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The Starving for Access Team
E tenebris, lux dormiens
2006-05-03
“PNG
I'm guessing that PNG, as in Ridor asking people to urge the administration to stop PNG-ing Ryan Commerson, means persona non grata. I thought it was pinging, as in someone bombarding his email/sidekick with messages, or even the file format for pictures.
But it would simply mean ostracizing, arresting, and blaming Commerson for starting the unrest. He was apparently the first guy to stand up in protest in the conference room after the announcement of Fernandes as president. The security promptly escorted him out of the room before he could even do anything.”
Persona non grata (Latin, plural: personae non gratae), literally meaning "an unwelcome person," is a term used in diplomacy with a specialized and legally defined meaning.
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Yes, it is most definitely critical for those working with deaf students to be fluent in BOTH ASL *and* English. I'm pretty sure if you look in most schools for the deaf right now, you'd find a lot more English fluency than ASL fluency. Every deaf teacher *I've* worked with has had a good command of written English. But we certainly don't want it to swing to the other extreme, either. I've known some deaf individuals pursuing a teaching career (NOT at RSD), and honestly, I cringed a bit at the thought of them providing a model of written English to their students.
I think the emphasis you've been seeing on ASL fluency simply reflects what's lacking in the field right now. But thank you for reminding everyone of the need for English fluency as well.
That said, you mentioned being disheartened by the grammatically incorrect postings. From my observations, the more "grammatically-challenged" posts don't usually come from teachers. They've been from students or deaf adults who are otherwise interested in the state of deaf education ... or people (deaf and hearing alike) who just get a bit lazy when they're writing online. (I'm certainly guilty of using "Internet-ese" from time to time.)
If nothing else, the grammar observed in forums such as this should show those of us in deaf education just how much work we still need to do.
While I'm here, I'm going to plug the message board again. It's been quiet (much as this blog and the RSD blog have been lately), but I'm hoping it'll pick up this week -- I'm going to be spreading the word to some associates of mine.
Again, the link is http://p079.ezboard.com/bibieducationnetwork
(Hope I typed the code right...) (Comment this)
You are absolutory right about being fluent in ASL as well as English, although I do not support Bi-Bi. However, you have made a big mistake. I am trilingual, in Spanish, English and ASL. The grammar of Spanish and English have followed writing salutation system; the same includes checking spelling and correcting sentences. They are real languages. Both Spanish and English don’t match exactly each word in writing, and Spanish sometimes find it hard to put correctly words in English writing as they don’t have some of the words. Spanish is different because it has more vocabulary from dialects of other countries. Hispanic children have acceded and they obey the rules in The English class when they will maybe dream of choosing their career what they want to be there in America. English language is the world across America. They spend a lot of time focusing on studying the value of English. In schools, the teacher usually speaks English and teaches writing and grammar. It is only monolingual. I imagine that they can’t speak Spanish and English while writing in the classes compared to the teacher signing ASL and deaf children writing in English. Will it work in this situation? They mostly speak Spanish at home. I think of signing either first SEE or PSE if I teach toddlers the same as teaching ASL to a Baby. Addition, they are the same in the level of intelligence. It is the most important to teach toddlers who will gain structure IQ in their brains.
You make an attempt for the hard of hearing and cochlear implants children to block
some time to practice speaking fluently and hearing. ASL tends to voice off as these children don’t improve to listen to the teachers speaking.
I found good article in the website the Chronicle of Higher Education.
http://wvde.state.wv.us/ose/2006DebateOverDeafEducation.pdf
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You go on to discuss the details of Spanish and English ... By the way, I was recently informed that ENGLISH, not Spanish, has more vocabulary, and that in fact, there are more words in the "English" language than any other. This is probably because we assimilate so many words from other languages, and that's all due to the nature of our country's formation.
And actually, Spanish-speaking children are *often* involved in BILINGUAL programs. In their case, the programs are usually designed to be transitional, helping them get up to speed in English so they can eventually be educated purely in English. That's not realistic for many deaf children, but maintenance bilingualism certainly is. Hearing schools sometimes have what may be called a "Spanish immersion" program, where students from non-Spanish-speaking homes are educated in Spanish, just to make them bilingual.
Anyway, my point is ... I never could figure out what your point is, because you don't seem to be responding to anything "anonymous" said. That post was about the importance of being fluent in ENGLISH, not only ASL, when you're teaching deaf students.
So, what was "anonymous's" big mistake?
Yes, the article you posted was very interesting, but nothing new or conclusive. It was just a nice summary of what most people in the profession and in the community already know -- we don't all agree on methods, we've NEVER all agreed on methods, and right now there's no particular sign that we ever WILL all agree on methods.
In my opinion, listening and speaking are high level skills for most deaf students, and I certainly don't want them "practicing" an unmastered skill while I'm trying to help them understand an academic topic. I prefer to deliver my information in a way that they are 100% guaranteed to have access to, which means visual communication. Again in my opinion, the most effective way to convey information in a visual-spatial mode is through a language that evolved FOR that modality. (Comment this)
I am not a teacher. I grew up first with Spanish in my country, and my American parents adopted me and brought me to Michigan to attend the mainstream school. My teacher taught me SEE despite the fact that she was limited in sign language. SEE helped me to structure into correct sentences and correct grammar writing in paragraphs. I picked up English words. I transferred from the mainstream school to MSD. I had struggled to learn ASL for almost three years. I can’t give you my description about ASL as a detail of information. I am not the only deaf person who is trilingual; another friend knows Thai, English and ASL. We have experienced life the same.
I lived in an apartment next the door to Mexican people who usually spoke Spanish and they had children. The Mexican parents couldn’t do anything to help their children to do homework including English. They asked me if I would be willing to help their children learn English. The reason that I told them I couldn’t was because I couldn’t teach the children how to pronounce their words in English, so I made a suggestion to them to go the library. They said, it was a great idea.
Colombians, El Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Peruvians, and so many others from various Spanish speaking countries each have their own way of speaking Spanish and didn’t agree with the Spanish class in America. Spanish isn’t monolingual in different words. I am very tired of hypocrites conversing in Spanish language just as if ASL were not presented as language to be studied in the classroom. You are right that Visual communication is very important to teach deaf children and even hard of hearing.
I had to agree with the educator who commented about these deaf children and hard of hearing motive to learn language inside themselves, no matter ASL, SEE, PSE, CUE SPEECH and Mode of communication in the schools. I wish all the teachers would be required to have skill in sign language fluency.
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