Post on 06-Apr-2018
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 1
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar:
A Focus on Interaction and Dialogue
John A. Albertini
Pre-College Education Network
Center on Access Technology
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Rochester Institute of Technology
Kathleen Eilers-crandall
Department of Liberal Studies
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Rochester Institute of Technology
Thomastine Sarchet
Pre-College Education Network
Center on Access Technology
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Rochester Institute of Technology
Kathleen Barry Albertini
27 Chelmsford Road
Rochester, NY 14618
Correspondence should be sent to:
John Albertini (jaancr@rit.edu)
27 Chelmsford Road
Rochester, NY 14618
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 2
Abstract
In January 2015, we went to Yangon, Myanmar to teach English to eight adults who were
deaf or hard of hearing (henceforth, deaf). We had three weeks to set up and deliver
intensive English language instruction to students who communicated in spoken
Myanmar, Myanmar Sign Language, and writing. We communicated in English,
American Sign Language, and writing. Given these differences in communication
abilities, we sought to maximize our students’ use of English through interaction and
dialogue. Here we report on the results of using this approach to teaching a foreign
language to deaf students. Based on the results of this pilot, we discuss the implications
of this approach for future teaching and research.
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 3
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar:
A Focus on Interaction and Dialogue
Background
We traveled to Yangon, the largest city and former capital of Myanmar (also
known as Burma) in January 2015 to deliver a pilot English Language Institute (ELI) to
eight adults who were deaf or hard of hearing (hereafter, deaf). Though we stayed at a
hotel with running water, air conditioning, and clean restaurants our trips to the ELI
classroom displayed the difficulties of life in a country with great economic and political
challenges. In 1990, the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party led by Nobel
Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi won the election. However, the military government
continued ruling the country and placed Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. In
November of 2015, the NLD again won a majority raising hopes for change once more.
The role of English
As a member of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), Myanmar has
declared that English will be the lingua franca of international conferences and business
meetings. In Myanmar, a knowledge of English is now required to complete secondary
school and to enter university. The “Roadmap For An ASEAN Community 2009-2015,”
articulates the use of the English language as one significant factor in enhancing “the
well-being and livelihood of the peoples of ASEAN” (2009, p. 68). In Myanmar, the
push for English skill development is so intense that the National Center for English
Language, a department of Yangon University, operates 365 days a year in order to
accommodate the demand from government officials and other professionals (T. Aye,
personal communication, January 17, 2014).
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 4
Education for children with disabilities
Myanmar has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights for Persons
with Disabilities (UNCRPD) to promote inclusive education placements (Article 24).
However, in a country where over a third of its population lives below the poverty line
(2007 estimate, The World Factbook), access to secondary and post-secondary education
is especially limited for those students who have a disability.
In Myanmar any student with a disability is placed in "special schools." Each of
the special schools provides primary level education, which consists of kindergarten and
five grades or “standards.” It is worth noting that in Myanmar today, education for people
with disabilities is viewed as a social welfare responsibility. This means that special
schools are funded by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief, and Resettlement, which
receives a much smaller portion of the national budget than does the Ministry of
Education, which funds all other schools. At the end of the fifth standard, students are
required to sit for a national examination in order to qualify for secondary school.
Students are required to take this examination without accommodations such as
additional time or sign language interpreters, and this greatly reduces the probability of a
deaf student passing. Those students who do pass may enter government-run “normal
schools.” At these secondary schools, accommodations are limited or non-existent.
These conditions contribute to the low overall educational attainment of students
with disabilities. According to the First Myanmar National Disability Survey (2010),
national primary school enrollment was 84% and enrollment for people with disabilities
was 47%. Of that 47%, only 16% of students enrolled in secondary schools whereas the
national rate of secondary enrollment was 38%. At the post-secondary level, out of all
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 5
persons with disabilities who entered primary school, 2.2% of them received university
degrees.
Education for deaf children
Until 2014, Myanmar only had two primary schools for the deaf. The older, the
Mary Chapman School for the Deaf, is located in Yangon, and the other is the Mandalay
School for the Deaf in the north. Students with severe to profound hearing loss (classified
as “deaf”) may attend one of these special schools. Students with moderate hearing losses
(classified as “hard of hearing”) enter “inclusive classrooms” at government-run primary
schools beginning with kindergarten. In both situations, the numbers of deaf students
needing to be served is far greater than the school resources available to accommodate
them. In 2010, the Survey estimated that approximately 31,000 children (ages 5-16) had
a hearing disability, but less than 1,000 were enrolled at the two schools for the deaf. In
June of 2014, the government established a third school, the Yangon School for the Deaf,
which enrolled approximately 70 students.
At government-run schools, few of the teachers know a sign language. Those who
do usually use sign and speech at the same time. The national exam required at the
conclusion of high school is written in the Myanmar language (Burmese) and includes a
subject area test in English. Thus, students are required to be proficient in both written
Myanmar and English to complete secondary school and to enter a university.
Overall the vast majority of individuals who were born deaf have very low level
of graduation rates. According to the Deaf Resource Center (2014), only 1.5% of deaf
students typically complete their primary education. Of the number of students who
reach secondary education, only .07% pass the national examination to enter a university,
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 6
and from this small group, only .03% of deaf students graduate. Three of the students
who participated in this ELI pilot program had university degrees.
Theoretical context
Successful adult language learning
Success with learning a language is more likely to occur when the learner has a
self-identified purpose for learning the language, is able to devote sufficient time to
learning and using the language, and possesses the study and learning behaviors
necessary for effective learning (Eilers-crandall, 2009; Norton & Toohey, 2002). To
achieve these factors in a classroom setting, instructors need to learn about the students’
goals and reasons for wanting to learn English (Pemberton & Cooker, 2012). It is also
important that instruction include a program of classes with considerable time each day
devoted to learning and using English, along with an atmosphere in which instructors can
assist students in using effective learning and study skills.
From the experiences of individuals and programs in foreign language instruction
we have procedures for determining how long it takes a person to learn a language. The
following guidelines pertain to the time needed to become comfortable with everyday
social communication topics. It will require considerably more learning and studying
time to reach the skill levels needed for professional and/or academic pursuits, and longer
yet to attain the skills needed for contributing to the literature of that language.
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) suggests
guidelines for measuring the time an adult learner should have in a classroom, and
recommends that it takes approximately 500 to 600 classroom hours accompanied by 500
to 600 hours of study time, or about 1000 to 2000 hours to reach a comfortable
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 7
conversational level. If a learner is in class three hours a day and then studies three
additional hours that day for five days, the learner would have accumulated 30 hours in
one week, and it would take about 50 weeks (1500 hours) to achieve that level. The
American Council of Teaching Foreign Languages (ACTFL, 2012) indicates it should
take about 1000 to 2500 hours to reach a comparable level. The lower number of hours is
needed for a language more similar to the learner’s first language and the higher for a
language that is very different. Another part of the difference is due to how much time is
actually spent using the target language in the classroom and when studying. Furthermore,
these estimates do not take into consideration the quality of studying, how much
additional time the learner might spend using the language outside of the classroom and
study hours, or how often the learner studies the language in a given amount of time. For
example, when the 1500 hours are accumulated in a period of one year, more learning
will occur than when the 1500 hours are spread over 10 years.
