Q: What is the size of the deaf ESL population?
A: I really don't know how large it is. I do know that there is at least one ESL/American Sign Language (ASL) teacher in Fairfax County, Virginia. Foreign parents bring their deaf children here because there are so few resources in other countries. Deaf education teachers have the challenge of dealing with ESL issues (cultural differences, parents that do not know how to mediate U.S. school systems, different expectations for teachers than American parents have and so on.)
Q: What are the linguistic challenges faced by teachers of deaf ESL students?
A: The parents don't sign or they all sign in a foreign sign language, or the kids can speechread the parents in the heritage language or the kids have no mother tongue at all.
Q: What are the educational challenges faced by teachers of deaf ESL students?
A: Then there is the issue of education. When children were not educated in their native language (sign or otherwise), they have to learn the new or target language as well as learning the skills connected with reading and writing. They may also need to learn appropriate school behavior.
It takes hearing children who have never received an education or who have had a spotty education seven to 10 years to learn English. If a child has a good education, it still takes four to seven years to be able to really handle academic English. Compound the basic learning challenges of an ESL student with Deafness and you have a truly complicated situation in which the children may really be functioning in at least 3 languages: the home or heritage language, ASL and English writing.
Q: What are the communication challenges?
A: Learning to sign is a time-consuming process. Immigrant families often require both parents to work hard just to keep a roof over their heads and food in their mouths. There is no doubt in my mind that these parents love their children deeply or they would not have left all that was comfortable to live in a place where they struggle with the language as well as a foreign culture. However, the price of coming to the "land of plenty" may include difficulties in maintaining communication between children and parents.
It is important for [immigrant] parents to know things that they can do to help their children. Most importantly, if their children can understand them (for example, they are hard of hearing), parents need to read to their children in the home language if they know how to. Parents need to talk with their children in the home language. They need to ask them questions when they read to them.
The scary thing about second language development is that generally speaking, if your first language is not well developed, your second language will not develop well. Moreover, we always need to keep in mind that a child's mind is not the same as that of an adult's. It is still developing. Also, often, ESL children will lose the ability to communicate with their parents? This is never a good thing. Children need their parents' guidance throughout their lives.
Q: Do you have any suggested resources for teachers of deaf ESL students?
A: It is important to understand first and second language acquisition to understand the problems kids have if they are Deaf and ESL. [Here are some suggested resources:]
- Although difficult reading, Second Language Learning Theories by Mitchell and Myles is a useful text on this subject
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- A more easily digested text is Promoting Academic Success for ESL Students: Understanding Second Language Acquisition for School by Virginia Collier . She makes an excellent case for bilingual education.
- Anything by Peregoy and Boyle is good. (Example: Reading, Writing and Learning in ESL: A Resource Book for K-12 Teachers) .
- I would also recommend Teaching by Principles by H. Douglas Brown .
- Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP Model by Echevarria and Vogt ,
- or The CALLA Handbook: Implementing the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach also have useful information.
I have not yet read any book that directly links ESL techniques to the ASL/ESL classroom. However, teachers of the deaf have told me that they are told to use ESL techniques but never learn the techniques. Most of the books I listed will benefit teachers [of the deaf] because they will learn about ESL techniques.
Q: Do you have any final comments on deafness and ESL?
A: I'm a certified ESL teacher, although I sign fairly well and have been through interpreter training. I have also begun classes to get certified in deaf education. I noticed from the beginning that the problems ESL students and the problems deaf education students have are similar and probably have similar solutions.
Are you a teacher of deaf immigrant students? Share your experiences on the forum, and read a related article with information about deaf ESL students.
Source: Zapien, Cheryl. Email interview, October 2005.
