First day teaching at Naxal Deaf School
Today I stepped into a classroom at the Naxal School for the first time. I was still jubilant from the Obama victory, and a little jittery from a few cups of tea. I've agreed to teach two afternoon art classes, to grades 2, 3, and 5. I'm still a novice at Nepali Sign Language, but the teachers are there to help me out, and the students are very enthusiastic and excited to have a deaf American teacher.
In Nepal, and elsewhere in Asia as well, it's typical to learn by rote, so my biggest goal will be encouraging creative thinking. This is harder than it sounds. In my first class, I asked the students to draw their favorite things from nature, and nearly everyone drew fishes and flowers, because they'd learned how to copy what the teacher drew on the board.
My first real challenge, though, is remembering names-- I have about 25 new sign names crammed into my head. I'll be teaching this class six days a week until the winter holiday in January.
In Nepal, and elsewhere in Asia as well, it's typical to learn by rote, so my biggest goal will be encouraging creative thinking. This is harder than it sounds. In my first class, I asked the students to draw their favorite things from nature, and nearly everyone drew fishes and flowers, because they'd learned how to copy what the teacher drew on the board.
My first real challenge, though, is remembering names-- I have about 25 new sign names crammed into my head. I'll be teaching this class six days a week until the winter holiday in January.
posted by Franz K at 2:24 AM
3 Comments:
Hello! I stumbled across your blog when I did a Google images search for 'Avalon'. I am about to do a painting of the Lady of the Lake for my watercolor class. I wanted to see how other artists have portrayed her. So, thanks for the photo, and good luck teaching the little children. It sounds fascinating.
Great blog! I hope you'll consider adding it to the aggregator at Deaf Village (www.deafvillage.com) -- we'd love to have you as part of our community!
Hi Franz
I am Rina Ghale from Nepal. I am Interpreter of nepali sign language for 2 years. Where are you now a days would you please mail me because I also do something for deaf of Nepal so I need your suggestion because I saw you site and like so much. Please keep in touch if possible my email add (rinaghale@gmail.com)
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