My first language is American Sign Language and I didn’t learn English very well because hearing people who know sign language didn’t help me good with English. (That when I was in High School)
So my question is I have noticed that some Deaf people do have good English because they have Deaf teachers so I was wondering if they need to stop put them (Hearing people) in English classes because they aren’t helping Deaf people to learn English because they not know deeply in (ASL) so why don’t they hire Deaf people who know English because it will be much easier on Deaf kids to learn English faster.
I am not trying to reject all Hearing people who know (ASL) but they can go to different classes instead of English.
So should Governments change that or they can’t?
I would like to hear from you.
Thank you.
To Beefy: I respect you but I disagree with you.
To Beefy: I mean in School not in college.
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” because hearing people who know sign language didn’t help me good with English. ”
Its not up to other people to teach you, its up to you to teach yourself just as in any other language you learn… your practice and understanding is up to you and how much effort you put into it. don’t blame others for what you fail to learn.
If you don’t like your teacher or think they are doing a good job, then you can change your teacher and join another class. Same for a hearing person, if they feel they don’t have a good ASL teacher then they can change classes and find someone they do like.
But I guarantee you, its not the teachers fault.. its your lack to pick up a book, read and practice on your own.
First, your use of the English language is far better than many hearing students who didn’t bother to learn it and many of them are on Y/A. Beefy has no idea of the differences in ASL and English or any other language. There are probably few teachers who are deaf and teach English grammar to the deaf using ASL, although there may now be classes for the deaf in the use of grammar and syntax (the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language) in addition to basic English.
Of course the government, using local School Boards, should provide the best education possible to all students but that isn’t a high priority anymore. It’s a “get them graduated” mentality because they don’t want to spend the money necessary. Politicians prefer to spend money on silly wars and pork barrel projects. That’s the basic answer to your question.
I’ve seen you ask questions about grammar on Y/A and commend you for wanting to understand the difference between the way ASL is structured and spoken and written English. It may be worthwhile to find out if there are books or DVDs that could help you. It’s amazing what you can find online. And if you know a deaf person who is more adept at English ask them for advice.
Very few people realize how much of our knowledge of a language is learned before we even start school. Even very young babies begin to learn the language spoken around them, sometimes more than one. I can’t imagine how difficult it is to never have heard words spoken then try to learn a language from books that use a completely different structure from ASL. Most people don’t realize that because they can’t empathize with other people who have difficulties they themselves never have to face. Maybe the schools should be teaching that, too.