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Every week that has passed has seen new children signing up for school. We rejoice in this, that they will have the opportunity to come, but at the same time, we recognize that this puts added work for the teachers, whose classes are already at capacity.
The issue of teachers is always a difficult one. The fact is, trained teachers of the deaf are not usually available to hire. It's easy to find someone with a teaching license, but s/he will not know Sign Language.
Every deaf child needs an education. Without it, in most cases, the child will not ever be fluent in any language. Imagine living without anything but a limited system of home-invented signs.
It's very important that deaf children not be turned away. On the other hand, if you put too many deaf children in a classroom, you end up with a day-care center rather than a school. It's very difficult to explain this to people who are used to working with hearing children in packed classrooms.
The greatest need continues to be educators of the deaf, and we continue to ask for your prayers and if you are a teacher of the deaf, your participation if you are able to come.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
New kids
We welcomed three new students this week. We have over a hundred students now. Our little school is already running out of space! The Secretary of State of Education has asked us to add Saturday classes for adult deaf who need remedial classes in reading. Please keep praying for us.
We have been greatly blessed with a donation for buying batteries to go with the inverter. Very soon we will have electricity for all or most of the school day. Up till this point we have had only very limited electricity daily. This is how an inverter works. When the electricity is on, the inverter charges up the batteries. When the electricity goes off, the inverter begins drawing on the battery power that is stored, and provides electricity until the city electricity comes on again.
Now we begin the task of getting and installing fans in each classroom. The classrooms are quite hot, although they are much better since the renovation.
Every Monday we are having chapel services for the children, and they are enjoying it very much. The parents are reporting to us that their children are learning much from these services, and they are pleased. The children give their prayer requests, and learn all about trusting in the Lord for their needs, and the grace of living in obedience to him. They are even going home and teaching their parents about the Lord!
We have been greatly blessed with a donation for buying batteries to go with the inverter. Very soon we will have electricity for all or most of the school day. Up till this point we have had only very limited electricity daily. This is how an inverter works. When the electricity is on, the inverter charges up the batteries. When the electricity goes off, the inverter begins drawing on the battery power that is stored, and provides electricity until the city electricity comes on again.
Now we begin the task of getting and installing fans in each classroom. The classrooms are quite hot, although they are much better since the renovation.
Every Monday we are having chapel services for the children, and they are enjoying it very much. The parents are reporting to us that their children are learning much from these services, and they are pleased. The children give their prayer requests, and learn all about trusting in the Lord for their needs, and the grace of living in obedience to him. They are even going home and teaching their parents about the Lord!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
A note from the principal's office
Update from the Principal's office:
We will be resuming our regular school hours of 8-4 this week. The first couple of weeks we had only half-day classes while we continued teacher training, as attendance was poor--typical of August here.
The children are happy to be back at school after their summer vacation. The students who were studying with us have been longing for the beginning of school because they generally have very little communication at home.
This year we have a lot of new students, and especially little ones. There are 20 children who are from 2 to 5 years old!
Maria, the assistant principal, spends her days in the classrooms, training new teachers.
Note: If there is a volunteer who would like to work alongside us here, please contact us. The school may be reached at 809-590-8666 (Spanish, voice) Emails in Spanish can go to gmail.com to the name paulinacolegio. If you write in English, just allow a few days extra for us to get it translated.
The hurricanes haven't arrived, but are passing by close enough to cause us some torrential rains.
We ask for your continued prayers for the school and its students, and we appreciate the help you all have given, especially for your prayers. We know that the Lord is able to supply our every need.
We will be resuming our regular school hours of 8-4 this week. The first couple of weeks we had only half-day classes while we continued teacher training, as attendance was poor--typical of August here.
The children are happy to be back at school after their summer vacation. The students who were studying with us have been longing for the beginning of school because they generally have very little communication at home.
This year we have a lot of new students, and especially little ones. There are 20 children who are from 2 to 5 years old!
Maria, the assistant principal, spends her days in the classrooms, training new teachers.
Note: If there is a volunteer who would like to work alongside us here, please contact us. The school may be reached at 809-590-8666 (Spanish, voice) Emails in Spanish can go to gmail.com to the name paulinacolegio. If you write in English, just allow a few days extra for us to get it translated.
We ask for your continued prayers for the school and its students, and we appreciate the help you all have given, especially for your prayers. We know that the Lord is able to supply our every need.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Staff picture
This photo is really from this month! Honest! The green shirts are the new school uniforms, by the way.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Tuesday is the first day of the new school year
Tuesday is the day! CCES will be beginning the new school year with lots of new teachers, and lots of new students. There are over a hundred students signed up now, and if this year is like previous years, they will continue to sign up students well into September. After that, new students will still come, but not daily.
This promises to be a very difficult beginning. CCES has several new teachers who have minimal Sign Language skills and no experience teaching deaf children. You may wonder why we would hire such.
It comes down to this: there really are not any qualified teachers of the deaf available. CCES looks for Christian teachers--and thankfully, they are abundant. But there are more qualifications. The Secretary of Education will hire only teachers who have been licensed through the university system and passed an exam given by the Secretary of Education. (Only a small percentage of licensed teachers pass this test.) Teachers who know sign language are scarce. Teachers who have a degree and know sign language, scarcer still. Teachers who have a degree, can sign, and have passed the test given by the Secretary of Education are almost non-existent--and the few that exist are already working in schools for the deaf.
So the choice they have is to either have no education for the deaf, or to hire unskilled, unqualified teachers, train them on the job, and hope they succeed. This sounds terrible, and it is, because it means that deaf students will not be getting the quality education they should unless they get one of the teachers who has been trained in previous years. Why even bother?
