UAE Deaf Education Workshops

Hi All — Here I am in the UAE again!  This trip, I’m teaching boys and girls at the Al Ain program for Deaf children American Sign Language and English as a Second….no, wait….4th language.  THEY are teaching me Emirati Sign Language, and the true meaning of patience, mixed in with a lot of great fun!  You imagine you have frustrations getting teens to leave their phones untouched during class?  Forget about it!  I have one young lady who slips her mobile, with ongoing email…messaging… whatever…between pages in her textbook.  I look over and you could drive a Range Rover through the gap it leaves.  Then there’s her friend who “hides” her full-sized iPad between the pages.

Well, they’re full of mischief, but when focusing on language acquisition and reading and writing, they do excellent work!  The 8 girls are between 14 and 21.  For this 8-week program, the four oldest drive in from home to attend the 2-hour class Sunday through Thursday.  The others are full-time students in the Al Ain program which goes through 9th grade. They take all the usual high school courses, plus Arabic language and Islamic faith classes.  They, like the 6 boys who come to my class regularly, hope to continue their high school learning in the U.S.  They are all quite capable!

This is my first posting.  I’ll publish it now, and play around with adding photos this afternoon.

Bye for now,

Patty P

Teacher of the Deaf, ESL instructor

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2 thoughts on “UAE Deaf Education Workshops

  1. e.s.d.

    Do you teach both boys and girls who are deaf? Are they learning ASL? Can they communicate in ASL?
    Are you teaching ASL and ESL?
    Is the weather very hot?

    Reply
    1. pattypang Post author

      Hi, e.s.d. — Yes, I’m teaching both boys and girls. They are all Deaf. They already have their own sign language – Emirati Sign Language. This makes it pretty easy for them to learn ASL. They learn more ASL every day! They do communicate with me in ASL, and they teach me many of the signs in their language, too. When I arrive at school, they greet me in ASL and ask how I am doing. Every week I first teach a topic in ASL, then over the next two days I teach the English words and sentences using the same topic. Last week we talked about “respect” and everything that means at school and between two cultures.

      The weather here is awesome! Most of the time it’s sunny and warm, with a nice gentle breeze. Now it’s starting to get hot, but it’s still very nice. It is not too hot.

      I bet you are looking forward to spring weather, right?!?!

      Reply

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