My deaf ASL Teacher Feels Shut Out...

whatdidyousay! said:
So he would be a good role for model for the hearing community ??? And this really has nothing to with be good role model , the guy is human and people are not prefect . Is really sound like he is having a hard time if what the OP
saying is half true. And like someone said did the guy ask the OP to come here and ask for advice for him ?
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You don't have to be part of any community to teach a language. The issue isn't the teaching.

Up until now, I'd never really thought about political correctness and deaf issues, but, clearly, it seems to exist.
 
In my experience where I took different languages classes, including ASL - the community and language - especially ASL - are tied together. The best teachers I had were those who were most natively fluent and who were born into or somehow closely tied to the community whose language they were trying to teach. My Deaf teachers - both in class and informally - have been awesome. They're confident, outgoing and happy with themselves.

Also I understand what FF and Bebonang are saying too. Sure teachers are human and can have bad days.
But I agree that overall, it would be better for the students to see a confident person. I think it doesn't look too good to students who aren't familiar with a culture, to see someone who may be confused or sad so often, as an example of a possibility within that culture or community. Especially since so many years deaf people in general have been treated badly/variously...pitied etc.
 
Good example, I grew up in a jewish community where I lived, i can see how proud they are jewish. It's their strong jewish community that makes me feel comfortable asking them lots of questions. They are SO great to me, even though I am not jewish. I learn so MUCh from them. I swear that I NEVER saw the leader who is jew in my old town, and was telling me that he wishes he was not jew.. NEVER.. He was DAMN proud of being Jewish. I realize how important jewish culture to them, and i highly respect for them and who they are. They taught me so MUCh how proud they are. SAME DEAL with Deaf community. Thats why I am puzzled how dare what OP's ASL teacher commented about DEAF CULTURE!!! Only if it comes to the LEADER or TEACHER.
 
:wave:<above - like>

to me also, Jewish culture and heritage <I was raised secular - not religious -but still very, very Jewish> is sooo important also.
So I can really relate to this example.
But, if it was another ethnic or cultural group, I'd still agree very much:)
 
Language teachers are expected to interact with the cultures they represent. They usually make at least one trip to the countries where their languages are in use. Students expect their language teachers to be knowledgable about the cultures that use their languages.

If I had a teacher for Russian language I would expect that teacher to know about the Russian culture and history, and to have made at least one trip to Russia.

So, I would expect my ASL teacher to be involved with the local deaf community, be well-versed in deaf history and culture, and be current on issues that involve the deaf community. I would expect that teacher to know about current technology and laws that impact deaf people.
 
dogmom said:
In my experience where I took different languages classes, including ASL - the community and language - especially ASL - are tied together. The best teachers I had were those who were most natively fluent and who were born into or somehow closely tied to the community whose language they were trying to teach. My Deaf teachers - both in class and informally - have been awesome. They're confident, outgoing and happy with themselves.
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That is an opinion of your learning experience not an indication of whether being raised in the culture makes you a better teacher. What makes you a better teacher is how well ALL your students learn the subject you teach.

In fact, by that logic, one could argue that someone so tied to the culture cannot know what it is like to be unaccepted by that culture. Would you argue in that case they cannot teach that aspect of the community?

As for the position of ASL being tied to the communitity and not separate, more people know ASL than are deaf let alone culturally deaf. And, all those people have real world experiences. Those experiences need to be taught if someone is going to use ASL in the real world.

Proper use of language, any language, is the ability of it's user to understand and be understood. If that user only understands how one culture interprets what is conveyed, that user would be unable to make himself understood by other(none culturally Deaf such as deaf and hearing) cultures using the same language.
 
Frisky Feline said:
Good example, I grew up in a jewish community where I lived, i can see how proud they are jewish. It's their strong jewish community that makes me feel comfortable asking them lots of questions. They are SO great to me, even though I am not jewish. I learn so MUCh from them. I swear that I NEVER saw the leader who is jew in my old town, and was telling me that he wishes he was not jew.. NEVER.. He was DAMN proud of being Jewish. I realize how important jewish culture to them, and i highly respect for them and who they are. They taught me so MUCh how proud they are. SAME DEAL with Deaf community. Thats why I am puzzled how dare what OP's ASL teacher commented about DEAF CULTURE!!! Only if it comes to the LEADER or TEACHER.
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I am a little confused by this. He admires Deaf culture but feels he is separate from it and unable to claim it. I believe he would be very proud to be a part of it. He just feels it is impossible due to his upbringing, which seems untrue to me. I was wondering if there were any resources I could direct him to that help him feel like times have changed, and he *would* be accepted by the greater Deaf community.

