French-Belgium : another deaf school about to adopt SW and other news..

Sun Mar 19 15:20:52 UTC 2006

SignWriting List
March 19, 2006

Thierry Haesenne from French-Belgium wrote:
> 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....

That's ok, Thierry! Did you know about the new SignText Editor  
program, that does not require glosses to create SignWriting sentences?

SignText Editor
http://www.signbank.org/signpuddle/index.html#SignTextEditor

We have been discussing this on the List recently...

> 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...

This is wonderful news, Theirry! Yes...I am happy to know this! I  
will be creating a section on the web for the French-Belgian schools  
using SignWriting, just as I did for Kathleen and Sara in the Flemish- 
Belgian schools...

SignWriting in Belgium
http://www.SignWriting.org/belgium

So this section on the web will include your schools shortly...

We will need some photos of teachers or the school or the children,  
or perhaps examples of the documents they are writing with  
SignWriting...Send photos to me privately...ones that you want me to  
use on your web pages...right now I am in the process of posting the  
information that Cecile sent me...

> 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).

Great! Welcome to the SignWriting Literacy Project!

> 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 hope in time, Thierry, I can introduce you to SignText, since it  
may be an added boost to your students and teachers....

SignText Editor
http://www.signbank.org/signpuddle/index.html#SignTextEditor

> 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.

You are making great progress quite quickly...Congratulations!

> 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!

Wonderful. Thank you for being a careful teacher, Thierry...We all  
are fortunate that you have learned SignWriting!

> 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).

The oral ones would benefit from Stefan's work in Germany, with  
writing the movements of the mouth while speaking a spoken  
language...Some of Stefan's students are speaking better, because of  
his developing a way to write the movements of speaking on the  
lips...so if the oral schools want Deaf people to speak better, ask  
them to contact Stefan....they will be amazed!

Stefan
stefanwoehrmann at gebaerdenschrift.de

and since the symbols stem from SignWriting, the oral Deaf children  
in Belgium will be learning symbols used in SignWriting anyway, and  
later, as adults, they would most likely be able to learn to read and  
write Belgian signs too, if they chose, since it is the same writing  
system...

Just a thought...

> I hope that's enough good news for now!!! smile :-)

Fabulous news! THANK YOU for all you are doing, and welcome to all of  
the schools in French Belgium, to our SignWriting Literacy Project!!

Val ;-)

Valerie Sutton
Sutton at SignWriting.org

1. SignWriting
Read & Write Sign Languages
http://www.SignWriting.org

2. SignPuddle
Create Signs in a Dictionary Online
http://www.SignBank.org/signpuddle

3. SignText
Create Sign Language Documents
http://www.SignBank.org/signpuddle/signtext

4. SignBank
Create Sign Language Databases
http://www.SignBank.org/signbank.html

5. DanceWriting
Read & Write Dance Movement
http://www.DanceWriting.org

6. MovementWriting
Read & Write All Body Movement
http://www.MovementWriting.org

Tech support by voice or video...
Make an appointment!

SignWriting Literacy Project
The DAC, Deaf Action Committee
Center For Sutton Movement Writing
an educational nonprofit organization
P.O. Box 517, La Jolla, CA, 92038, USA
tel 858-456-0098   fax 858-456-0020

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