When learning English or other languages that have spoken and written forms,
deaf students are learning an auditory-based language through visual channels, which is a
challenging task. Hearing people usually learn the spoken language of their environment
effortlessly. In school, they learn to recognize that same language in print. Deaf people
will also learn a sign language effortlessly if others in the environment use it regularly.
Deaf students must rely on the printed language form to learn an auditory-based language
such as English, but the printed form is an incomplete representation of the language. For
example, the printed form of spoken languages does not show information about
intonation, timing, and stress. A hearing person learns these features very early in life and
already begins to imitate them in the first year of life, before speaking in words or
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 8
phrases. These features assist children in learning the grammar of their environmental
language. During their first year deaf children will learn the equivalent features in a sign
language in their environment. Without hearing, learning to read and write an auditory-
based language, one to which a person does not have full access, is challenging to say the
least. As teachers, we must make a concerted effort to provide deaf students with the best
possible visual access to the language they will use for reading and writing.
Interaction and dialogue
The students told us that they wanted to study English so that they could
communicate with others via social media and at international meetings. In Myanmar and
neighboring Southeast Asian countries, pursuing post-secondary education requires
knowledge of English. Our challenge was to provide a large amount of meaningful
English language input in a short amount of time. According to Ellis (2005), effective
language instruction focuses on “the highly contextualized meanings that arise in the acts
of communication” (2005, 211). Students communicate with each other and with the
teacher about accessible and relevant topics. The instructor provides students the
opportunity to interact and negotiate meaning and also the scaffolds for such interaction
and dialogue.
As noted above, access to the English language for deaf students is primarily
visual. Reading is the most consistent and reliable channel by which to access English
input, and writing is the most reliable for interacting in the language. Making such access
and interaction possible in the classroom requires a pragmatic view of reading and
writing. In the 1970s, a large influx of students speaking non-standard English dialects
and other languages in US universities led in part to a paradigm-shift in American
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 9
composition studies (Shaughnessy, 1977). No longer could instructors assume their
students spoke standard English or knew the classics of European and American
literature. To teach writing, instructors needed to make writing relevant to their students’
life experience. Teachers began using the “process approach” or “the writer’s workshop,”
a model based on the principles of teaching the writing process (e.g., Emig, 1971;
Hairston, 1982; Schirmer, 2000; Zamel, 1976). In this approach, teachers and students
used writing to prompt memory and to record and reflect on experience.
Starting in the late 1970s, professionals in mainstream rhetoric and composition
studies and in the field of teaching English as a second language shifted their attention
from grammar and vocabulary to rhetorical variables (e.g., content and organization) and
to the cognitive processes of composing (Flower & Hayes, 1981; Hairston, 1982;
Matsuda, 2011; Shaughnessy, 1977). The focus of writing research in deaf education also
broadened to include content, discourse level structures, and fluency (e.g., Gormley &
Sarachan-Deily, 1987; Klecan-Aker & Blondeau, 1990), and on processes used by young
deaf writers (e.g., Mayer, 1999).
Method
Content
In August of 2014, we visited Yangon for one week to meet with local leaders of
the deaf community and prospective ELI students. The primary goal of the funder of the
ELI (P-CEN) was to train members of the deaf community in Myanmar to become
leaders in social and educational reform. By means of group and individual discussions,
we gathered information on students’ educational and professional objectives, their
reasons for wanting to learn English, and their English language proficiency. From these
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 10
discussions, we concluded that students wanted to learn English for conversational (social
media), academic (post secondary education), and professional (attend international
conferences) purposes. We also learned that they wanted desperately to work together to
raise national awareness of Myanmar Deaf Culture and their needs and rights as deaf
citizens of Myanmar. Thus based on the funders’ goals for the ELI project and the social
and political goals of the prospective students, we determined that we would read and
write about Myanmar Deaf Culture, Deaf identity, and disability rights. The students’
task in the ELI would be to teach us about Myanmar culture and Myanmar Deaf Culture.
Our task was to provide the tools necessary to structure interaction and dialogue on these
topics. Together, we would explore the topics of identity and disability rights through
field trips, classroom discussion, and written life histories.
Approach
All of the students were deaf adults over the age of 18 who had completed school
up to the tenth standard and had some familiarity with English. However, interviews and
discussions suggested that the proficiency in reading and writing English ranged from the
ability to understand and use routine daily expressions to the ability to read for new
information and express their opinions in writing. Some of the students had completed a
university degree program; others had entered a university program but had not
completed a degree.
During the first ELI class, we established that some students relied on lipreading
and spoken Myanmar to communicate, whereas others relied on Myanmar Sign Language
and writing. With the help of two interpreters (spoken English to spoken Myanmar and
spoken Myanmar to Myanmar Sign Language), we asked which modes we should use in
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 11
the classroom. The students said they preferred voice and sign language (“simultaneous
communication”) or reading and writing. Thus, we agreed that the instructors would use
primarily spoken and written English and the students would use written English,
Myanmar Sign Language, or spoken Myanmar. The students realized that the teachers
and students would exist as a community during classes and that it was very important for
all to understand each other. We adhered to this agreement and printed a written record of
all group discussions. Our students looked forward to receiving this written record each
day.
The students reported that the instructional approach used in their English classes
had consisted primarily of memorization and repetition of vocabulary and sentences in
materials selected by their instructors. Instructors graded students on their ability to
memorize and recite these items and gave little attention to communicating effectively in
English. The students indicated that they had very little choice as to the topics or
situations they used to learn. Based on our need to provide a large amount of quality
input in a short intensive program and our focus on meaningful interaction in English
through reading and writing, we decided to try real-time transcription of classroom
discussion and dialogue journals.
One of our first challenges was to help the students feel comfortable by following
a collaborative, transactional approach rather than one in which a teachers transmits
information to students (Tiberius, 1986). We discussed and modeled active learning and
shared decision-making. The students soon understood that they would be expected to
contribute to designing the curriculum for the ELI activities and that we valued their
ideas whether or not they expressed them in grammatical English. We told them that they
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 12
would learn best if they were willing to communicate their own ideas and learn from their
mistakes.