Reba, I agree he should be a bit more up-to-date. He says he has taught this beginner ASL class for 17 years. The book he uses (I am not a fan) for vocabulary is ten years old. I am puzzled by this. He had never heard of lifeprint or Bill Vicars (again, not a litmus test, but... ?).

I am connected to my own small local deaf community and love it. None of the people I've met have been anything less than completely welcoming, energetic, confident people. I am very honored to be welcomed into their small circle to learn from them. I've learned more from my meetings with them than I would in hundreds of hours of this class.

FriskyFeline, I'm not sure it's prudent to share his name on the Internet? I highly doubt he is known well in the community. He does mention a few deaf friends, but he seems pretty isolated. I would be shocked if he went to any events or conferences or otherwise networked with the ASL community. Our class is held in a little library, not a school, and he appears to act independently of any organization.

His teaching progression is very odd. He wants us to start with SEE and then move into ASL. I don't see why we need a middle man. When I learned Spanish, we did not start with English word order and then switch it up later. :(
 
Reba said:
Run, don't walk, out of that class!
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I'm scared to even say this. He decided to retire from teaching after this class. He wants me to teach his class in the Spring. I'm just a novice, and I believe in voice-off classes. I can certainly sign enough to cover the material he teaches, and I have enough resources to give a nice cursory overview, but... Still a novice! He is very very insistent. My only idea is to ask my deaf friend if she will teach with me, because she used to teach ASL.

So now I'm thinking on behalf of the integrity of the ASL community that I should just tell him that he can retire and the class will die with that.

He really has been pressuring me. It's hard to tell him he is out of his mind asking a beginner to teach.

:shelters face: Okay. I'm ready for the response to this.
 
If you want to maintain your integrity with the local deaf community, my advice from post #31 is reiterated.
 
Reba said:
Run, don't walk, out of that class!
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According to this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signing_Exact_English

"Currently, the average deaf or hard-of-hearing student graduating from high school reads at approximately the third- or fourth-grade level.[9] Research has shown that most users of SEE-II graduate high school and attend college."

Also, a lot of children who learned SEE are in the, "Deaf Community". What difference does it make if they learn SEE first?
 
Acronym said:
I'm scared to even say this. He decided to retire from teaching after this class. He wants me to teach his class in the Spring. I'm just a novice, and I believe in voice-off classes. I can certainly sign enough to cover the material he teaches, and I have enough resources to give a nice cursory overview, but... Still a novice! He is very very insistent. My only idea is to ask my deaf friend if she will teach with me, because she used to teach ASL.

So now I'm thinking on behalf of the integrity of the ASL community that I should just tell him that he can retire and the class will die with that.

He really has been pressuring me. It's hard to tell him he is out of his mind asking a beginner to teach.

:shelters face: Okay. I'm ready for the response to this.
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Don't let him pressure you into doing anything you do not want to do. He is way out of line in trying to get you cover his class , that is not your problem.
Can you just tell him "NO" if your really do not want to do this ?
 
VacationGuy234 said:
According to this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signing_Exact_English

"Currently, the average deaf or hard-of-hearing student graduating from high school reads at approximately the third- or fourth-grade level.[9] Research has shown that most users of SEE-II graduate high school and attend college."

Also, a lot of children who learned SEE are in the, "Deaf Community". What difference does it make if they learn SEE first?
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It makes it more difficult for a hearing person (which the OP is) to learn ASL. Also, it's an "ASL" class, so they should be learning ASL.
 
Reba said:
It makes it more difficult for a hearing person (which the OP is) to learn ASL. Also, it's an "ASL" class, so they should be learning ASL.
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Ditto. I'm starting to feel fairly comfortable with ASL word order etc. I brought this issue up to a classmate, and he didn't see a problem since we would be "doing ASL later." He's very advanced at Spanish, so I gave him a simple sentence in Spanish using purely English word order. He got my drift.

So Reba, I should really just stop attending class altogether?

If anyone knows of a class between western NC and Knoxville, or events that would help me improve and be exposed, please let me know.

I'm also seeking ITPs or Deaf Studies programs for those who have a BA but are not ASL proficient (for which I would be willing to relocate for the right program).
 
I learned my SEE first. Look at my screwed up english. I started learning ASL in my late teen years, and picked up more ASL during my gallaudet years. I started to pick up how to write BETTER, and my expression of ASL better. I wish i could had ASL in my toddler years instead of late teens.

I use SEE only if hearing people who knows very very very LITTLE and are not ASL students. It seems to be working for them. BUT i refuse to use SEE if any ASL students who wants to learn ASL. :)

Oh yes. I lost my interests in reading the books when I used SEE. Until I use ASL and start to read the books MORE. :roll:
 
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