Advice

T

thefishy42

New Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2011
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Hi there, I am looking for some advice.

I am a teacher (elementary and middle school right now, but mostly elementary). I taught in bilingual schools (spanish-english) and now I´m a Spanish teacher. I live in Hanover-Lebanon-White River Jct area of VT-NH. My long term dream is to go to Gally for gradschool in bilingual ed. In the past they´ve told me I need to work with Deaf students in some capacity before hand. Does anyone know of anywhere nearby that that would be possible? Sadly Austene (spelling?) is a bit too far away.

Also, I have 3 students this year who are hh. They all have hearing aides and FM microphones. But I was wondering if anyone could offer me some advice about working with them. Have any of you taken Spanish and found certain things the teacher did that really helped or hurt you? So far the students seem to right along with the others, which is no real surprise, but I just wanted to see if anyone had advice for specifically for anything I might not realize.

Thanks to anyone who can offer help

(Also, if there´s a way to respond via a personal message rather than a thread post, that´s fine, I don´t know how to do that yet)

-Fishy (Bob)
 
Hi Bob! I have "family" that live in Hartland. (basicly my second family. My second mom actually signs fluently )
Maybe you should contact Austine and ask if there's any regional dhh programs that are closer to you. I know of the Deaf program in Manchester NH. The only other option I can think of is the Gov Baxter Deaf School in Maine. It is kind of odd.....you would think that there'd be more options out there.
As for your HH students.......one thing. None of those listening quizzes with 'professional speakers" I took french in high school, and we had to take the listening quizzes....even the hearing kids couldn't undy what the speaker was saying.
You could contact Clarke School for the Deaf. They have a publication on taking a second languange when you're dhh.
Educational Products
 
OH ME DUH!!!!!!! Maybe a neat idea might be to introduce a supplement on Spanish Sign language. You don't have to do a whole unit......but maybe it might be a neat supplement....Like " this is how Deaf Spanish people communicate" Get some basic info off of the net etc.......
 
I took Spanish in high school. Although looking back, I wish they would have offered ASL - but they were a only small school (12 people in my graduating class). I did pretty well, but I hated when we had to call a teacher in Mexico and try to communicate with them on speakerphone as part of quizzes. Especially since, at the time, I couldn't use phones to communicate in English with people I knew, why did they expect it would be different with a foreign language? My advice, don't expect your hh students to be able to do that, especially if they have trouble on phones with other people speaking their native language. Good luck! :thumb:
 
First of all, don't try to compare a hearing person learning oral/auditory based Spanish to a deaf student learning the same. Even when using their aided hearing, most deaf students will stlll process mainly from a visual, spatial context. That is why most have difficulty with English when it is not taught from an ASL base. Spanish might be a bit easier, as the syntax is more spatial and time oriented than is the syntax of English, though. And never ever rate comprehension on their oral performance.
 
First, learn about Deaf culture and ASL. :)
 
jillio said:
First of all, don't try to compare a hearing person learning oral/auditory based Spanish to a deaf student learning the same. Even when using their aided hearing, most deaf students will stlll process mainly from a visual, spatial context. That is why most have difficulty with English when it is not taught from an ASL base. Spanish might be a bit easier, as the syntax is more spatial and time oriented than is the syntax of English, though. And never ever rate comprehension on their oral performance.
Click to expand...

Is that true, even for kids who have decent oral abilty and hoh kids?
 
jillio said:
They are still more visual in processing and deciding meaning.
Click to expand...

That doesn't surprise me. I am a STRONG auditory learner, even thou I wasn't aided til I was three, but yet at the same time I am very strongly a visual processor as well, in a way that hearing people aren't.
 
In the U.S., there is a special certification for teaching deaf students. I know that Stephen F. Austen University in Texas has a program to get this certification. Get that certification and get some experience working with deaf kids. Then, apply to Gally for graduate school.
 
jillio said:
They are still more visual in processing and deciding meaning.
Click to expand...

While I was mainstreamed as an oral "HOH" person (not in any special education school or special class), I am so visual it sometimes feels ridiculous. There are many times when I just cannot understand what is trying to be said or explained unless it is demonstrated visually or I can try to put the auditory information into a visual image in my mind.

I could give so many examples, but for now I will talk about elementary math. My visual nature is why, for at least 5th to 8th grade math, I opted to take the advanced quizzes and as a bonus I did not have to do all the homework that the teachers used to drive the lesson/concepts home. I would read each chapter (visual) and take an advanced quiz (visual) and not have to sit through each individual lesson for that chapter (auditory). The funny thing is, other than my sister, none of the other students chose that (why not - no homework).
 
Back
Top