To accomplish this in writing, we used dialogue journals. Dialogue journals have
been used with students in multilingual classrooms (Kreeft Peyton & Staton, 1993), with
adult students learning to read and write (Wagner & Schlenker-Schulte, 2005a,b); with
students who have speech and language impairments (Schlenker-Schulte, 2005); and with
deaf students (Albertini & Meath-Lang, 1986; Kluwin & Kelly, 1991; Witte & Albertini,
1989). Typically in a dialogue journal, teacher and student write back and forth to each
other as partners or correspondents. Each asks the other questions and introduces new
topics. The instructor may ask for the student’s perception of the class, for example. The
focus is on meaningful communication and not the writing itself (although the writing
itself may become a topic of the conversation). Unless asked by the student, the teacher
does not correct the writing.
Evaluation of students’ English skills.
To assist us in the selection of appropriate reading level materials and activities
and to determine the efficacy of our approach with this group of students, we evaluated
the students’ reading and writing skills at the start and end of ten days of instruction.
To assess the reading skills of our students, we selected short passages designed
for adults learning English (see Appendix A). The passages included information about
general topics at two levels, advanced beginner and mid intermediate, and did not require
specific background knowledge of the topic. Before distributing the passages to students,
we presented a simple demonstration passage to familiarize the students with the
assessment and how they were to respond. The students responded to multiple-choice
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 13
questions that required them to use vocabulary and grammar to understand directly stated
and implied information in the passages. They were not permitted to use a computer or a
dictionary during this evaluation. On the last day of classes, we administered a similar
reading assessment (Appendix A). We observed that the students tended to be more self-
confident and comfortable during this assessment and most completed it more quickly
than they had on the initial assessment.
During the afternoon of the first class meeting, we obtained a writing sample from
each of the eight students (Figure 1). Because we wanted writing samples that might
demonstrate their best skills, we asked students to write about a topic based on personal
experience. The topic we used for the initial writing sample was the following: Who is or
was the most important person in your life? Please write about this person. Describe this
person and tell what have you learned from this person? Why was this person important
to you?
[Figure 1 about here]
We asked the students to write as much as they could on this topic for 15 minutes.
Some of the students were reluctant to write in English, because they did not know
necessary vocabulary and sentence structures. We told them to leave a blank space or
draw pictures for words they did not know. To make the students more comfortable with
this evaluation, we indicated that they could write about any person they knew well, like
a parent, a spouse, a friend, a teacher. We also suggested that if they also wanted to write
in Myanmar about the topic, they could do so on another piece of paper.
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 14
During the last class session, our students produced another writing sample
(Figure 2). We gave the same directions as for the initial writing sample and chose a topic
they would know from personal experience: What was the most important event in your
life? Please write about this event. Describe what happened and tell what you learned
from this event? Why was this event important for you?
[Figure 2 about here]
Classroom access to technology
Fortunately, we were able to use a classroom at a local training center with 15
desktop PC computers, visual projection capability for presentation from one computer, a
printer, and a copy machine. Such classrooms are rare in Myanmar. The classroom had
wireless Internet connections available through two wireless network systems. We
experienced good reliability with the computers, projector, printers, and copy machines.
However, sometimes the Internet connection was very slow when several students used it
simultaneously. Most students also owned a smartphone, and they could use these at the
center to access course materials. Data connections were limited at other locations, and
only one student had reliable access to a computer or Internet connection outside of the
classroom. Therefore, we did not require students to use the Internet outside of the class;
we printed reading selections for students to use during out-of-class study hours and
distributed notebooks for writing assignments.
Instruction in a typical day of class
A typical class day in this ten-day pilot contained five and one half hours of
English instruction. The day started at 9 AM and ended at 4 PM with short morning and
afternoon breaks and a one-hour lunch break. On three days the class took a one-half day
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 15
field trip to gather information about Myanmar culture and Myanmar Deaf culture for
reading and writing activities. Students also received study assignments, which would
take one or two hours to complete after each class. Over the 10 class days of our pilot
program, students had approximately 50 class time hours and approximately 10 to 20
study time hours, or a total of 60 to 70 hours of English language learning.
Activities during a typical class day consisted of a discussion and review of
students’ homework study assignments from the previous day. This discussion was led by
students’ questions or comments. We then introduced a new topic or skill, one that often
had come up during the discussion, while continuing to work on skills from previous
classes. We typically ended the day by writing in our dialogue journals. Students wrote
with an instructor or a classmate. The daily notes recorded the usage of English and were
posted as “Agenda and Notes” for all to consult (See Appendix B).
Materials
We directed students towards several collections of reading materials from which
they could select materials aligned with their interests and goals for learning English (See
Appendix C). The materials in these collections were written at levels slightly above their
present one. It is important to keep students’ motivation for learning strong and present
students with challenging materials that can advance their skills, but not with materials
that would be so difficult that students could not be successful. In a learner-centered
approach (Benson, 2012) with a successive approximation design (Larsen-Freeman &
Long, 2014), students initiate the learning by selecting what they wish to learn about the
target language. As they learn one or more aspects, they begin to learn other aspects. This
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 16
is unlike a discrete element design in which specific skills are pre-selected and then
taught to a given level of perfection before continuing.
When students encountered difficult vocabulary, we observed they would rely on
a dictionary that translated English into Myanmar and vice versa. Because this dictionary
provided translations without consideration of context, it often presented students with
incorrect lexical items. Since we did not wish students to continue using a translation
approach to learning English, and we hoped to teach students to use context to predict
meanings of unknown vocabulary, we introduced and taught students how to use the
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Online (Longman, 2015). The definitions
in this dictionary are written using only 2000 common English words, and include
information to lead users to correct context specific meanings.
To teach writing skills that students could use to discuss topics of their own
choosing in a real-life situation, we used journal dialogues (Stillman, Anderson, &
Struthers, 2014). Each student learned how to carry on a written conversation with an
instructor on the second day of the course. Soon after that, we introduced students to
dialogue writing with a classmate. Students preferred the student-teacher journal writing
to the student-student journal writing probably because they realized that the instructors
provided a better models of English usage and English, which was appropriate to the
students’ actual English skill level. The instructor did not point out language elements
directly with students or identify errors students made unless students asked about such
things. When the instructor could not understand a student or a student could not
understand the instructor, the instructor would rephrase the item or ask the student
questions about the meaning intended. Our goal in using these written dialogue journals
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 17
was to provide a natural approach (Mitchell, Myles, & Marsden, 2013) to language
learning while still maintaining a student-centered and successive approximation design
(See Appendix D).
Results
To evaluate students’ progress, we assessed their reading comprehension skills
and writing skills on the first and last days of the program. Here we present a summary of
scores from the reading assessments and samples of the writing assessments. As
examples of their less formal, interactive writing, we examine initial and final entries
from the teacher-student dialogue journals. To determine students’ perception of the
quality of instruction and overall satisfaction with the program, we asked students to
complete a course evaluation on the last day of class. Here we also consider the results of
that evaluation.
