DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
Even Greener Pastures
HTML https://evengreener.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: General Discussion
*****************************************************
#Post#: 19300--------------------------------------------------
How do you teach a new language to a deaf and blind person!? Hel
en Keller
By: Sepideh Date: August 31, 2019, 4:12 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
How blind and deaf Helen Keller learned to speak. An interesting
video, I just came across today:
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8Tz1ed8j_E
#Post#: 19303--------------------------------------------------
Re: How do you teach a new language to a deaf and blind person!?
Helen Keller
By: Nikola Date: September 1, 2019, 6:40 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Great topic, Sepideh, at least for me because I've worked with
deafblind kids :) The famous Helen Keller... I think one thing
to be aware of is that she was quite fortunate in many ways.
First of all, she didn't lose her sight and hearing until she
was 19 months old. That may not seem like a lot of exposure to
language but any exposure makes a huge difference. Also, she
knew what speaking was. To a child born deafblind, it's just
random vibration on someone's face. Explaining to them that this
is how we articulate words that carry meaning that refers to
something real, would have been extremely difficult. It was
still a revelation when she figured that out but it wasn't
surprising that she could do it. Her first word is said to be
"water" after Anne Sulivan had put her hand under a stream of
cold water. Keller herself later described the experience as "a
misty consciousness as of something forgotten — a thrill of
returning thought" so it is possible that she had once known the
word. Her parents were wealthy and happened to hire an
exceptionally talented, persistent teacher, who was able to
spend a lot of time with Helen. Last but not least, Helen
herself was very intelligent. It would be a mistake to believe
that anyone else would achieve the same if they were taught the
same way.
The smartest girl I got to work with from time to time,
communicated through sign language. She felt our hands the way
Helen Keller felt people's faces. Of course the problem is that
you can still say something to a hearing child when they're
misbehaving, while she'd have to let you touch her hands first
so when she was having a tantrum, communication was off the
table until she calmed down. What always amazed me was how much
she liked rough play, being shaken, thrown around, she'd go
really high on the swing or dive in the swimming pool,
completely deaf and blind, yet completely fearless.
#Post#: 19304--------------------------------------------------
Re: How do you teach a new language to a deaf and blind person!?
Helen Keller
By: Nikola Date: September 1, 2019, 6:50 am
---------------------------------------------------------
If you can get hold of this movie, it's brilliant:
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5qJv_I7K6M
The trailer makes it look a bit over-sentimental but the movie
itself is great and shows really well what it's like, teaching a
deafblind person.
#Post#: 19305--------------------------------------------------
Re: How do you teach a new language to a deaf and blind person!?
Helen Keller
By: Sepideh Date: September 1, 2019, 3:23 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Hi Nikola,
Informative as usual ;)
I will definitely go for it.
I have already watched a Hindi movie named "Black" (Amitabh
Bachchan, 2005). Here is a trailer.
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smd_xZHCCzI
#Post#: 19306--------------------------------------------------
Re: How do you teach a new language to a deaf and blind person!?
Helen Keller
By: Pasha Date: September 2, 2019, 1:48 am
---------------------------------------------------------
I think if you are born 100% deafblind, you are greatly screwed.
Without hearing and sight there aren't much information you can
get about surrounding world. I wonder what they thinking about
whole time.
#Post#: 19307--------------------------------------------------
Re: How do you teach a new language to a deaf and blind person!?
Helen Keller
By: Nikola Date: September 2, 2019, 2:32 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Well, yeah, Pasha. It sucks to be deafblind, at least from our
perspective, but if you're born without a particular sense you
don't miss it because you don't know what it would be like to
have it. I'd love to know what sorts of dreams they have.
Luckily, the vast majority of people who are registered
deafblind can either hear or see a little, and those who can't,
if they're born like that, usually get a cochlear implant. It
allows them to hear, even though people's voices sound a bit
computer-like, some people say scary, because it doesn't just
amplify them like a hearing aid, but I guess for a deafblind
person, it's better than nothing because then they're just
blind.
#Post#: 19366--------------------------------------------------
Re: How do you teach a new language to a deaf and blind person!?
Helen Keller
By: Chizuko hanji Date: September 8, 2019, 7:54 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Helen Keller is well known in Japan, too. Her story is in the
school books and her life with her teacher has been repeated
playing on the stage.
She came to Japan three times after her teacher passed away. The
first time was before the war and also she came again after the
war. She supported the deafblind people who were likely to be
discriminated in those days. (sadly it happens still now though)
and the government made the first law for disabled people. It is
said Helen Keller contributed for that.
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLIhiOOCZiw
#Post#: 19367--------------------------------------------------
Re: How do you teach a new language to a deaf and blind person!?
Helen Keller
By: Chizuko hanji Date: September 8, 2019, 8:29 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Nikola
[quote]Well, yeah, Pasha. It sucks to be deafblind, at least
from our perspective, but if you're born without a particular
sense you don't miss it because you don't know what it would be
like to have it. I'd love to know what sorts of dreams they
have.[/quote]
I think so, too. It is something that I can't feel. Is it like
being in the fantasy and magic, or just in the dark without
sound? I never know. They have their own world and can't convey
it to me. In other words, they don't have to tell me. It's their
miracle world. So I wonder which world is more complicated,
theirs or ours? Nobody knows.
#Post#: 19368--------------------------------------------------
Re: How do you teach a new language to a deaf and blind person!?
Helen Keller
By: Chizuko hanji Date: September 8, 2019, 8:46 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Watching the video that Sepideh introduced, I recalled the
lesson with Chris, a professional teacher of pronunciation on
italki. He explained the movement of the tongue and lips. And he
mentioned even nose sound.
I can't teach how to pronounce Japanese with telling about the
movement of the tongue. When I say Li in Japanese, where is the
exact position of the tongue? I can't explain it. I need an
expert for that even though I am Japanese.
P.S
I never touched Chris's face.
#Post#: 19377--------------------------------------------------
Re: How do you teach a new language to a deaf and blind person!?
Helen Keller
By: Nikola Date: September 8, 2019, 1:39 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Chizuko link=topic=1349.msg19367#msg19367
date=1567949362]
Nikola
[quote]Well, yeah, Pasha. It sucks to be deafblind, at least
from our perspective, but if you're born without a particular
sense you don't miss it because you don't know what it would be
like to have it. I'd love to know what sorts of dreams they
have.[/quote]
I think so, too. It is something that I can't feel. Is it like
being in the fantasy and magic, or just in the dark without
sound? I never know. They have their own world and can't convey
it to me. In other words, they don't have to tell me. It's their
miracle world. So I wonder which world is more complicated,
theirs or ours? Nobody knows.
[/quote]
I think that a deafblind child's world is pretty simple and
enjoyable until someone comes and implements rules that people
who can see and hear understand but they don't. Why do I have to
comb my hair? What do you mean I should stop making noise? What
noise and why is it an issue? What is noise anyway? An idea as
simple as "you can't take your top off just because you're hot"
seems completely ridiculous to them. They wouldn't mind if
others did it. So in most cases, they just like to be left
alone, as you say, in their own world, having a blast just
rubbing the palm of their hand against the carpet, perfectly
happy, until the nagging adult comes back and makes them do
something.
*****************************************************