Connecting art, writing, & deafness... in Level 3 Reading

This term, I have had a great deal of fun with my Intermediate Reading class - bringing art work and writing into the classroom in the preparation of short informational books on the subject of Deafness. Many of the students in the class are talented visual artists and writers, and everyone enjoyed summarizing the ideas from our textbook unit in these special group projects.

(Above): "Living in a Silent World" by Group #3 - Voted the best project by the class.

Artists: Anton, Gary, Kent

Writers: Echo, Maggie, Lily

(Above): "A Sound of Soul: I Can't Hear But I'm Trying" by Group #2

Artists: Britany, Celia, Leo, Wenbo

Writers: Lee, Joyce

(Above): "Living in a Silent World: by Group #1

Artists: Emily, Faraj, Young

Writers: Samantha, Jerry, Clara

This project work was a great opportunity for me to share something of myself with my students. Since my early 20's I have had a mild to moderate "sensori-neural hearing loss" and am considered "hard-of-hearing". I wear two hearing aids, and have developed excellent lip reading and communication skills to compensate for this challenge. My experience managing communication, both as a hard-of-hearing person and a second language speaker (I speak French), have given me an excellent awareness of the challenges that my students face.

We began by reading several articles about Deafness in our textbook, and then expanded on the topic by watching a Canadian Hard of Hearing Association video called "Sound Ideas" (*). In the video, hard-of-hearing adults talk about their communication challenges, and their suggestions for improving communication. After listening, we discussed the ways in which the communication challenges of the deaf and hard-of-hearing are similar to the challenges faced by second language learners. (*) a video I helped to research and write.


































































As an initial assignment, students submitted written reflections on their experiences as second language learners. The writing they produced was exceptional and I was excited to see the connections they made to their own experiences. Next, they produced short informational "books" on the topic... working in 3 groups. For some, it was their first experience participating in a "group" project - and a valuable skill they will need to develop for future university seminar work.

Finally, students presented their work and assessed each others' projects. They chose a winning project, and as you can see from the photos above, all 3 projects were exceptional. The class is so talented!

We had so much fun together. It made me wish I could teach an ESL art/writing class. I want to thank each and every one of my students... Faraj, Clara, Emily, Samantha, Young, Jerry, Wenbo, Leo, Lee, Joyce, Britany, Anton, Kent, Maggie, Gary, Lily and Echo. And, last but not least, my incredible practice teacher, Paul. THANK YOU!!