An end to activities

It is with great sorrow that I write to close this blog. The higher powers to be have decided to put an end to the teaching activities of the Self Help Group. The activity was a great exchange between children with and without disabilities and for the teachers involved in the classes and I hope that they will carry this memory with them for any further interactions they have with people with speech and hearing impairments and to approach such situations with confidence and sensitivity.

Thanks to all who gave feedback to the blog.

Invitiations for workshops

Today, a group of enthusiastic children from ‘Study Station’ Dbayeh, participated in a workshop given by the Self Help Group (SHG) on the Arabic sign language alphabet, numbers and self introductions.

This was the second time the SHG has officially been invited to give workshops and one positive step towards the a future of giving professional workshops on sign language and inclusion.

Thanks to our hosts, Joint Christian Committee in Dbayeh and praise to the SHG for their courage and professionalism.

Summer activities

The summer has been filled with both activities and most importantly for some of the Self Help Group, work! For those not working, they have taken part in a photography workshop to explore diversity and tolerance and volunteered at a fund raising activity which took place over two days. The idea of the event was to create a child friendly space for both Lebanese and Palestinian children with and without disabilities to interact and play together and share in a talent show and other activities. The event was opened by the Mayor of Sur and the Sunni, Shia and Christian leaders of the community. UNIFIL and many NGO's were involved in the event and many businesses helped with sponsorship or prizes. It was an event which encompassed the whole community and laid the foundations for future events.

Other activities have included making a small movie like presentation for each school that we taught at last year to thank them for their genuine enthusiasm and participation and over the last few weeks of summer we will be preparing more materials and training the SHG to train teachers on internet safety.

Over the last year, the SHG have become a confident group of trainers and we hope to find new areas in which they can give trainings that will hopefully become a future source of employment for them.

Could things get better?

Our second visit to the schools with Group B was as positive as the first. The children had revised the alphabet and wanted to know how to introduce themselves. This lesson will come later though, so after revision and before starting with numbers, the students were asked to spell the numbers using sign language. There was no shortage of enthusiasm from any of the three schools, again with students jumping out of their seats to participate and then also guess how to make the sign in Arabic. The teacher’s from the classes following told us they should teach in sign language if the children are this enthusiastic, while other’s invited us to their classes to teach. A big thanks to the Self Help Group who have worked so hard to get to this point.

First classes in UNRWA schools

Today was the first day of teaching Arabic sign language in UNRWA schools. Needless to say it didn’t come without a few bumps along the way, but power cuts are to be expected in Lebanon and the Self Help Group didn’t appear to be the slightest bit phased when the power went and they couldn’t use the microphone or power point presentation they prepared. In fact, they continued on asking the students to guess what the letters would be and even when the power came back, there was very little reliance on the power point presentation.

Tahani was confident in her role and encouraging the students, Fatmeh moved about the classroom confidently motivating students to participate, and Khodor, also moved about the classroom self assuredly, taking photos and helping the students with the sign language alphabet.

Most teachers will know that it takes time to gain the confidence to walk around a classroom and fully interact with the children, but the SHG looked like they had been teachers for years and the children responded incredibly well, all wanting to guess the answers and practically jumping out of their seats to be chosen to come to the front of the class.
As we continue our work, the children will not only gain awareness of sign language and difficulties that speech and hearing impaired people face, but will truly have the skills to interact with them in a natural way. It was a moment to be proud of in the project for the ‘Right to Education for people with disabilities’.

Introducing ourselves to the students

Wednesday 22^nd April, the SHG coordinator, Tahani and I visited the three schools we will work in to introduce the idea of our lessons. Pointing to Australia on a world map, I introduced myself and where I came from, then asked the class which language we spoke in Australia. We then pointed to other countries such as China and Italy and asked which languages they spoke there. After this we clarified with the class that there are more than just one language in the world and different ways to communicate. We then asked the students how people who can’t hear or speak would communicate. They were very good at guessing and genuinely interested in listening to Tahani who told them the subjects we would teach them over the coming months. Tahani seemed confident in the class and I showed the potential to be a great teacher in the future.

Practice teaching run

Monday 30^th March the Self Help Group and their mothers got together to celebrate Mother’s and Children’s Day. The Professional and Inclusive committees are made up mostly of the parents of children attending Nabil Badran Centre, and the lunch was opened by a speech from one of the mother’s in the inclusive committee. She spoke about her participation in the group and how it gave her the opportunity to be an agent of change for children with disabilities and called on all mother’s there to join the groups and get involved.

