Miss-Delectable
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Deaf talkabout: The lesson today is bi-lingual
Bob McCullough
08 April 2005
At Christ Church on Sunday morning, the Pastor paused during the announcements to congratulate 17-year-old Adam McCormick on his appointment as deputy head boy of the Mary Hare Grammar School in Berkshire. He also said that Adam had been instrumental in helping set up a Christian group called CAMEO (Come and Meet Each Other) at the school for 20 or so of the pupils.
Evelyn and I have known Adam since he was about six when he used to call and see us while riding his bike around our home in east Belfast. We have followed his school career with interest but, as Mary Hare is a boarding school, Adam is only able to attend church with his family when home for term breaks and holidays. He sat beside us last Sunday and, while waiting for the service to start, told us about the enjoyable skiing trip with the school to Switzerland over Easter.
Mary Hare is recognised as arguably the top school for deaf children in the UK and probably one of the best in the world. Evelyn and I spent a weekend there some years ago and experienced at first hand the quality of the teaching, the beauty of the environment, and the combination of discipline and encouragement that has made it so successful.
The school is run on oral and aural lines and signing is not permitted in the classrooms, although the pupils are allowed to talk any way they like in the bedrooms and at after-school activities.
A good many of the pupils are children of deaf parents and some find it difficult to adjust to the situation; but the headmaster explained to me that the school is not anti-signing as such - but does believe strongly in the value of English language-based education during the formative years between 11 and 18.
Many ex-Mary Hare pupils go on to university and now compose the backbone of deaf organisations such as the NIDYA, the BDA and similar groups.
They are a mixed lot and many of them are able to hear quite well with their new digital aids ? but, and this is important, nearly all of these ex pupils now communicate by sign language, use interpreters for higher education, and are bi-lingual in the purest sense of the word.
Adam is a case in point. He is from an oral background both at home and school but needs an interpreter to really enjoy and benefit from the church services. Lip-reading is fine for one-to-one communication, but sermons, lectures and Bible teaching from the pulpit are just impossible.
At Christ Church and other places of worship, Powerpoint is commonly used to project the words of the hymns onto a screen and some speakers also arrange for the scripture readings and sermon headings to be shown. This helps deaf people, who rely so much on visual clues, to feel personally involved in the service, and it also gives the interpreter invaluable breathing space when the message is complex and concentration difficult.
The problem is that top interpreters are like gold dust and are so busy through the week that few of them are up for more of the same on their day of rest.
÷TOMORROW on BBC2, See Hear is screening a report on the recent Deaflympics in Australia including interviews with gold medal winners and a debate on the possibility of joining with the Paralympics instead. It will be shown at noon unless the time is altered due to the royal wedding.
Bob McCullough
08 April 2005
At Christ Church on Sunday morning, the Pastor paused during the announcements to congratulate 17-year-old Adam McCormick on his appointment as deputy head boy of the Mary Hare Grammar School in Berkshire. He also said that Adam had been instrumental in helping set up a Christian group called CAMEO (Come and Meet Each Other) at the school for 20 or so of the pupils.
Evelyn and I have known Adam since he was about six when he used to call and see us while riding his bike around our home in east Belfast. We have followed his school career with interest but, as Mary Hare is a boarding school, Adam is only able to attend church with his family when home for term breaks and holidays. He sat beside us last Sunday and, while waiting for the service to start, told us about the enjoyable skiing trip with the school to Switzerland over Easter.
Mary Hare is recognised as arguably the top school for deaf children in the UK and probably one of the best in the world. Evelyn and I spent a weekend there some years ago and experienced at first hand the quality of the teaching, the beauty of the environment, and the combination of discipline and encouragement that has made it so successful.
The school is run on oral and aural lines and signing is not permitted in the classrooms, although the pupils are allowed to talk any way they like in the bedrooms and at after-school activities.
A good many of the pupils are children of deaf parents and some find it difficult to adjust to the situation; but the headmaster explained to me that the school is not anti-signing as such - but does believe strongly in the value of English language-based education during the formative years between 11 and 18.
Many ex-Mary Hare pupils go on to university and now compose the backbone of deaf organisations such as the NIDYA, the BDA and similar groups.
They are a mixed lot and many of them are able to hear quite well with their new digital aids ? but, and this is important, nearly all of these ex pupils now communicate by sign language, use interpreters for higher education, and are bi-lingual in the purest sense of the word.
Adam is a case in point. He is from an oral background both at home and school but needs an interpreter to really enjoy and benefit from the church services. Lip-reading is fine for one-to-one communication, but sermons, lectures and Bible teaching from the pulpit are just impossible.
At Christ Church and other places of worship, Powerpoint is commonly used to project the words of the hymns onto a screen and some speakers also arrange for the scripture readings and sermon headings to be shown. This helps deaf people, who rely so much on visual clues, to feel personally involved in the service, and it also gives the interpreter invaluable breathing space when the message is complex and concentration difficult.
The problem is that top interpreters are like gold dust and are so busy through the week that few of them are up for more of the same on their day of rest.
÷TOMORROW on BBC2, See Hear is screening a report on the recent Deaflympics in Australia including interviews with gold medal winners and a debate on the possibility of joining with the Paralympics instead. It will be shown at noon unless the time is altered due to the royal wedding.
