[My Deaf Child 3] The beautiful teacher's fluent Cantonese turned out to be a childhood nightmare

"When I was born, neither ear could hear."

Wearing a black dress, Liu Xiaotong ﹝Toby﹞, a deaf teacher who just arrived from middle school, introduced herself in fluent Cantonese. Her parents are both hearing people, and she was not allowed to learn sign language since she was a child. "She [mother] said that when I was young, she would hit me when she saw my hand movements, and then said: 'If you want to express yourself, speak up.'" After receiving speech therapy for three or four years, Toby relies on imitation and remembering the teacher. The shape of the mouth, day and night to practice the pronunciation of every word.

Trying hard in mainstream schools with pure oral language is still a setback

Despite overcoming barriers to speaking, attending mainstream schools is still daunting. "I miss a lot of sounds, and I can't hear the S sound or high-frequency sound. Reading is all about lip-synching, and it's very hard to follow. Each subject has a different teacher, even if some teachers have taught me for one or two years, I I still can't understand his mouth shape." Toby encountered words that he had never encountered before, and he couldn't understand the mouth shape even more: "Especially in Chinese history, I have absolutely no idea what the names or words of many historical emperors mean."

I had no choice but to give up extracurricular activities, tutoring and preparing lessons every day, and memorizing the mouth shape of each word. However, no matter how hard she tried, she still missed her homework and the scope of silent writing. "My teacher and my mother are arguing about why I don't pay attention to my mouth. I am very sad. I have been paying attention to it. It seems that I have tried my best, but still failed." After many years, Toby still remembers tears .

At that time, she was the only deaf person in the whole class, and her classmates would laugh at her as "deaf". When chatting, she answered irrelevant questions. Toby was very inferior. But she knew that no one could help her, so she couldn't give up on herself. By self-study, and finally admitted to university. Even though her dream is to be a social worker and a teacher, she only dares to choose the Department of Biotechnology, which does not need to communicate with others.

My first contact with sign language and my dream come true to be a teacher

"After entering the university, I can finally enroll in a sign language class." Toby felt like a freshman when he first came into contact with sign language. "I would feel that there is a language that I can have no barriers." She pointed out that learning Cantonese, Mandarin, and English was very frustrating, and sign language was the first language she could fully possess. The sign language teacher also invited her to attend meetings for the deaf. "It was the first time I came into contact with the world of the deaf and the circle of the deaf, and I found that I was very different from them. They exuded a radiance of self-confidence," she said.

Not only did he find a bridge to communicate with others, Toby also dreamed of becoming a teacher. Has taught in mainstream schools and now teaches in a sign language bilingual school. She found that the deaf children here are very different, "they have the joy and enjoyment of reading, which I have never experienced before. When I teach, they will take the initiative to ask questions, and they feel that this school has provided a very happy environment for deaf children. grow," Toby said.

Sign Language Bilingual Inclusion Education Program

In 2006, the Center for Sign Language and Deaf Studies of the Chinese University of China launched a sign language bilingual and co-inclusive education program, trying to add sign language teachers in five mainstream kindergartens, primary schools and middle schools to reform the purely oral learning environment in mainstream schools. In class, hearing students and deaf teachers teach together. Deaf children can't catch up with their mouth shapes, so they can rely on sign language to make up for it, and hearing students also learn sign language inadvertently. "Hearing students feel that sign language is a very special language, and they want to learn it very much. There is no bullying in this class, and everyone does assignments and participates in competitions together," said Prof. Tang Huilan from the Centre for Sign Language and Deaf Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Many people are convinced that deaf children will become lazy and unwilling to speak after learning sign language. This binary thinking has been around for half a century and ignores the real learning needs of deaf children. "Whether a child speaks is based on whether he has a motive to speak. Because of the mutually accepting environment, they are also willing to speak." Professor Tang said. Mr. Yao Qinmin, the project manager of the project, pointed out that sign language and spoken language complement each other. "We not only add sign language, but sign language can help deaf children in oral language training - just like when we were young, we used Chinese to explain concepts and help you learn English."

The government is evasive and ignoring the learning needs of deaf children

The plan has been implemented for ten years, and Singapore, Macau and the Netherlands have also implemented sign language bilingual education with reference to CUHK's research and practical results. Looking back at Hong Kong, the government asked the research center to prove that bilingualism was the "only" way to help deaf children before considering allocating resources. "There will not be a perfect special education program in this world. We are now seeing that some children need this language, and the government should recognize this as their needs and rights." Mr. Yao pointed out that deaf children must learn and enter the Society cannot keep them waiting indefinitely just because there is no conclusion.

By raising funds from the public, the sign bilingual program may be discontinued in 2019? When will the government review the inclusive education policy and give deaf children an equal opportunity to learn?

[My Deaf Child] Series 3. Three episodes in a row take readers to see the silent childhood of deaf children in Hong Kong.

Originally published at hk.news.appledaily.com on 7 November, 2017.

postscript:

Although the government has not yet considered allocating resources, the plan is sponsored by the private family fund "Fu Deyin Foundation". So far, the Center for Sign Language and Deaf Studies of CUHK is still committed to promoting the sign bilingual inclusion program in secondary schools, primary schools and kindergartens, and will gradually expand the program to other nearby places, including Singapore, Macau and Quzhou City, China. In 2020, the plan was awarded the Zero Project 2020 "Innovative Practice Award on Education" by the Essl Foundation of Austria, in recognition of the plan's contribution to education.