http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article3213283.eceFrom The Times
January 19, 2008
New sign language helps the deaf to become hands-on with science
Mike Wade
A new vocabulary of sign language that will revolutionise the way science is taught to deaf children in schools throughout Britain has been developed by teachers and language specialists in Edinburgh.
Over the past year a glossary of more than 250 signs for scientific terms has been created that can be accessed over the internet by teachers, interpreters and pupils. Terms of daunting complexity – such as “photosynthesis”, “density” or “bacteria” — are explained by on-screen tutors who employ simple but descriptive gestures that suddenly create understanding.
Many pupils with perfect hearing find scientific terminology hard to comprehend, but for a deaf child the difficulties multiply. Nuances in the meaning of words such as “virus” make signed explanations difficult, and spelling out words letter-by-letter often leads to confusion.
“The scientific vocabulary for deaf children has developed simply because we needed it,” said Rachel O’Neill, a lecturer in deaf education at the University of Edinburgh. “People realised that there weren’t enough deaf teachers in schools and that finger spelling doesn’t work for complex subjects. You have to be able to understand the English first and then the concept and that can all be very difficult.”
Problems can be compounded because, with little access to the spoken word, deaf children often have poor reading skills, Ms O’Neill added.
By contrast, the simple gestures employed by the new system, unveiled yesterday at the University of Edinburgh, brought gasps of recognition when they
were demonstrated to an audience of deaf children and their teachers.
The gestures, which are signed on screen, are supported by written explanations and fingerspellings. In some cases — such as “reaction” or “distillation” — additional information is supplied in demonstration videos.
The glossary is applicable for teaching in mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics, and it is hoped that more than 3,500 children who have been taught to use British Sign Language will benefit from the online glossary.
About 90,000 people use BSL. The British version is quite distinct from American Sign Language, but it has strong similarities with the sign languages used in Australia and New Zealand. Accessed over the internet, the glossary could be used by deaf teachers and children all over the world.
Gerry Hughes, the first deaf person to teach at a mainstream Scottish school, explained how the new biological signs worked.
Revealing the signed definition for “virus”, he made a clasping gesture, but kept his right hand open and wiggled his fingers as his hands came together.
“A virus is a single cell which can grow and mutate. We had had the image of a little devil of a cell that was aggressive and spread out, so that was the sign we made,” said Mr Hughes, who now teaches at St Vincent School for the Deaf in Glasgow.
The new definitions have been devised in a £25,000 project by a working party of teachers and academics at the Scottish Sensory Centre in Edinburgh. The scheme’s supporters hope that further grant aid from the Scottish government at Holyrood will enable the glossary to expand sufficiently to encompass standard grade level in the sciences.
This new classroom vocabulary represents a complete volte-face in official attitudes to the education of deaf people. In 1880 an International Congress on the Education of the Deaf in Milan agreed that oral education was better than manual learning, a decision that effectively outlawed sign language in classrooms all around the world for nearly a century. Only two deaf delegates were at the Milan conference, which closed the teaching profession to deaf people, and hampered their opportunities to work in other fields.
The ban was lifted in the 1970s and since then deaf people have very gradually been able to gain a wider variety of highly skilled jobs. In 1992, disability grants enabled deaf students in Britain to attend university and use the services of interpreters. More recently similar rights were extended to the workplace.
Audrey Cameron, who taught chemistry at Eyemouth High School in Berwickshire until she left recently to have a baby, is one of a new wave of highly qualified deaf people.
“It was only when I began to teach that I really began to understand the problems of many deaf children,” said Dr Cameron, who pursued academic research after graduation, but was not permitted to teach chemistry at university level, because of her disability.
“We don’t want our best people to suffer from being deaf. It depends on the individual but a profoundly deaf child will miss out — it is extremely hard for them to keep up.
“But I want deaf children to have that opportunity. We want more famous scientists,” she said.
