ship building

As many of you know, I have been going through training to become a one-on-one literacy tutor for adults who are trying to gain literacy skills. The training has been intensive, sometimes intimidating, and certainly enlightening.

Wrapping one’s mind around the meta-processes of ‘how one learns to read’ and ‘how one learns to comprehend’ is boggling.

Phonetics? Sight words? There are so many different ways to go about *reading*.

As many of you also know, I was surprised to find out that the day class for literacy students is made up mainly of adults who have mental disabilities and brain injuries, etc.

One of the students in the day class who does not have any cognitive disabilities is a younger girl. I would guess that she is about 18 or 19 years old. She comes to class with an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter who both relays what the teacher/ classmates say during class and also verbally speaks her words for her and responds to questions for her during class.

I have been thinking for many years about learning ASL. It sounds silly, but watching the literacy student and her interpreter speak just looked so engaging and *fun*. I want to talk with my hands too!

So, I have started the process of looking around for ASL classes. I know that both Vancouver Community College and Douglas College have actual *programs* (you have to do the VCC one first, before you are eligible for the Douglas one). But the problem is that you have to have your basic ASL levels before you can apply to VCC. Complicated!

I have started looking around online and also asking friends who might have info in this area. So far, I have learned that I know pretty much nothing about hearing impairments/ challenges and also know pretty much nothing about deaf culture. I have a lot to learn. And hopefully, I’m going to!