I know this blog should typically be based on ESL topics, but I feel that this topic fully falls into this category for many reasons. The article that I read was about this school in India that took the time and painted the English Alphabet with the Indian Sign Language on one of their walls. This is to not only learn the English Language but to also build a sense of empathy towards the specially-abled. This is only the beginning for this school district because the principal stated that she plans on painting more walls around her campus with this type of material so teachers and students can continue to not only learn the English Language but can also expand their languages to signing as well.
Although most of their students are not of the hearing impaired Principal Pragya Singh stated: “It’s high time that we make education more inclusive and sensitive." By having these paintings around the school on the walls the students will actively want to learn the English Alphabet and sign language.
This is a great start that I think more schools around the world should be doing. It will create more avenues of communication between many different cultures. We should be painting other countries' alphabet on our walls too. This way we are all sharing each other's language and I firmly believe that we would all be able to work together to better the world we live in. Many ideas are lost in translation and I think this would be a perfect opportunity to start change and create more bridges of communication.
For our students who are learning English as a second language, having walls painted with our alphabet would only help them. They would not only see what each letter looks like on a daily basis, but they can continue to learn how to put letters together to spell words, create thoughts using the English Language, and learn our sign language along the way.
This can only better everyone and I think that this school in India has something special and we should all follow suit with this idea.
Hi Rob,
ReplyDeleteI want to start by saying that I absolutely love the idea behind this initiative. I think it is really awesome that students are able to be exposed to the English alphabet all around the world. It is clear to see that there is a desire and a focus on the students improving their English skills. I found your idea of putting the English alphabet up in our own schools to help students who are ELL very interesting! I think it is definitely a unique and different way to get the students engaged, but I do think that the repetition could be very beneficial for them! After continuously seeing it over and over again I definitely think the students will start to become more familiar with them and will not be as intimidated when learning them in a classroom setting.
Thanks for sharing,
Eleni