Reading Comprehension Skills
Table 1 contains the scores students obtained on their initial and final
reading assessments which were administered on the first and the last day of the
10-day ELI pilot course. Each reading assessment consisted of two short passages
followed by either six or eight comprehension questions. The developers of the
passages state, “Each passage reads similar to a newspaper or journal article, and
provides interesting information about some aspect of history, nature, mechanics,
science, art, and more. Questions involve critical thinking with a focus on logic and
inference” (EnglishForEveryone.org/Topics/Reading-Comprehension.htm, n.d.).
[Table 1 about here]
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 18
Initial scores for the beginning level passages show that one student answered all items
correctly and two others had scores over 80 percent; in the final assessment, three
students answered all correctly and seven of the eight students in the pilot ELI obtained
scores over 80 percent. No students attained 100% scores when they read intermediate
level passages on either the initial or the final assessments. The highest score attained on
the initial intermediate level passage was 67 percent and the highest score on the final
intermediate level passage was 88 percent. This was the only student who achieved a
score above 80 percent.
The score differences between initial and final reading assessments (Table 1)
show that five students were able to read a low beginning passage with greater success
and the student who achieved 100% accuracy on the initial passage did so again with the
final passage. Seven of the eight students demonstrated improved skills when reading an
intermediate passage. One of the two students who did not show improvement when
reading low beginning passages also did not show improvement on the intermediate
passages.
Treptow, Burns, and McComas (2007) suggest a comprehension score of at least
80% indicates the minimum score needed for reading to learn information in an
instructional setting and 100% is needed for successful independent learning. At the onset
of our ELI pilot, three students demonstrated reading skill levels needed for instruction
when reading a low beginning level passage, but none of the students did when reading
an intermediate level passage. After ten days of instruction seven students were able to
read a low beginning level passage and one student was able to read an intermediate level
passage for instructional purposes.
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 19
Writing Skills
Figures 1 and 2 contain the writing assessments produced by two students at the
initial and the final class meetings. These examples represent the range of skills we
observed in our students’ writing. We have deleted personal identifying information in
these examples.
When we read student A’s initial and final writing, we can understand the general
content information. However, in the final assessment, student A includes more details
that are comprehensible than in the initial assessment. Student B’s English skills were
more advanced than those of Student A. Student B’s initial and final writing samples
contain content that is organized into subtopics, and this student is also able to
communicate details more clearly in the final assessment. We also see an increase in the
amount of writing in Student A’s final assessment. All of the students produced more
writing in their final example. At the start of the course, most students were quite
reluctant to write in English, but became more willing to share information in writing as
the course progressed and they got to know the instructors and became comfortable with
our teaching method.
Upon inspecting the written English grammar skills demonstrated by the students,
we observed most students appeared to have advanced their skills during the course. For
example, Student A sometimes omits major sentence constituents (subjects and verbs) in
the initial sample, but includes more of these sentence constituents and even attempts a
few multi-clause sentences in the final assessment. Students also used a greater variety of
lexical items in their final writing samples than in their initial samples. We see this very
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 20
clearly in the final writing assessment of Student A. Student B also uses a greater variety
of grammatical constructions and lexical items in the final writing assessment.
We observed similar changes in our students’ teacher-student dialogue journals.
After students learned the process of dialoguing with their instructors, we taught and
encouraged students to learn to use student-student dialoguing so that the students could
use this activity to continue their English language studies after they completed the ELI
pilot course. Students found it considerably more challenging to conduct meaningful
written dialogues with each other than with an instructor. Appendix D contains an
example of teacher-student and student-student dialogues collected during the first half of
the course. These examples illustrate the greater ease with which students were
communicating and the more advanced English writing skills that students attempted in
the teacher-student dialogues as compared with the student-student dialogues.
During the last half of the ELI pilot course, students developed bits of their life
histories into autobiographies in their dialogue journals. The instructors prompted the
development through questions and requests for detail. Students wrote these portions of
their autobiographies in class and also in their daily homework assignments. We
encouraged students to include sections in their autobiographies on their educational,
employment, and volunteer experiences. One goal of this activity was to prepare students
for writing similar information when they applied to educational programs or for
employment, joined international organizations, and contributed to social media sites.
After students had completed a first rough draft in their journals, teachers dialogued with
students to clarify information and assist in organizing content. Next, most students also
wanted information about the accuracy of their English grammar. In these cases, the
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 21
instructors corrected and edited the students’ writing in the dialogue journal (a departure
from normal dialogue journal practice). Appendices E and F are examples of teacher-
student interactions that mainly resolve English grammar issues. Appendix E illustrates
an example of a section of an autobiography about education (schooling) and Appendix F
illustrates a section about employment (work). By the end of the ELI pilot course, all
students had successfully completed this assignment and had prepared an electronic
document containing their edited and corrected autobiographies.
Course evaluations
On the last day we asked students to rate and comment on classroom
communication and teaching method. In the first question, students rated four modes of
communication on a four-point scale from “excellent” to “poor.” Students rated the two
modes of reading and writing (the agendas/class notes and dialogue journals) more
favorably than the modes of sign language and spoken language. Their written comments
focused on a need for better sign and spoken language interpreting. Students rated the
teaching method (second question) very favorably and commented that the method was
“high level” and they liked it. In response to the question, “Have your ideas about
learning English changed?” all responded “yes.” Their written comments indicated a
strong desire to continue learning spoken and written English. In response to the question,
“Have your reasons for learning English changed?” four students responded “yes” and
one student responded “no.” One student wrote, “Opening brain. Knowledge
development.” Another wrote, “I’m not afraid writing English now.” In response to the
fifth question, “What is the best way for you to continue to learn English?” students
mentioned aspects of the course they would like to continue: using the Longman
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 22
dictionary and dialogue journals, writing stories, and learning grammar. One student
mentioned a bigger classroom, which was probably in reference to the crowed condition
of the ELI classroom. Several students wrote they could help each other learn English by
using sign language, writing, speech, and lipreading. One wrote, “The most important
factor is SL (sign language) interpreter.” Others wrote that using the computer to write,
using a “captionist” (transcription) and student-to-student writing and communicating
“with chat” would be helpful. Finally, when we asked for additional comments, for
example what they liked or disliked about the ELI Pilot, several wrote that continuing to
learn English was very important to them personally and to develop the deaf community
in Myanmar. They liked learning about deaf scientists, writing about themselves and
writing dialogue journals with the teacher.
ELI follow-up: Distance learning
During the last two days of class, we began discussing how students might
choose to continue their learning of English reading and writing skills. The students
indicated that they were eager to continue learning and they hoped we would return to
continue teaching them in the near future. We indicated that before we could return, it
would be important for them to continue learning so their newly learned skills would be
reinforced and enhanced. Because the students had been highly motivated to learn during
the 10 days of classes and wanted to continue learning, we thought that the probability of
their learning with direction from afar was reasonably good. Our recommendation was
that they plan to meet as a group every two weeks for the next three months. Because
they had participated in 10 full days of learning, we felt confident several of the students
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 23
could take turns leading the group for about two hours every week if we gave them
specific tasks to accomplish in our absence.