Monday’s event was followed by a practice teaching session for the Self Help Group who will start teaching sing language in three UNRWA schools on the 22^nd of April. Their trial audience was made up of the managers and administration staff of Nabil Badran Centre and Women’s Humanitarian Organisation in Sur, the Right to Education project manager and World Vision’s Refugee project manager.

As some of the invited guests could not be there, it was decided to film the session and despite the pressure of standing up and teaching in front of everyone and having a camera directed at them, the Self Help Group excelled, showing confidence in their own abilities to succeed in their task.

It has been a positive week in the project to raise awareness for the ‘Right to Education for children with disabilities’.

Another step closer

Today I walked into Nabil Badran Centre to find the Self Help Group (SHG) already working without me. Why? Because we have a deadline to finish the teaching materials before entering the UNRWA schools and also because . . . . . they can. In the short space of a few months, the SHG have become much more self-assured and confident computer users which has resulted in the ability to work alone and take steps without the need for feedback or reassurance after each step. I am making myself redundant! Which can only be a good thing.

Leaving the capable group to themselves, my partner coordinator and I went to visit the UNRWA schools to introduce ourselves and arrange to meet a specific class each week. We have chosen three schools in three camps in the south, and from the 22nd of April, when they have finished exams, we will start teaching sign language to three classes every Wednesday, to children in grade 4 and 5, all in all reaching about 120 children. We hope to include these children in future activities that the centre holds, thus giving the children a chance to practice what they are learning and to facilitate truly inclusive activities in Sur.

National Children's Council

The semi annual World Vision National Children's Council meeting was held on Saturday for the 60 representatives of the council, which includes two members of the Self Help Group (SHG), to discuss which qualities are needed to become a good leader. The two members of the SHG, both with speech and hearing impairments participated actively in the discussion showing great strength of character to interact with the other 60 children. Infact, when they spoke, all of the children on the council listened much more intently than they did to other speakers. Their ideas were often followed by rounds of applause and their strength and positive character shined through to make them really a part of the group. The activities that the SHG have been working on have been great for their self confidence, and it was a positive sign to see all of the members of the council interacting with respect for each other.

Progress

Last Wednesday group A of the Self Help Group (SHG) met to continue making teaching materials and to take a workshop in ‘Photoshop’ run by two of the SHG themselves.

When we started making power point presentations at the beginning of the year, it took the group 3 to 4 hours to put one together. Last Wednesday, one of the girls from the group completed one in 40 minutes.

The two photoshop experts displayed their teaching skills, by talking each member of the group through the procedure to cut out a figure from a photo, paste it onto a blank page, but a different background on the photo, remove blemishes from skin and to duplicate the photo and change the colours and hues.

One of the girls who until now had not been at all interested in doing any of the work was not only enthusiastic about making the first photo but also wanted to keep the computer to work on the second one. One of the boys who had also been disinterested in the groups activities asked for the computer program to take home and install on his computer to practice at home.

As a facilitator for the group, it was an encouraging day to see all so enthused and motivated.

Stay tuned for more positive updates and photos from the workshop

Photoshop workshop

Last Wednesday group A of the Self Help Group (SHG) met to continue making teaching materials and to take a workshop in ‘Photoshop’ run by two of the SHG themselves.

When we started making power point presentations at the beginning of the year, it took the group 3 to 4 hours to put one together. Last Wednesday, one of the girls from the group completed one in 40 minutes.

The two photoshop experts displayed their teaching skills, by talking each member of the group through the procedure to cut out a figure from a photo, paste it onto a blank page, but a different background on the photo, remove blemishes from skin and to duplicate the photo and change the colours and hues.

One of the girls who until now had not been at all interested in doing any of the work was not only enthusiastic about making the first photo but also wanted to keep the computer to work on the second one. One of the boys who had also been disinterested in the groups activities asked for the computer program to take home and install on his computer to practice at home.

As a facilitator for the group, it was an encouraging day to see all so enthused and motivated.

Stay tuned for more positive updates.

Youth becoming confident trainers

Last week group B of the Self Help Group met to continue making educational materials while we wait for permission to teach in the schools.

One of the girls came to the centre early in the day to start work on the powerpoint presentation and we made the film clips for verbs. Students in the schools that we visit will be shown the film clip and asked to guess what the verb is. In this way we hope to engage them in active rather than passive learning.

Verbs

Publish at Scribd or explore others: sign language arabic

Our computer student who has gone from not knowing anything about a computer, to teaching the boys that came later in the day is showing much more confidence in herself and using the computer and it was a pleasure to see.

