will work with them on the development of the sign lang
curriculum to be used in the schools (not deaf schools) in the UK and
Ireland - and that SW should be incorporated.

Some did complain that there is not enough representation from
England's deaf community or the sign linguists in the UK - i said i
did encourage them to go but they were very lukewarm - if there ain't
important people backing this, whats the point in going???

Need to get the deaf schools in England & Scotland to use signwriting
i.e. Doncaster, Derby, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Bristol,
Exeter, Brighton, St Albans and the two schools in London - but can't
do anything UNTIL I can get someone to illustrate Val Sutton's
excellent SignWriting lessons with BSL signs - they will go phoo phoo
at the ASL pieces.

like you said, its the matter of time

Shane Gilchrist Ó hEorpa
European Sign Writers Organisation

On 3/18/06, Thierry Haesenne <thierry.haesenne at ilmh.be> wrote:
>
>
>
> Hello everyone,
>
> If you haven't seen me lately on the list it is because I have been so busy
> I haven't even been able to follow up with everything on the list... Sorry
> guys! I am not letting you down....
>
> Val, and all the others, you will be happy to learn that another Deaf School
> in French-speaking Belgium has asked me to train their teachers (three deaf)
> about SW... They will start using it as soon as they have finished their
> basic training with me. The hearing teachers will be trained later...
>
> It's the Centre d'Enseignement Spécial Provincial de Mons (CESPM) in Ghlin
> (near Mons in the Hainaut Province, about 70km south-west of Brussels).
>
> A few weeks ago, I gave a short training session with my colleague Damien on
> SW and the glossing system during a special training day for the teachers of
> the Deaf. Someone from Ghlin passed on the message and about two days later,
> I was contacted and asked whether I could train two deaf people. The
> training session started on Friday and there will be several further
> training sessions until mid-May. But I encouraged the deaf teachers to start
> using SW with the kids (especially the handshapes and locations on the
> face). The movements will be taught later.
>
> I was also asked to organise a seminar on SW in one Deaf Club in Brussels on
> 21 April. The aim is to introduce deaf people and LSFB teachers to SW, and
> also encourage hearing people to use it to learn LSFB in a more efficient
> way. Also a group of LSFB teachers asked me to train them in SW, but we
> haven't arranged a date yet. I guess it will be in September since I don't
> have much availabilities till then.
>
> My colleague Damien is still training teachers of the Deaf in Brussels but
> they are still a bit afraid of using SW and the glossing system every day
> (they have used it on and off in class so far). In the bilingual school of
> Namur, some teachers were introduced to SW but have not requested any
> further developments. I guess it is just a matter of time... Until now, only
> the IRHOV (Deaf school in Liege) has started using it in class, and it will
> soon be followed by the CESPM of Ghlin.
>
> Val, I am teaching LSFB to Cecile Beaufort, so I see her twice every week!
> She often asks me questions about SW during pauses. I still need to go to
> her class to assess the progress and give her some guidance. Do not worry, I
> am keeping a close eye on the development of SW in French-speaking Belgium!
>
>
> I guess that in the near future, most Deaf Schools in French-speaking
> Belgium will be using SW (except the ones with a strong oralist tradition).
>
> I hope that's enough good news for now!!! smile :-)
>
> Take care, all of you!
>
>
> Thierry
>
>