The students expressed a willingness to try this plan for distance learning, even
though it would probably be difficult for all of them to meet at the same time and to find
a place where they had access to computers and the Internet. In addition to attending
meetings, they would need to assume leadership tasks, such as communicating with one
another to find a meeting place and arrange a time, and then to follow our plans for their
meetings. This was a significant change from the familiar routine of the ELI. For example,
they would no longer have free transportation to and from the meeting site; an
instructional location that had computers with Internet and printing facilities the students
could use without charge; course materials including binders, notebooks, flash drives;
and home-cooked, nutritious meals for lunch every day.
Two of the students had considerable experience assuming leadership roles in the
deaf community, and we asked these two individuals to serve as instructional models
after we departed. Since one of the objectives students had for learning English skills was
to enable them to serve as leaders in improving the conditions deaf individuals
encountered in Myanmar and other ASEAN countries, we hoped that learning how to
organize, plan, and lead instructional activities would prove useful. We anticipated that
eventually this group of 8 students could become leaders within the deaf community and
be instrumental in implementing a program in Myanmar for promoting English language
learning for deaf students.
We provided plans for the first meeting while allowing flexibility as to topics and
specific activities. We suggested a leader for the first meeting and asked the leader to
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 24
prepare a brief summary of the meeting and examples of the reading and writing
activities that occurred.
Conclusions and Implications
Reading and writing assessments and the course evaluation suggest that students
advanced in their knowledge of English and that attitudes towards learning English
changed. At the end of the pilot, seven students could read beginning level materials at an
instructional level. Students wrote longer writing samples and dialogue journal entries at
the end of the pilot were longer. Their writing contained more comprehensible details,
sentences with more major constituents or, in some cases, sentences with more than one
clause. Some used a greater variety of lexical items. For these students, the increase in
quantity and quality reflects either an increase in English skills, an increase in confidence
in writing or both.
The observed increase in confidence may be due in part to a sense of
accomplishment. All students completed edited final drafts of their life stories. Writing
about family life, education, and professional life began as responses to questions in the
dialogue journals. Reading about deaf scientists in class provided examples of
biographical writing and vocabulary, which students could use in their own writing.
Students proudly shared their autobiographies with their classmates and teachers.
Students were satisfied with the teaching approach and highly motivated to continue
learning English.
Occasionally, classroom communication broke down and this was sometimes due
to the lack of experience of the interpreters. Fortunately, we had the same sign language
interpreter for the whole ELI, but two different spoken language interpreters. The spoken
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 25
language interpreters were not familiar with the content, nor accustomed to working with
deaf students. None of the interpreters had been trained to interpret in a classroom setting.
Interpreter training in Myanmar is in its infancy and there are very few professional
interpreters available. In addition, our sign language interpreter was trained to use a new
standardized version of Myanmar Sign Language, which was unfamiliar to many of the
students in the class.
Another limitation of the instruction was the time it took to translate a
participant’s utterances twice, for example, from spoken English to spoken Myanmar and
then to Myanmar Sign Language. This slowed the pace of instruction thus reducing the
actual hours of English usage and learning. On the other hand, repeating all of the
classroom interactions communicated in multiple ways provided a natural repetition,
reinforcement, and dual coding of the information, which may have avoided some
misunderstandings.
As professionals and leaders of the local deaf community, our students
occasionally had competing demands on their time and sometimes missed classes. This
may have had an impact on their learning during the ELI; it did have an impact on their
participation in the follow-up activities planned for the group after ELI classes ended.
The prospects for continuing the ELI in Myanmar depend on several factors apart
from the motivation and skill level of these students. An international non-governmental
organization sponsored this ELI pilot in full. Continuation of the ELI in Myanmar in the
future will depend on the Myanmar Ministry of Education and collaboration seems more
likely given the results of the November 2015 elections. This would, of course, depend
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 26
on the extent to which the government of Myanmar supports the ASEAN Initiative to
make English the language of higher education throughout the region.
The results of this pilot suggest that the ELI could be a model for further English
language training for the deaf community in Myanmar. Two factors would be crucial for
success of such training: the government must support deaf leaders who are politically
adept and proficient in English; and deaf and hard-of-hearing organizations in the country
must join forces to support projects like ELI. Without local deaf and hard-of-hearing
advocacy, governments can easily turn their attention to other louder and more organized
voices in the country.
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 27
References
ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2012. The American Council of Teaching Foreign
Languages. URL:
http://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/public/ACTFLProficiencyGuidelines2012_FI
NAL.pdf [Aufruf am 19.11.15].
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations Secretariat. (2009): Roadmap for an ASEAN
community 2009-2015: One vision, one identity, one community. Jakarta, Indonesia:
ASEAN Secretariat. URL:
http://www.asean.org/images/2012/publications/RoadmapASEANCommunity.pdf
[Aufruf am 09.12.15]
Benson, P. (2012): Learner-centered teaching. In: Burns, A. & Richards, J. (Hrsg.): The
Cambridge guide to pedagogy and practice in second language teaching (30-37).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching,
Assessment. Language Policy Unit, Strasbourg, URL:
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Framework_EN.pdf [Aufruf am 19.11.15]
Deaf Resource Center (2014): Deaf education in Myanmar [PowerPoint slides].
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 28
Department of Social Welfare. (2010): First Myanmar national disability survey 2010.
Yangon, Myanmar: The Leprosy Mission International (Myanmar).
Eilers-crandall, K. (2009): Learning Behaviors Related to Deaf Students' Success in
College. L1 - Educational Studies in Language and Literature, 10, 1, 23-40. URL:
http://l1.publication-archive.com/publication/1/328. [Aufruf am 19.11.15]
English for Everyone. (n.d.). URL: http://www.englishforeveryone.org/Topics/Reading-
Comprehension.htm [Aufruf am 15/12/15].
Flower, L. & Hayes, J. (1981): A cognitive process theory of writing. College
Composition and Communication, 22, 365-387.
Gormley, K. & Sarachan-Deily, A. (1987): Evaluating hearing impaired students’
writing: A practical approach. Volta Review, 89, 157-170.
Hairston, M. (1982): The winds of change: Thomas Kuhn and the revolution in the
teaching of writing. College Composition and Communication, 33, 1, 76-88.
Klecan-Aker, J. & Blondeau, R. (1990): An examination of the written stories of hearing-
impaired school-age children. Volta Review, 92, 275-282.
Kluwin, T. & Kelly, A. (1991): The effectiveness of dialogue journal writing in
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 29
improving the writing skills of young deaf writers. American Annals of the Deaf 136, 3,
284-291.
