For my Dutch thesis I chose ‘Sign Language’ as the subject. I have already learned a lot, but I still wonder how to teach sign language to children? How does one learn the grammatical structure and vocabulary? It seems much less obvious to me than with spoken languages…
Answer
Not all schools for the deaf use sign language as a language of instruction and/or teach sign language. But if it does, then in principle it happens in the same way as for spoken language. Learning new gestures can be done in various ways, for example with pictures. The teacher then points to something and asks whether the children know the gesture. If not, she shows the correct gesture. For grammar the theory is explained (eg how do you make plural) and exercises can be made.
Answered by
Dr. Myriam Vermeerbergen
Linguistics of Sign Languages, Deaf Culture
Old Market 13 3000 Leuven
https://www.kuleuven.be/
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