I Passed the LSA Exam!

I have now been back for about three weeks, and am feeling settled in again. I am finally getting back into a routine since I have started teaching again. This week was the first week that I've been back teaching at ALPI.  I have 19 people signed up to take my classes!  As of right now, I have two classes, one hearing class and one deaf class.  All of the deaf students have been put in one class together although some were in my class last year and so are a little farther ahead.  I asked those students if the information I was giving them was too easy and they told me that it was, so we are trying to get another class together.  If we split the class, I would have 5 students in my more advanced class and 6 in the beginner class.  I am using more and more sign language with them which is really exciting for me because it means I'm progressing in LSA (Lengua de Senas Argentina).  

By the way, I passed the LSA first level final exam today!  I was extremely nervous going into this exam but the teacher was very supportive and reassuring that everything would be fine.  I have been going twice a week to Villasoles, where I take my sign language course, to have a tutor help me.  Her name is Ana and she's also a teacher at Villasoles, although she wasn't the teacher for my class.  Since I passed the course, I can start a Level 2 course at Villasoles.  The Level 2 course is four months long instead of 2, and 3 hours each week instead of 4.  I feel a real sense of accomplishment in completing and passing the Level 1 course.  I found two quotes that I've decided to include in this post because they really reflect how I'm feeling right now:

"The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but significance-and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning." -Oprah Winfrey

"You see things; and you say, 'Why?'  But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?'" -George Bernard Shaw

I was asked this past week why learning LSA is so important to me.  It has felt like a great accomplishment to me to know that I can learn something that is difficult to help those that want to learn English.  My goal is to be able to teach English to deaf students and I have succeeded in being able to do that.  Learning LSA is the next step toward helping them better understand English.  My goal is to one day be able to start programs to teach English specifically to students with disabilities around the world.  Many times they get left out on the opportunity to learn English because of their disability.  In response to George Bernard Shaw's quote, some might say, why teach ESL to deaf students or blind students etc.?  What will they use it for?  My response: Why not?

I'm back!

I'm back!  It's been a slow two weeks so far but here is the quick version of what's been going on since I've returned.  I have been to talk with Graciela, the director of education at ALPI and we are starting my English classes tomorrow!  I'm so excited!  I went over to ALPI on Friday to see Agustina (one of the secretaries at ALPI and also a friend of mine) who is leaving for another job.  While I was there, the other secretary, Candela, told me that I will have 18 students this upcoming term!  18!  I'm so excited!  11 of them are deaf and 7 are hearing.  We have been talking about the possibility of having two classes for the deaf students because 4 of them were in my class in the spring term (fall in the states) and are at a slightly higher level than the students that are just starting.  We'll call the students that are at a little higher level 2/3 level students, and the students that are just starting to learn English with me 0/1 level students (thank you ILI!).

Anyways, I've been trying to lesson plan for tomorrow because all of the deaf students will be in the class together tomorrow and from there, we'll decide whether they want two separate classes.  The students are all friends so it will be interesting to see if they want to separate or not.  I'm so glad and thankful that this program has been successful thus far.  It's been an incredible experience for me and I wouldn't trade it for anything.  

As far as sign language classes go,  I started back at Villasoles (the sign language institute) the day after I got back to Argentina.  I had missed one class so I got a tutor who is actually a teacher at Villasoles which helps a lot because she knows what the material is for the classes.  Now she is helping me to prepare for the 1st level final exam which is coming up in one week.  I am so incredibly nervous!  It's an individual exam so it will be myself, my teacher, the deaf teacher that helps out in the class, any other teachers that are interested in seeing the exam, any other deaf students/teachers interested in seeing the exam, and the director if she's interested.  I am the only student in the class whose first language isn't Castilian Spanish so I'm not sure what the teachers think about me taking this exam, but I'll blow them out of the water.  I've been working very hard to memorize over 600 signs so I know I can do it.  I just have to have the confidence, and I have to pass to move on to level 2.  So not passing the exam is not an option.  The end. haha 

Sign language class

Last week, I started taking a Buenos Aires sign language class.  I specify that it's Buenos Aires sign language because different countries have different sign languages and actually Argentina has several different sign languages within different regions.  There are about 20 to 30 people in my class.  On the first day, one of my professors (there are three in the class) asked if anyone was a parent of a deaf child.  No one raised their hand.  There are two students in the class who have a family member that is deaf (one is a sister and the other is a cousin) but there aren't any parents of someone who is deaf in the class.  The teacher said this is because a lot of parents don't want to associate their child with a disability.  

Being deaf is a physical disability not a mental disability.  I think a lot of times people associate being deaf as a mental illness when in reality they are just as capable in any task and their mind is as clear as any one of the rest of us.  I think that it is really sad to know that a lot of times deaf people are separated from other people because of their disability and others are afraid to associate themselves with deaf people.   I have learned a lot from my deaf students.  Sign language is their first language and then after that they learn Spanish, so learning English is a third language for them.  Sometimes it is really difficult for them to learn a third language, I know that for me learning a second language is tough, but they catch on to the material very quickly.  They really are very capable of learning a new language (in their case a third language).  It is very impressive to see.  I love teaching them and am actually thinking about specializing in teaching English to students with disabilities. 

