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There are very few published and unpublished resources for teaching Deaf learners EFL, therefore it is important to try and create access to something useful for teachers to aid and improve their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.
Hi! Nice to read you, I'm an Italian deaf girl. I still use hearing aids from the time my hearings troubles became; so I have lived and studied in regulary schools and Univesity ,with many difficulties, but today I have encountered a new great problem : I WANT TO REACH AN EUROPEAN LANGUAGE CERTIFICATION . My limits are particularly in the learning of the speaking english as in the italian language!!! Does it exist a specific course to test language ability for deaf people?? Thank you for suggestions , I wish you to make a good work.
ReplyDeleteHi Muesli,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment here. Yeah I understand your problem and I'm sure many people like you have the same issue. Unfortunately there is no specific language examination for the deaf, however the IELTS testing system which is used for entrance to European Universities allows deaf students to sit only the reading and writing papers for University entrance. Perhaps this may be of interest to you? If you have any more questions, please email as I don't get your email address from comments.
Thanks :)
Dear Visual DEFL,
ReplyDeleteI work for an EFL institute located in Warsaw, which has been approached by a local school for the deaf about the possibility of running courses to prepare their students for the CAE exam (C1). We have absolutely no experience of teaching the deaf or hard of hearing, but would certainly try to oblige if at all feasible. I was wondering if you could shed any light on what the requirements might need to be both for the learners and for us.
For instance, would the learners need to be able to lipread and speak in L2, especially in relation to a native speaker teacher, or alternatively would any teacher need to be able to sign?
Due to previous learning environments and methods of teaching, are their particular approaches and stimuli that such a class might respond to better? And are there others that should best be avoided?
I'm really at a loss as to where to start and what to consider so if you can offer any help whatsoever I'd be extremely grateful.
Kind regards,
Sacha
sacha.brady@britishcouncil.pl
Hello
ReplyDeleteDo you know any Deaf schools in UAE or Europe that need english language teaching?
I am CODA Deaf lady from South Africa who is interested to take TEFL course to teach English language in native countries. I am looking for Deaf schools but couldn't find much in native counties. Hope you can assist me with this by providing the names of Deaf schools.I am very keen to take this course to teach English language in native countries with Deaf children.. This is very hard to find one.
Regards
Poonam