Larsen-Freeman, D. & Long, M. (2014): An introduction to second language acquisition
research. London: Routledge.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Online. URL:
http://www.ldoceonline.com/. [Aufruf am 19/11/15].
Matsuda, P. (2011): Second language writing in the twentieth century: A situated
historical perspective. In: Matsuda, P., Cox, M., Jordan, J., & Ortmeier-Hooper, C.
(Hrsg.): Second-language writing in the composition classroom. New York: Bedford/St.
Martins.
Mayer, C. (1999): Shaping at the point of utterance: An investigation of the
composing processes of the deaf student writer. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf
Education, 4, 37-49.
Mitchell, R., Myles, F., & Marsden, E. (2013): Second language learning theories.
London: Routledge.
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 30
Norton, B. & Toohey, K. (2002): Identity and language learning. In: Kaplan, R. (Hrsg.):
The Oxford handbook of applied linguistics (115-123). New York: Oxford University
Press.
Pemberton, R. & Cooker, L. (2012): Self-Directed Learning: Concepts, Practice, and a
Novel Research Methodology. In: Mercer, S., Ryan. S., & Williams, M (Hrsg.).
Psychology for Language Learning: Insights from Research, Theory and Practice (203-
219). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Schlenker-Schulte, Christa (2005): Faszination Dialog – interaktional-kommunikatives
(Sprach-)Lernen mit Dialog-Journalen. In: Kaul, T. & Jann, P. (Hrsg.): Kommunikation
und Behinderung. Festschrift für Heribert Jussen (229-246). Villingen-Schwenningen:
Neckar-Verlag.
Shaughnessy, M. (1977): Errors and expectations. New York: Oxford University Press.
Stillman, J., Anderson, L., & Struthers, K. (2014): Returning to reciprocity: Using
dialogue journals to teach and learn. Language Arts, 91, 3, 146-160.
Tiberius, R. (1986): Metaphors underlying the improvement of teaching and learning.
British Journal of Educational Technology, 17, 2, 144-156.
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 31
Treptow, M., Burns, M., McComas, J. (2007): Reading at the frustration, instructional,
and independent levels: the effects on students' reading comprehension and time on task.
School Psychology Review, 36, 1, 159-166.
United Nations. (2006): Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. URL:
http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=259 [Aufruf am 09.12.15]
Wagner, S. & Schlenker- Schulte, C. (2005a): Dialog- Journale – ein neuer Ansatz für die
Alphabetisierung? In: Bundesverband Alphabetisierung: Alphabetisierung – Kultur –
Wirtschaft, Stuttgart: Ernst Klett Sprachen. S. 125-132.
Wagner, S. & Schlenker-Schulte, C. (2005b): Mit Herz und Verstand: Schreiben lernen
durch Dialog-Journale. In: Alfa Forum. Zeitschrift für Alphabetisierung und
Grundbildung. 59/2005. 18. Jahrgang/Sommer 2005. S. 25-28.
Witte, U. & Albertini, J. (1989): Dialogue Journals: Es geht gut dir? Es gut Mir.
Briefwechsel mit deutschen gehörlosen Schülern: Ein Versuch. Hörgeschädigten
Pädagogik, 43, 84-92.
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 32
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Theresa Dela Torre, Raphael Domingo, Thidar Aye, Emy Lun,
Esther Po, Thinzar Soe, the Myanmar Independent Living Initative, and the Deaf
Resource Center for their assistance at various points in this project.
Preparation of this report was supported by the Pre-College Education Network (P-CEN),
National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology and a grant
from the Nippon Foundation of Japan. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the
authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of P-CEN or the Nippon
Foundation.
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 33
Table & Figures
Table 1. Initial and Final Reading Comprehension Assessment Scores
Figure 1. Two students’ initial writing samples representing the range of skills in the ELI
class.
Figure 2. The same two students’ final writing samples.
Appendices
Appendix A. Reading passages and questions used for the initial and final reading
assessments.
Appendix B. Daily notes from the seventh day of class.
Appendix C. References for reading materials used for instruction in our ELI pilot
program.
Appendix D. Examples of teacher-student and student-student dialogues
Appendix E. Journal entry with teacher-student interaction about schooling during
last stages of autobiography.
Appendix F. Journal entry with teacher-student interaction about work during last
stages of autobiography.
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 34
Table 1. Initial and Final Reading Comprehension Assessment Scores
Students
Initial Reading Comprehension
Score (% Correct)
Final Reading Comprehension Score
(% Correct)
Low Beginning
Passage - Ocean
Low
Intermediate
Passage -
Cactus
Low Beginning
Passage -
Alligators
Mid Intermediate
Passage - Marco
Polo
S1 63 50 83 63
S2 63 34 100 63
S3 63 50 100 88
S4 75 67 83 75
S5 88 34 83 75
S6 75 17 100 75
S7 88 67 34 50
S8 100 50 100 75
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 35
Figure 1. Two students’ initial writing samples representing the range of skills in the ELI
class.
Writing Prompt
Directions:
Write your name at the top of the paper.
Write as much as you can about the topic. Don’t be afraid. You can write a list
of words, sentences, or draw pictures if you don’t know words. Or leave a blank
space if you don’t know words.
Topic:
Who is or was the most important person in your life? Please write about this person.
Describe this person and tell what have you learned from this person? Why was this
person important to you?
Student A
Student B (personal information deleted)
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 36
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 37
Figure 2. The same two students’ final writing samples.
Directions:
Write your name at the top of the paper.
Write as much as you can about the topic. Don’t be afraid. You can write a list
of words, sentences, or draw pictures if you don’t know words. Or leave a blank
space in a sentence if you don’t know words.
Topic:
What was the most important event in your life? Please write about this event. Describe
what happened and tell what you learned from this event? Why was this event
important for you?
Student A (personal information deleted)
Student B (personal information deleted)
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 38
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 39
Appendix A. Reading passages and questions used for the initial and final reading
assessments
Initial Assessment: Passages were selected from the informational readings found at
http://www.englishforeveryone.org/Topics/Reading-Comprehension.htm,
accessed January 2015.
Passage used for example and practice - Low Beginning Level
The Sun (http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/The_Sun.pdf)
First passage used for assessment - Low Beginning Level
The Ocean (http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/The_Ocean.pdf)
Second passage used for assessment - Low Intermediate Level
The Cactus
(http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/Informational%20Passages%20
RC%20-%20Cactus.pdf)
Final Assessment: Passages were also selected from the informational readings
found at http://www.englishforeveryone.org/Topics/Reading-
Comprehension.htm, accessed January 2015.
First passage used for assessment - Low Beginning Level
Alligators (http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/Alligators.pdf)
Second passage used for assessment - Mid Intermediate Level
Marco Polo
(http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/Informational%20Passages%20
RC%20-%20Marco%20Polo.pdf)
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 40
Appendix B. Daily notes from the seventh day of class.