I should probably talk a little bit more about my sign language class here.  We have three teachers; a professor, a deaf teacher (who shows us the signs that we are learning for the day so that we know the movements), and an interpreter.  They are all very nice.  The class is once a week on Saturday morning from 9-1.  It's a 4 hour class which is tiring but I am really enjoying it.  I would love to take the second level class but it starts in April and I am supposed to go home at the end of April.  Maybe I can stay longer in Buenos Aires?  

I am also thinking about getting my TESOL certificate while I'm here.  There is a language institute a block away from my apartment.  I could get my TESOL certificate in three months, so that I could volunteer and take sign language class at the same time.  I am very excited about my options right now and am just waiting now to see how they unfold.   

Yesterday I had my English class with my deaf students.  After the class was over, I talked with Karla, the interpreter, about the class.  I told her that the deaf students are picking things up faster than the other class.  When the class was over, some of my students were still trying to work on the worksheet that I had given them.  They wanted to continue to practice and seemed very eager to learn more.  When I talked to Karla about it, she said that when they were in school, they couldn't learn English with the other kids because of their disability.  They are also taking computer courses at ALPI and the programs that they work on in those classes are all in English so it's important for them to learn English.

Now more than ever I'm realizing how much of a difference I can really make.  Working with these students has really opened my eyes to the challenges that people with disabilities face.  I have enjoyed this experience so much and I have only been teaching them for three weeks.  I am considering specializing in teaching English to deaf students and students with other disabilities.

I'm really enjoying teaching my English classes.  Susanna (one of the education coordinators), Agustina (one of the secretaries) and myself are taking a signing class with one of the interpreters from ALPI.  Last week we had a class on Monday after my English class got out.  We were going to have signing class on Mondays and Wednesdays for half an hour after my English class but it's been changed to just Mondays for an hour.  When we met with Karla the interpreter, she told me to bring the vocabulary that I was teaching to my students.  As of now, I can say days of the week, seasons, man, woman, boy, girl, friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, the colors, some emotions/adjectives, ser (to be) signs depend on the situation, and then estar (to be) has one sign.  

Last week in class, my deaf students told me that they have a unique sign for each of their names so they don't have to sign the whole name using the alphabet.  My other class is doing very well and they are progressing very quickly.  We have done a bunch of present tense verbs such as to go, to talk, to walk, to dance, to say, to do/make (hacer).  They understand using an auxiliary verb in the negative as well. This past Thursday we looked at people's personalities and the words associated with personalities.  I gave my students a worksheet and we went through the words one by one so that they understood what they meant and then we did an activity where they had to write whether the personality trait was good or bad and put them in a chart.  After they were finished, we talked about their answers.  

 This has been really good practice for me and I look forward to the rest of the class that I have with them.  There is the possibility that we might be starting a third class on Fridays but I haven't heard a lot about that in awhile so I have to talk to Graciela about that today.

1st and 2nd lesson

So I have taught two lessons now at ALPI. At the first one, I had 16 students and 6 of them were deaf. Although it was a really good class, we had some difficulty because the class was very divided in what they already knew of English. After the class was over, I spoke with the coordinators about dividing this class into two classes. I now teach the deaf students on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5-6:30pm and I teach the other students on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5-6:30pm. The first day of class we went over:

-Numbers
-Alphabet
-Months
-Days of the week
-My name is...
-I am from...
-I am ____ years old.

Today I reviewed what we had learned last Thursday with my deaf students. We also started learning about family members. The students in this class are really working hard and are catching on quickly. I am very impressed with their progress so far and it really seems like they really want to learn English. One of the students even bought a magazine in English to practice!
There are eleven students in this class but today I only had five. The others didn´t come for different reasons.

I have asked about the possibility of me learning some sign language so that I am able to communicate better with them when they don´t understand. One of the students has an implant, so he listens, and then when another student doesn´t understand, he signs to them. I told my students that I would like for them to teach me sign language too, when we are in class. So far they have taught me:

- Muy bien (Very good)
- Algunas preguntas (Any questions?)
- Gracias (Thankyou)
- Applause
- Dudas (Doubts)
- De nada (You´re welcome)
- Hola y Ciao

The sign language that they speak is local and I found out that each country has it´s own set of sign language. Tommorow I have a different class. We have also discussed the possibility of having a conversation class. Language classes have never been offered before at ALPI so there is a lot of interest. If I end up having a conversation class as well, we are thinking Fridays, I will be teaching three classes.

Lesson Planning at ALPI

Today I went for my first lesson planning session with Dra. Graciela. Although it was rainy, and all of my materials got soaking wet, I made it to ALPI. I met Susanna again while at ALPI, she works in the education department as well, and while Dra. Graciela was tending to a problem that they were having in the center, Susanna and I talked in Spanish about what I wanted to do in teaching the ESL class. She said that my Spanish is very good and that I even have a porteño accent! Awesome!

Dra. Graciela and I talked about starting simple with the students because they have never taken English classes before, and may not have much of a background in the language. We talked about reading and writing with the students. So far, this is what I will be teaching to the students:

Verb tenses:
-Simple present
-Present progressive
-Simple past

We decided to take out future and present perfect tenses for now because the class only goes until the middle of December and it´s a lot to learn for such a short amount of time.

Vocabulary:
-Meals
-Days of the week, months, seasons
-Going shopping, buying things
-Transportation
-Question words
-Time

Structures:
-Adjectives
-Adverbs
-Nouns
-Possessive pronouns
-Articles

My class starts on Thursday and will be every Tuesday and Thursday from 5-6:30pm and I´m very excited about it!