Deaf teachers losing jobs because of English

shel90 said:
Serious...how does one study English to improve it in a short time? One would need to read and read for English to improve but that can take years and most people dont have that long nor have the money...
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The time it takes to become competent in English I think will vary from one person to another. As far as how to study for English competency, there are many ways. What I don't know is what the testing requirements are.

learn english competency - Google Search
 
rockdrummer said:
The time it takes to become competent in English I think will vary from one person to another. As far as how to study for English competency, there are many ways. What I don't know is what the testing requirements are.

learn english competency - Google Search
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I will tell my friends about this link.

My friends have done it all from tutors, reading, writing, going to classes, and online help...one of my friends finally passed it after 8 years of taking it.
 
shel90 said:
I would eliminate the phonics/sound section. That section was what caused me to fail the first few times.
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Isn't that a part of English competency? Obviously not for written English but for spoken English I would think it is.
 
rockdrummer said:
Isn't that a large part of English competency? Obviously not for written English but for spoken English I think it is.
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Right and many of my deaf friends dont have spoken English skills, just written. So, they shouldnt get teaching jobs just because they dont have speech skills?

Also, I dont have competence in the auditory aspect of English...how the heck am I supposed to know how a Southern accent is supposed to sound like. How is that going to determine whether I am competent to teach or not?
 
shel90 said:
Right and many of my deaf friends dont have spoken English skills, just written. So, they shouldnt get teaching jobs just because they dont have speech skills?
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That is not what I am saying. Teachers, hearing and deaf, should be able to show competency based on the standards set forth by the educational systems they work in. If those standards are not fair then they should do what is needed to correct the un-fair requirements. If there are many deaf teachers that are able to pass the test, then why would it be unfair to others? I am no expert but I think if it is an unfair test then it should be something that can be challenged.
 
shel90 said:
............Also, I dont have competence in the auditory aspect of English...how the heck am I supposed to know how a Southern accent is supposed to sound like. How is that going to determine whether I am competent to teach or not?
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Again, I am not going to draw conclusions or speculate. I don't know if that is why this teacher is failing the test.
 
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Personally speaking I would rather lots of deaf teachers who are slightly out but good fluent ASL/BSL.

Rather then lots of hearing teachers who know nothing about ASL but good at english.
 
Reba said:
Hearing teachers who use ASL when they teach should certainly be fluent in ASL. They should also be skilled in English use (sadly, they all are not).

Deaf teachers who use ASL should also be fluent in written English if any of the curriculum includes reading (text books, literature, student papers) or writing (preparing tests, sending notes home to parents, teaching English composition).

All teachers should have a well-rounded education and be fluent in their teaching language regardless of which "content" they specialize in.

IMO :)
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Yeah I can understand that. It is just that the deaf teachers could lose their jobs because of their English test while hearing teachers with lousy ASL skills are hired. Heck, I even got a new English teacher who had to take a crash course in sign language. This was in a private school. Boy, was I so bored with her class!!!
 
faire_jour said:
Then a teacher who is teaching English shouldn't need to know ASL, right? Of course not. Fluency is even more important in written English for Deaf kids, and therefore their teachers, because that is the ONLY way they can communicate with the rest of the world.
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Wrong! The deaf kids need to see English and ASL side by side in order to understand English better. You still don't get it.
 
This is about an ASL teacher in Mass. There are alot of articles about this particular case. There is a waiver program which does allow teachers to continue and has actually allowed this particular teacher to continue for the past 5 years. The waiver program will allow her to continue to teach as long as she is working towards certification. The waiver program seems fair to me. I can't speak to the fairness of the English competency test though. I don't know enough about it to draw a conclusion.
 
Buffalo said:
Yeah I can understand that. It is just that the deaf teachers could lose their jobs because of their English test while hearing teachers with lousy ASL skills are hired. Heck, I even got a new English teacher who had to take a crash course in sign language. This was in a private school. Boy, was I so bored with her class!!!
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The inequalities is just so shameful!
 
Is this a case of hearing people being picked over deaf people to be hired as teachers of the deaf? Or a lack of deaf people who want to be teachers?
 
shel90 said:
That's fine but yet, hearing teachers who are far less than fluent in ASL are being hired and are passing the certifications. What about that?
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Do you mean they are passing the English and ASL certifications? Or . . . ?

If the hearing teachers of deaf students aren't qualified in what they're doing, then the parents need to complain up the chain of command. That's true for whatever the situation is. If teachers aren't up to snuff, the parents need to take action.
 
shel90 said:
I would eliminate the phonics/sound section. That section was what caused me to fail the first few times.
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Can you describe what that part of the test is like? Is it audible, like on a CD? If that's the case, it would seem to be unfair to deaf or hoh test takers.
 
Reba said:
Do you mean they are passing the English and ASL certifications? Or . . . ?

If the hearing teachers of deaf students aren't qualified in what they're doing, then the parents need to complain up the chain of command. That's true for whatever the situation is. If teachers aren't up to snuff, the parents need to take action.
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I don't know about the public school for the deaf but the fact that my last high school English teacher had to learn sign language when she was hired is clear that the teacher don't have to be ASL certified.

Complain to who? The school I attended is private. Parents really don't get it that the teachers need to be really good at ASL and the parents themselves either don't know sign language or aren't good at it themselves. The deaf kids are between a rock and a very hard place.
 
Reba said:
Do you mean they are passing the English and ASL certifications? Or . . . ?

If the hearing teachers of deaf students aren't qualified in what they're doing, then the parents need to complain up the chain of command. That's true for whatever the situation is. If teachers aren't up to snuff, the parents need to take action.
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Wishful thinking...most parents dont know sign language let alone to be able to advocate for their children for their rights to having educators who are fluent in it.

As u already seen, two parents here in this thread seemed more concerned with the English aspect than the ASL aspect. That's the impression I got.
 
Reba said:
Can you describe what that part of the test is like? Is it audible, like on a CD? If that's the case, it would seem to be unfair to deaf or hoh test takers.
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No, itis not on a CD...it is questions about the phonetic aspects of English...like how many syllables are in some words and etc.
 
shel90 said:
No, itis not on a CD...it is questions about the phonetic aspects of English...like how many syllables are in some words and etc.
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That's interesting. Was the question about the Southern accent multiple choice? Since I live in the South, I'm curious about how that question was worded, and what kind of answers were available.

It must not have been written by a true Southerner. Real Southerners know that there is no such thing as one "Southern" accent. :D
 
shel90 said:
Wishful thinking...most parents dont know sign language let alone to be able to advocate for their children for their rights to having educators who are fluent in it.

As u already seen, two parents here in this thread seemed more concerned with the English aspect than the ASL aspect. That's the impression I got.
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Well, I'd hope so? Surely, you want those kids to be about to write and read English well?
 
Daredevel7 said:
Is this a case of hearing people being picked over deaf people to be hired as teachers of the deaf? Or a lack of deaf people who want to be teachers?
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From what I have gathered based on my limited research is that this teacher in Mass. is deaf and teaches ASL. She has been getting waivers for the past 5 years to continue teaching while she works towards her teachers certification. There is a waiver program that will allow folks to continue teaching while they work towards certification. Right now they are talking about not letting her to continue to teach prior to waiting for the waiver approval whereas before they would let her continue teaching while the waiver was processed. What I think is happening is that she is not getting her certification due to failing the English competency test portion of the certification program. That is bringing into question the fairness of the English competency test for deaf folks. I didn't see anything yet about a hearing teacher taking the position.
 
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