Both urls are very important that connects this article as well. Now you can see why how important for us to have Deaf schools that provides us many opportunity to learn without having the limitation of learning process. Thats why I feel that is not strongly so important for us to hear for hearing people ‘s sake that is easy way out for yourself and is not our responsibility for your communication sake. We are taking our responsiblity to learn how to read and write that is very important to our Deaf's life from a start with BI BI languages. It is American Sign Language or Deaf languages like BSL and English written
This is not a foreign language of ASL that ‘s we, Deaf people of the Deaf community in USA use our hands to sign, however it s a foreign language to Hearing people or other foreign people who never saw ASL before. It's our visual language as far as it s NOT a foreign language in America because it’ s actually for Deaf people at first place. The purpose of Laurent Clerc ‘s Bi BI Language works both ways to have the reading skills, writing skills, and communication skills BI BI languages are ASL or Deaf Languages and English langauges (written).
So therefore, I prefer to learn ASL first before English spoken language to get myself to understand the concept of language by my own visual eyes that works for me to get many light blubs. Also, it helps me to motivate myself into reading books that I have had been done it a lot of readings for the past 9 years so far. That is how I made my improvement writings in a long run on my own if you find something that you enjoy to read it. This is a real big help to get you ahead of more reading skills as well. It s real good experience for me as being a self educated ( without having any pressures by anyone or feel like lost in somewhere else as ?????) and realized I could have done it more when I was a young student.
At that time, I didn't know any better or get good tools for me to understand the English rules on any subjects because they are too busy with speech in the classrooms while we were trying to learn on any subjects instead of use the orally speaking for having to practice how to speak. RME!. Sighs! Anyway, I have had seen some errors that I made and learned from it.. Sometimes it just get the old habits of doing it but at least I noticed something not right about it. That’s okay for me to make a mistake and work on it for the better writing skills next time. That’s all it matters what you get the best effort you can.
That is how Deaf children learn from it in some ways that helps them to get more confidence in their reading skills (to understand the concept of English langauge) and writing skills (creative/logical thinkings that helps us to change the way of expression thinking to input the right words to relate to it) for the better clarification that will have a good communication skills for both sides all along without having their degradation/prejudicial attitude.
Nothing is easy with English language because it s the hardest one to learn. People dont give a damn that Deaf people tried so hard to learn and write in their best effort after all their attitude are no better than us and our second languages.
We did it that shows how smart we are getting by in our own ways if you mind. I think you get it what I am saying in a quiet way. Both languages that we Deafies could understand while most hearing people couldn't understand both languages because of their English language/spoken only without understand the concept of visual language and depend on sound while they write misspelling words and slangs of English language that is big issues nowadays.
Well, I strongly believe that no one can ever stop anyone from learning new things every day or are trying to give their limitation for them to learn after you think it s impossible for them to keep it up to learn more. That’s what it triggers me and many Deafies with or without devices all those years with those degradation of our Deaf languages that works for us very well. People with a negative view of Deaf people ‘s languages did it themselves that makes too many mistakes all the time after oral educator took over. We, Deaf are not the faults from a start if you mind.
No one listens to us Deaf people's bad or horrible experience of Oral rules and our Deaf Leaders of the Deaf community as usual for many years. Now it seems that it changes for the better Deaf Literacy for Deaf children in Deaf Education in a slow pace. That ‘s a good news that it s more Deaf Awareness of our Deaf languages of the Deaf Education. The reason is that we , Deaf American and Deaf International people did not giving it up that easily because our Deaf hearts knew the answer what is the best interest for Deaf children as well as we Deafies were a child, too. Keep that in your mind.
Deaf will be deaf as always.
I am so glad I have many evidences to hand down on the table lately after all those ten years, I know what I'm talking about many deaf issues and I care for Deaf children's best interest first before oral rules with all my heart. Also, Have a good change of Deaf Literacy in the classrooms for the better Deaf Education.
Many thanks!
Sweetmind
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