Seminar “Growth of the Sign Language in the Education of Deaf Children” - 27JAN

Dear Friends and Supporters

It is with great pleasure that I invite you to participate in the seminar(s) of Dr. Jim Kyle and Ms. Linda Day. Development is taking place in Cyprus as a result of our inclusion into the EU and we are hoping to learn a lot from the experiences of these academics and the Centre of Deaf Studies at Bristol University concerning research into and use of the Sign Language. I am looking forward to being immursed in the use of the International Sign Language by Jim and Linda. The continued development of a common language is a very unique characteristic of the Deaf community world wide.

Our major objective of this visit is to invigorate the Deaf community and challenge Cyprus as a whole in its awareness and use of Sign Language, especially in education. Confidence in the Deaf community and the meaningful use of Sign is correlated to the positive acknowledgement of the hearing community at large. Sign is used on all of the major TV stations on the island during afternoon news bulletins, the last Parliament of Cyprus passed legislation recognizing Sign as a language, and there is an increasing use of Sign interpreters in classrooms and at the School for the Deaf in Nicosia.

The original school for the Deaf was bi-communal and my work with the Deaf has always been influenced by this reality and the healthy international nature of the Deaf community. Communication with Mr. Arif Yetkin, Principal at the School for the Deaf, Deaf leadership in the Turkish Cypriot community and the Management Centre have all been rewarding. I am encouraged by the efforts of my Turkish Cypriot student Munevver Gruel, psychology student at Intercollege. I believe that the use of the International Sign Language will be a major opportunity for Deaf that attend this event, and the Deaf have always thrived in communication, since 2002.....Please contact us to express your interest to attend and I will do everything within my power to accomodate this attendence.

I know that it is a very short notice for the community however, I am hoping that we will have some presence of the Deaf community on both days and that some interested representation of teachers, parents and the community (English language knowledge will be necessay) can be included! This part of our community is in contact and is an important bridge in our community.

Below I have included a brief summary of the program for the major two days.

Day 1; Friday, January 26, – Deaf workshop: Day 1 is deaf focused - hearing are not in group discussions; but can take part in the plenary sessions or initial lectures. First sessions will be held in the afternoon 4-9.

Day 2; Saturday, January 27 – hearing professionals and parents ... & Deaf

Session 1: Introduction and explanation of Centre of Deaf Studies (Jim Kyle & Linda Day)

Session 2; Sign language, what is it and why it is important to be fluent. Why sign language is different from spoken language; who can learn sign language. How to use the signstation at CDS. (Linda Day)

Session 3; Sign language acquisition – the early stages - why deaf do not have a problem. (JK)

Session 4: Sign language at home - the deaf family and sign language use for hearing parents (LD)

Session 5; Bilingualism at home and at school - impact and practices; how to become bilingual. (JK)

Each session to be supported by notes. Each session summary to be translated to Greek for participants. Graphs and figures in slides to have Greek captions.

Use of module (CDS learning environment) with content which they can access and some quizzes.

Sincerely

Steve Price