Event

Sign Language in the Language-teaching Classroom

Saturday, May 26th, 2007, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Speaker: Martin Pauly

Deaf and hard-of-hearing students are entering mainstream schools and mainstream society. A knowledge of Sign Language may aid teachers and hearing students in communicating with, and creating a more friendly environment for, these students. I am not a specialist in Deaf Education, nor an expert at Sign Language, but I am hoping to introduce the audience to different languages (i.e., ASL and JSL/NS, American Sign Language and Japanese Sign Language/Nihon Shuwa) and a different culture (i.e., Deaf Culture). I will demonstrate some strategies for introducing Sign Language into the classroom and show how they are transferable to a classroom of visually-impaired or older students. I will also explain how I use JSL/NS to introduce ASL and how I have incorporated Sign Language into normal classroom interaction.

Biodata: Martin Pauly has been at Tsukuba University of Technology, Division for the Visually Impaired, for 15 years. He holds offices in the JALT Ibaraki Chapter, the Bilingualism SIG and the TOL SIG. His current areas of interest include the use of sign language in the language-teaching classroom, children's bilingualism, tai chi chuan and running marathons as a guide runner for blind athletes.

Organization: Akita Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (Akita JALT)

Cost: JALT Members: free
Non-members: 1,000 yen for non-members, 500 yen for students

Venue: Room B103 at AIU (Akita International University)

Location: Akita City, Akita Prefecture, Japan

Contact Akita JALT

Suzuki Takeshi

Work phone: 0184-22-1562