This day’s notes include preparation for a field trip to the Native Races Village.
Students’ names were included in the daily notes students received, but these
names have been changed to S1, S2, etc. here. Instructors’ initials remain.
AGENDA & NOTES - ELI Pilot, 22 Jan 2015
Day 7, Thursday – morning, 9:00 – 11:30; afternoon, 12:30 – 3:45
Transportation and time plans for Tuesday’s field trip to Native Races Village
JA & KE - On Tuesday transportation will be slightly different.
o A bigger van will pick up 6 of us in the morning and bring us here as usual. The van will pick up
the first person at 7:00 AM.
o S3 and S5 will walk to the center and be here at 8:45.
o S2 will ride his bike to the center and be here at 8:45.
Then we will all together leave the center at 8:45 to go to the Native Races Village.
Lunch on Tuesday will be at 1:00 PM here at the center.
Questions and Comments
S3 - I think it takes about 2 hours to drive so we should bring our lunch on that day.
S7 - I have been there and I think it depends on the driver. It should take only 1 hour.
S2 - Traffic can be very slow; it may take more than 1 hour.
JA & KE - The van driver thinks it will be okay to leave the center at 8:45 to arrive at the Village at 10 AM.
S3 - In the village, there are many places to see. It is not possible for us to see everything in 2 hours.
KA, JA, KE - We have discussed this and we will let you choose one or two houses to visit.
S5 - I understand what I am reading.
KE - That is wonderful. Keep on reading.
JA - We decided to visit for a half day so we will have time in the afternoon to discuss our visit in English.
KE - Remember, this is an English class.
S3 - How about having the discussion in the village.
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 41
KE - That would be nice, but we don’t have computers there! Do you want to use American fingerspelling?
STUDENTS ANSWER - No.
S1 - I have some information. I have to tell you that I have an Advocacy meeting with MPs in Nay Pyi Taw
on Wednesday, January 28, and 4 people, S1, S3, S5, S7, need to leave on Jan 27 in the evening to go to
the meeting.
KA - Can these people stay until 3:30 PM on Jan 27?
STUDENTS ANSWER - Yes
S1 - Do we have permission to miss class on Jan 28?
KE - Would you need to miss class all day?
S1 - The meeting is in the morning and it takes all afternoon to drive back.
S7 - Can we have the day off on Jan 28 and have class on Jan 30?
KE - Can everyone come here on Jan 30?
STUDENTS ANSWER - Yes
JA - Everyone can come on Jan 30. Great! Terrific (wonderful) !!!
The Native Races Village (NRV)
KE - Now, we should discuss how to plan for our visit to the NRV.
S7 - There is a lot to see. The village is very big. There are 14 things to see; it is not easy to walk. We
should use the van inside the village.
JA - Is the van allowed to drive into and around the village?
S7 - Yes, it is.
JA & KE - We know there is a fee for foreigners and one for Myanmar people, and for the van also. We
don’t know the fee for the van. We know the fee for the people and we will pay all fees. You do not need
to pay.
S3 - When do we leave from the center?
JA - We leave at 8:45 AM.
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 42
JA - Let’s talk about what we will see at the Village now. Each of us will visit one house at NRV. You will
select a tribal area you want to see at the National Races Villages (NRV). And, we will give you an article
about one house in NRV.
KE - I will show the different houses on the screen now. KA will print and give you information about your
house from the website, http://myanmartravelinformation.com/yangon-where-to-visit/national-races-
village.html.
S1 - I have visited Kayin. I like the store there. It is not very expensive.
JA & KE - Three of you have visited the NRV before. Now, you can decide which house you want to visit on
Tuesday.
S2 - I will visit Kachin.
KE - No one will visit Kayah.
S1 and S8 - We will visit Kayin.
S3 - I volunteer to visit the house of Chin.
KE - No one wants to visit the Bamar house.
S4 - I want to see the house of Mon.
S6 - I will visit the house of Rakhine.
S7 and S5 - We will see the Shan house.
KE - Great! Everyone has selected a house to visit. We will take a short break now.
KA is printing information for you about the house you will visit. After the break, we will discuss how you
can prepare.
BREAK until 10:20
JA & KE - Now, please look at the general paragraph about the National Races Village. We would like to
know if you have questions about the vocabulary.
KE - To learn a new word, always look at the words nearby (around the new word). The nearby words can
help you figure out the meaning of the new word. Then, you can use the Longman Dictionary to check the
meaning to see if you are correct.
JA - What are some words in the paragraph you want to discuss?
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 43
STUDENTS -
[new word] constructed - [nearby words] They constructed the NRV. [meaning] built
[new word] landscape - [nearby words] The landscape compound presents … [meaning] area with
green grass and plants
[new word] compound - [nearby words] The landscape compound presents. [meaning] a place,
community, with people staying there
[new word] idealistic - [nearby words] The compound presents an idealistic view. [meaning] not
real, how things would be if all was perfect (Example -- people living together peacefully).
S4 - So, all tribes staying together without war in Myanmar is idealistic.
S1 - Idealistic would be different tribes with different cultures and thinking living together in one place.
S3 - I think idealistic is not real, only pretending (not true).
KE - Idealistic is a difficult word. We can’t see or touch it. It is a concept (a thought or idea). Do you have
other words that are new?
[new word] climb up - [nearby words] When you arrive, climb up the tower. [meaning] go up
(walk up) to the top of
[new word] basin - [nearby words] They live in the Irrawaddy basin. You know Irrawaddy is a river.
They live in the Irrawaddy river basin. - [meaning] place that is lower at the center than at the
edges; land where water runs down into a river.
The Longman Dictionary example is the Amazon basin.
JA & KE - Now we will explain your homework to prepare for the field trip to the National Races Village.
There are two things for you to do.
1. Select 3 or 4 words from the paragraph about your house at the village. In your journal write 3 or 4
words and some of the words nearby. Then try to figure out the meaning and use the Longman
Dictionary, http://www.ldoceonline.com/, to check the meaning.
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 44
For example --
S6 will pick one word from his paragraph about Rakhine.
o [new word] unmarred
o [nearby words] and unmarried sons
o [meaning] not married, single, bachelor
S2 can pick one word now from his paragraph.
o new word] utensils
o [nearby words] Traditional utensils are depicted on the pillars of the house.
o [meaning] ?
S2 - What if we have no Internet dictionary? I have a book dictionary at home; can I use that? Is the
Oxford the same as Longman?
KE & JA - If you have an English-to-English dictionary, you can try it.
S8 - Do I need to pick a word and then explain it?
JA - Yes
S1 - I have seen a loom made of wood, and I know the meaning, but I don’t not know what it looks
like.
