So perhaps firstly a bit about me...
I am an English as a Foreign Language teacher, currently working in the south of Poland. I have been teaching EFL for the last 5 years. I have an MA Literary Studies degree from the University of Glasgow, a Cambridge Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (CELTA), an International House Certificate in Teaching English to Young Learners (IHCYL), NVQ Level 3 in British Sign Language and I am currently working on an MSc Deafhood Studies at the University of Bristol (Distance learning).
My background from an early age (14 years old) has included an involvement in the British Deaf Community. My Grandfather is severely deaf although is not a British Sign Language user and this was one of the motivating factors to learn the language in a bid to aid our communication. As an elderly gentleman set in his ways, with his love of television sports, my grandfather was not particularly interested in learning the language, but did encourage me to do so. This led to me volunteering at a local Deaf club, making many good friends and continuing to improve my sign language skills.
By the time I was in my last year at Secondary (High) school, I was volunteering as a Communication Support Worker / Teaching Assistant in the hearing impaired unit (HIU) of a primary school. This was where I started learning my teaching skills and developed my passion for teaching.
My recent motivation has come from a visit to the only Deaf University in the world; Gallaudet University in Washing DC, teaching deaf students from the Czech Republic and current motivation comes from teaching amazing young Deaf children here in Poland.
The purpose of this blog...
So the hope for this blog is that it can be a space for any EFL teachers who wish to discover or suggest some new visual teaching techniques as well as discuss how to improve or adapt traditional methods or activities. The main focus will be creating and discussing activities which are focused towards Deaf learners, but also to create a friendly discussion place for critical, objective analysis and feedback.
There are very few published and unpublished resources for teaching Deaf learners EFL, therefore it is important to try and create access to something useful for teachers to aid and improve their teaching, myself included.
Please comment on anything you can find on this blog and try to provide your own ideas or opinions with the true goals being that some constructive criticism can create better materials/tasks/methods for all teachers to share.
