Found In Ceylon

Talkback 01

I hate to blog as if I’m ignoring what people are asking and remarking in the comments, so here’s my Talkback. When I get enough questions, I’ll write one of these where I’ll tackle as many as I can without going into too much detail. Here goes:

Sophie: Your reports are so articulate about how the Rohana School is… Well done Adam for recognizing and understanding the situation SO quickly… it took me much longer!

I really can’t take the credit…it goes to you, Sophie. Your report explained it all, and your hard work over three months made all the difference. I really do not do well in situations where I am presented with a blank slate and asked to make something of it; you, obviously, excel in this area. I’m only building up on what you’ve done here, and the kids remind me of it daily when they say something about you! I’ll write you an e-mail soon; I gave tests to about half the kids I’m teaching, and many of them did so well (80% and above)!

Bobby: I think it would be a great teaching moment to explain to the deaf students at Rohana what’s happening at Gallaudet and to show them that deaf people around the world are fighting for their rights as human beings.

I think that I would like to do that. My skill in the local sign language isn’t up to par yet for me to start talking about human rights. Many of them were shocked when I explained that there was indeed a deaf university in America named Gallaudet. Their consciousness-raising will continue!

Amanda: Are you planning to be a matron there?

No. I arrived with the full intention of staying in the dormitory, but everyone, and I mean, everyone, told me it was a bad idea. No privacy and I’d be exhausted all the time from talking/trying to sign/trying to understand. I’m not going to be stubborn and think I can handle it, but I hate leaving the campus at 4-5 PM every day; the light does go out of their eyes a little. But usually by that time, my brain’s shut down (I begin work there at 7:30 AM) and I really can’t understand a thing the kids say to me; it’s all Martian to me. Anyway, for now I’m still at Nerissa and David’s house, although I do expect to move to a guesthouse in the next couple of weeks. But I said that two weeks ago.

Gloria: are they fluent in their language?

As far as I can tell, the students are fluent in Sinhala. I say, “as far as I can tell,” because I can’t understand Sinhala, so, for all I know, they might be writing gibberish. I raised this issue with the principal this morning and plan to explore it further. I wouldn’t be surprised if many of them had low levels of fluency like many deaf Americans with English. My Grade 7 kids are learning the ABCs because no one has ever taught it to them before. They’ve been copying English passages more as if they were intricate pieces of art rather than the building blocks of language.

Peggy: Adam welcome to the world of education… Ideas like language pragmatics and meaningful writing are replaced with teaching to the test and completing the currriculum. Sometimes it seems like all hell is going to break loose if you don’t get the students to work to page “X” in the curriculum guide, then the work has to be met with a certain profeciency so you can hurrry up, finish and get to the next level.

Tell me about it! Thankfully, I don’t have to teach the book here; and I think the teachers at the school are a little relieved about that, although I think they daren’t admit it to me. However, one of them–the sole deaf teacher–approached me earlier today about doing a class after school for any student who wants extra practice in English, so I’m going to do that tomorrow afternoon. I hope to use a whiteboard…the chalkboards are killer.

Adamzmom: Do you have any idea how deaf some of the students are?
It sounds as though English is being taught as a first language. Are they allowed to learn Sinhala? […] Do most live there? If so, they probably have not been exposed to many good role models for the languages. Are you sure you know EVERYTHING after just a couple days? HMMM. A great challenge for you! I’m sure the kids like you already. How do they adapt to a foreigner? How is the teacher/student ratio at RSS?

Sinhala is being taught as the first language, that’s for sure. They don’t start using English textbooks until Grade 3; all other subjects are taught in Sinhala. It’s rather disconcerting to read a math book and not understand it because so much of it is written in a non-math language! And you’re right, Mom…I don’t know everything! I get the basic gist of it…but I’m learning every day. For example, I just figured out why some students are having a hard time grasping the concept of capital and lowercase letters–Sinhala has just one script for its alphabet (no lowercase or cursive), and fingerspelling doesn’t have letter cases, either. So for English to have uppercase/lowercase print letters is something new for them. I have to be careful not to slip into cursive writing because they literally can’t read it; a cursive “l” looks to them like an “e.”

Amanda: i thought the report I read from the previous volunteer touched upon a certain degree of privitization, not so much by a company, but rather no longer getting government support. about the educational centers that are owned and managed by private organizations with meager assistance from the govt

Sorry for the confusion! No, the education is completely public and regulated by the Colombo government. I’m not an expert on the educational bureaucracy, but I get the feeling that the education system is completely uniform nationwide, unlike America where we have all the state and county and district school boards with different standards, etc. All the kids in the entire country wear the same school uniform. Principal Abeygunawardana told me this morning (we tend to have a morning chat every day) refers to the government often, as if it is his immediate superior.

Niknws: 1) Have you looked into the connection between reading and writing? […] Do you have ESL experience? […] It seems apparent the children understand grammar if they are able to compose in the way you are stating they can. It is the “gap” that could use assessing. A good place to start would be to assess whether they can spell (writing) in their own language and spell in SSL. Is the spelling carrying over between the two native languages?

No, I don’t have any ESL experience. I somehow thought that perhaps my bilingualism would help out here (and it has, don’t get me wrong), but the lessons I’m teaching are so basic that I can’t remember learning them myself because I was too young to remember how I learned them in the first place. One of my focuses is solidfying the connection between reading and writing, because there is definitely a gap there. Some kids are able to recite the fingerspelled alphabet perfectly but can’t write it down correctly! They definitely can spell and write in their own language, but English and Sinhala are so different and I, unfortunately, don’t know Sinhala and am halfway fluent in Sinhala Sign Language too, making for a messy, but fun, teaching experience!

AdamzSis: Do tell us at some point how you teach ‘em in a language you don’t know and how they understand you. With the mesh of BSL, ASL, and bits of SSL, I’m wondering just how you’ll teach them basic command of English.

Tell me about it! After a lesson on man/woman/person and their plural forms, I went to teach them how to read, “How many men/women/people are in this room/school/country.” It quickly devolved into messy bilingualism as I was telling them to ignore “are in this” and read “How many” as one unit and do it all in sign language…oh boy.

Tayler: Does this mean you may be returning to Sri Lanka after January?

I honestly don’t know.

Sasha: maybe you could try to visit one or 2 other deaf schools and see how they are doing with english, and hopefull give u some more insight into the best way to teach them english. more knowledge always help.

I would love to do that. I’ll talk with David and Nerissa and see if they know anything about the other schools.

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