It is worth it for several reasons. First, the very most important thing we can do to prepare these children for life, and especially for coming to know the Lord, is to give them a language. Most who don't attend school will not learn a language. Even with inadequate teachers, deaf children learn a language just from being around other deaf children.
Second, the teachers who start out knowing nothing, often end up being excellent teachers within a single year or two. It's a sink or swim situation. Many learn to "swim" beautifully. Each year new teachers are added, and each year more are trained, so progress is being made.
If you are a teacher of the deaf, and you would like to come and participate as a volunteer in the training of new teachers in Santo Domingo, let us know. CCES needs you! Spanish is nice, but not absolutely necessary. ASL is required. You can offer a school year, a semester, a month, or just come for a few days and give a workshop. Interested? See this page for details about volunteering.
As always your prayers are desired. Please pray that teachers and students will settle in quickly to the work at hand, and that in everything God will be honored and glorified.
This promises to be a very difficult beginning. CCES has several new teachers who have minimal Sign Language skills and no experience teaching deaf children. You may wonder why we would hire such.
It comes down to this: there really are not any qualified teachers of the deaf available. CCES looks for Christian teachers--and thankfully, they are abundant. But there are more qualifications. The Secretary of Education will hire only teachers who have been licensed through the university system and passed an exam given by the Secretary of Education. (Only a small percentage of licensed teachers pass this test.) Teachers who know sign language are scarce. Teachers who have a degree and know sign language, scarcer still. Teachers who have a degree, can sign, and have passed the test given by the Secretary of Education are almost non-existent--and the few that exist are already working in schools for the deaf.
So the choice they have is to either have no education for the deaf, or to hire unskilled, unqualified teachers, train them on the job, and hope they succeed. This sounds terrible, and it is, because it means that deaf students will not be getting the quality education they should unless they get one of the teachers who has been trained in previous years. Why even bother?
It is worth it for several reasons. First, the very most important thing we can do to prepare these children for life, and especially for coming to know the Lord, is to give them a language. Most who don't attend school will not learn a language. Even with inadequate teachers, deaf children learn a language just from being around other deaf children.
Second, the teachers who start out knowing nothing, often end up being excellent teachers within a single year or two. It's a sink or swim situation. Many learn to "swim" beautifully. Each year new teachers are added, and each year more are trained, so progress is being made.
If you are a teacher of the deaf, and you would like to come and participate as a volunteer in the training of new teachers in Santo Domingo, let us know. CCES needs you! Spanish is nice, but not absolutely necessary. ASL is required. You can offer a school year, a semester, a month, or just come for a few days and give a workshop. Interested? See this page for details about volunteering.
As always your prayers are desired. Please pray that teachers and students will settle in quickly to the work at hand, and that in everything God will be honored and glorified.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Getting ready for back to school
Today begins our teacher training for the new school year. We are also signing up quite a few new students.
Our teacher training includes a course in Cued Spanish given by Marleny, one of our teachers. Maria, the assistent director, will be giving workshops on new strategies for teaching content with the use of Sign Language.
You may notice that we have mentioned two different language methods. That is because our goal is for the children to be bi-lingual. First of all, we use Sign Language, the preferred language of most Dominican Deaf people. Most of our communication and content is conveyed in Sign.
We also use Cued Spanish to teach the students Spanish, mainly for purposes of literacy and knowing how to write effectively. This allows them better communication with the hearing world. That is important for jobs, family, and societal interaction.
We encourage parents to choose either of these options for their home communication, and provide training for those who choose to do so. Still, did you know that the majority of the parents of deaf children, even in the USA, never learn to communicate effectively with their children? If you'd like to know why, here is a good article on it: Why parents don't learn to sign
Our teacher training includes a course in Cued Spanish given by Marleny, one of our teachers. Maria, the assistent director, will be giving workshops on new strategies for teaching content with the use of Sign Language.
You may notice that we have mentioned two different language methods. That is because our goal is for the children to be bi-lingual. First of all, we use Sign Language, the preferred language of most Dominican Deaf people. Most of our communication and content is conveyed in Sign.
We also use Cued Spanish to teach the students Spanish, mainly for purposes of literacy and knowing how to write effectively. This allows them better communication with the hearing world. That is important for jobs, family, and societal interaction.
We encourage parents to choose either of these options for their home communication, and provide training for those who choose to do so. Still, did you know that the majority of the parents of deaf children, even in the USA, never learn to communicate effectively with their children? If you'd like to know why, here is a good article on it: Why parents don't learn to sign
Camp
Camp was a success. Children learned more about Jesus, and some came to know him personally. There was too much fun to be believed, even though it poured down rain every day. The kids still had time to get in the pool.
Framy, who has been dealing with visual problems, at first didn't want to come, because he cannot see at night now. We assured him that we would assign someone to him, if necessary, to make sure he didn't have any problems. He decided to come. His classmates were happy to see him, and fought over who would be his guide.
The children had a bunch of new American friends to get to know, and American friends who they knew from last year to catch up with.
Several weeks later...oops! I just realized that this post was written but never posted. So here it is, better late than never!
Framy, who has been dealing with visual problems, at first didn't want to come, because he cannot see at night now. We assured him that we would assign someone to him, if necessary, to make sure he didn't have any problems. He decided to come. His classmates were happy to see him, and fought over who would be his guide.
The children had a bunch of new American friends to get to know, and American friends who they knew from last year to catch up with.
Several weeks later...oops! I just realized that this post was written but never posted. So here it is, better late than never!
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