We will post all of the materials online for teachers and groups in other areas of Lebanon.

In conjunction with preparing materials, students will also receive training on photoshop. One of the group works with this programme in his sign making job and will share his skills with the rest of the group next week.

Little by little, we are becoming a cohesive, confident and skilled group.

Motiviting everybody

While waiting for permission to enter schools to conduct awareness raising and inclusive activities for the Right to Education for children with disabilities, the Self Help Group (SHG) has begun preparing materials.

Due to the limited number of computers and the fact that the male youth already have quite good computer skills, the girls have been concentrating on producing the materials on the computers, leaving the boys feeling that they are not contributing to their full capacity.

As some of the boys work and it will be most likely that the girls will go to teach and run activities in the schools, we have decided to enlist the help of the Nabil Badran’s computer support person to work with the boys to put together a workshop on photoshop. At least 3 of the boys are experts in this programme, so they will collaborate to plan and deliver a workshop for the rest of the SHG. In this way, their confidence to plan and teach will increase and at the same time building the capacity of the whole group.

Once the SHG has had the opportunity to become confident with this programme, they will then run workshops with the teachers in Nabil Badran Centre and Women’s Humanitarian Organisation and the two community committees, furthering their presentation skills and building the capacities of the community.

More awareness raising activities

Friday 30^th January, the activities designed and prepared by the Self Help Group were implemented in Bourj al Barajne, to a small group of keen children. All very intelligently and 50% accurately, guessed what the letters of the Arabic sign language might be and were very enthusiastic about checking their answers on the power point presentation.

أحرف الأبجديةalphabet

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Education Presentations & Slid arabic sign language

As it was a small group of children, they worked through the power-point activity by themselves, moving on to each letter when they were ready and with the guidance of the two facilitators. At the end of the session, they were very keen to introduced themselves in sign language and tell us their age.

Their positive attitude was an encouraging sight in the quest to facilitate inclusion for the Right to Education for children with disabilities.

Inclusive activities in Zahle

Saturday 24th January, the Children’s Council’s of Zahle, West Bekaa and Central Bekaa hosted an activity to raise awareness about disabilities. Invited were a local organization that works with people with disabilities and the Self Help Group and children from Nabil Badran Centre in El Buss. Both groups shared activities with the Children’s Council such as singing, dancing and teaching the Arabic sign language alphabet. During the break, children mixed together and some exchanged email addresses. The event was positive with many of the children from the Children’s council expressing their interest in meeting again and sharing in activities.

An article of the event can be found by clicking here.

It was a big step in building the bridge between children with and without disabilities.

Action plan for 2009

Today the SHG met to put together an action plan for the year. In order to raise awareness about hearing disabilities, the group has decided to approach 3 UNWRA run schools in El Buss, Rashadiyeh and Bourj a Shmeli camps in Southern Lebanon to run awareness sessions on Arabic Sign Language. They plan to teach a class each month on basic sign language to help foster communication and relationships between people with and without disabilities.

The group will split into two and each individual group will meet twice a month.

Group A will meet on the 1^st Wednesday of the month to prepare materials and the 3^rd Wednesday of the month to teach. Group B will do the same on the 2^nd and 4^th Wednesdays.

The plan for teaching is as follows:

Jan	Visit school
Feb	Abc
March	123
April	Name, age, grade, school, camp
May	Classroom objects
June / July / August	Off for holidays
Sep	Revision, days of week and month
Oct	Feelings
Nov	Verbs, nouns, letters
Dec	Exam

We will keep you updated as the plan unfolds.

Learning the Arabic sign language alphabet

Following the celebration of International Disability Day, World Vision’s Area Development programme officers took the activities facilitated by the Self Help Group from El Buss and ran them with children from their local area as a part of a World Vision National Children’s Council which celebrates the ‘Rights of the Child’.

Children from Saida participated in games and activities to raise the awareness of communicating without voice. They were very enthusiastic about guessing what the letters might be for the Arabic sign language alphabet, and learnt how to introduce themselves by name and age.
Two participants asked for extra sheets of words in sign language and wanted to know how to learn more, as every year they met people with speech impairments in Summer camps that they participated in. They told me also of a song in Arabic by Nancy Ajram, whose video clip is in sign language.

It was a positive sign to see children so openly accepting and willing to learn.

Even better news is that the SHG has been invited to the Bekaa on Saturday 24th to facilitate the activities with children there.

The ball has started rolling for 2009 and we hope it will be a year filled with inclusive activities which celebrate the uniqueness of our diversity.