KE & JA - If you know what it is, you do not need to write it in your journal. But, it would be a great
question for the next part (part 2 of your homework about the National Races Village.
2. In your journal, write 3 or 4 questions about things you want to see at NRV in your house.
For example --
S1’s QUESTION - What does a back strap loom look like?
KE & JA - All of you know how to write questions; remember, you wrote questions before we visited the
School for Disabled Children and the Association for Aid and Relief this week.
On Tuesday next week at the National Races Village, try to find answers to your questions.
We will break for lunch now.
Lunch - 11:30-12:30
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 45
Life Story part 1 (This was yesterday’s homework.)
JA - We did a lot of planning and some reading this morning; now we will do some writing. We asked you
to finish writing part 1 of your life story for homework. Was everybody able to write a full page.
S5 - I tried to write a full page, but I only have ¾ of a page.
JA - That’s ok
S1 - I wrote a draft.
JA - That is exactly what we call this. We call this (the page in your journal about your life) a draft;
sometimes it’s called a rough draft.
S5 - What does ‘rough’ mean?
JA - Can anybody guess?
S1 - I know what ‘draft’ means.
S3 - And, ‘rough’ is not smooth.
S5 - I remember now.
JA - S3 is right; ‘rough’ is not smooth. Here we mean a ‘first draft’, not a ‘final draft’. You final draft will be
clean and closer to perfect. So we’d like you to begin. Some people have written part 1 and some have
finished more than part 1, maybe part 2. WOW! S3 already has 1 1/3 pages for part 1. It is his ‘second
draft’.
S3 - It’s not final yet.
JA - So, we will start by asking everyone to type your second draft. And we want you to save it on a USB
stick. Type it and save it; it’s important to save very often. Then, during the break, the teachers would like
to read your second draft. Then, we will do some teacher-to-student dialoguing
S4 - I need to write part 1 again.
JA - You only need to type it on the computer now.
S4 - I have no USB stick.
JA - We will give you one. We would like you just to type from your journal. You don’t need to look up
new words or make changes. Just copy what you wrote in your journal.
S6 - I think some of the people can type very fast, but not others. It may take a long time.
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 46
JA - That’s okay. We will type until the break. Does everyone have a computer here to use?
S6 - I will move near S2.
JA - Any questions?
STUDENTS - We don’t have questions.
JA - We need to give you a USB stick now. Your USB stick has your initials on it.
S3 - Can I start part 2?
JA to S3 - First copy it on your USB stick. Then you have it on two places and it is safe. Then, you can start
part 2. Would you like to write in the journal first and then type?
S3 - I prefer typing first. I will type my first draft of part 2
JA - When you finish, you can take a break.
Short Break
JA - Good, everyone typed draft 2 (second draft). That’s great. Everyone has their USB stick now. You need
to bring it to class every time. So you don’t lose your stick, you can keep it on a ring in your binder, or you
can tie it on a string. Now, I have a question.
JA - Can you type at home or some place outside of this center on a computer? Please raise your hand if
you can.
JA to S8 and S4 - Can you type at Mary Chapman School?
S8 and S4 - We can sometimes use computers at MCS
JA - If we ask you to type part 2, can you do it for homework?
Students answers - Yes.
S7 - We have days off, can we go ahead?
JA - Yes, then your homework will be to write the first draft of part 2. If you finish part 1 and part 2, and
you have time, you can do part 3.
JA - Now, we would like to dialogue about draft 2 of part 1. We can use both your dialogue journal and
your printed page. Any questions?
S4 & S8 - We might have difficulty using a computer. We just want to write in our journal for homework.
JA - If you have difficulty using a computer, write part 2 in your journal.
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 47
JA - We will do teacher-student dialogue now. Let’s write.
JA & KE - Here is the homework. We will print this homework list and distribute it; you do not need to
copy it. There are four things to do for homework because of the long weekend.
HOMEWORK FOR THE LONG WEEKEND
Life Story part 1 - If possible, type part 1 (Draft 3) on a computer, and save it on your USB stick.
Life Story part 2 - Write a rough draft of part 2. (You can type it or write it in your journal book.)
Famous Deaf Scientists - reading and writing (Select one scientist from those KA has printed.)
Answer the same questions as before. It will probably be easier for you this time.
Native Races Village reading and writing questions
o Pick 3 or 4 vocabulary items from your house description. Write the word, nearby words,
and the definition in your journal.
o Write 3 or 4 questions that you have about the house you will see at NRV.
--
For Tuesday morning at NRC, here is the list (from above notes) of the houses students will visit.
S2 - Kachin.
S1 and S8 - Kayin.
S3 - Chin.
S4 - Mon.
S6 - Rakhine.
S7 and S5 - Shan house.
--
JA, KE, & KA - Good bye. Enjoy the long weekend. And, try to read and write some English every day.
--CLASS ENDED--
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 48
Appendix C. References for reading materials used for instruction in our ELI pilot
program.
NEWS IN LEVELS - This is a world news site specifically designed for students of
English. Three different levels of the same news item are offered in three different levels.
Along with the news article, there are pictures, glossaries, and questions. After reading,
discussing, and writing about the first level of an article, students are encouraged to read
the second level, and then the third level to get more information about the topic.
(http://www.newsinlevels.com/
DEAF SCIENTIST CORNER - This site has readings for intermediate English language
learners and includes over 30 readings about famous deaf scientists. Students are able to
select short biographies for these deaf individual according to the field in which they
made contributions. http://www.twu.edu/dsc/
MYANMAR CULTURE - This site has information about several of the festivals
celebrated within the different states and includes photos and descriptions of the
celebrations. The readings are available in English and other languages.
(http://www.myanmars.net/myanmar-culture/index.htm)
MYANMAR NATIONAL RACES VILLAGE - Readings on this site include
descriptions and brief histories for each of eight groups of peoples found in Myanmar.
Student learned vocabulary to read about the village they wished to visit within the
museum and for a writing activity following the field trip.
(http://myanmartravelinformation.com/yangon-where-to-visit/national-races-village.html)
ASSOCIATION FOR AID AND RELIEF, JAPAN (AAR Japan) - This is an
international organization founded in 1979; it delivers assistance services to people in
need. In Yangon, Myanmar, this organization opened a Vocational Training Center for
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 49
Persons with Disabilities in 2000. During our field trip, we saw students learning hair
styling, sewing, and computer skills. (http://www.lrcmyanmar.org/en/ngo-donor-
profiles/association-aid-and-relief-japan-aar-japan)
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 50
Appendix D. Examples of teacher-student and student-student dialogues.
Teacher - Student Dialogue
Student - Student Dialogue
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 51
Appendix E. Journal entry with teacher-student interaction about schooling during
last stages of autobiography.
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 52
Appendix F. Journal entry with teacher-student interaction about work during last
stages of autobiography.
Teaching English to Deaf Adults in Myanmar 53