Deaf ESL Students - Gallaudet University

Whatever had happened to his leg
must have been very serious.
I asked if the accident had been
recent. “Now?” I groped how to make
myself understood. “A long time ago?”
I used the American Sign Language
sign for long ago. Eugene copied my
signs for a long time ago.
“How old?” asked the students, first
in American signs, then in a series of
gestures miming growth. We used our
fingers to communicate—one finger,
one year. Eugene had been nine years
old. While the students pressed
Eugene for details of his story, a
teacher wrote down their questions
and his responses. As the workshop
concluded, Eugene had not only done
some extensive writing, but he been
incorporated into our classroom.
4. Focusing on English.
ABOVE. Eugene explained his story
again in gestures. I wrote down the
English words and signed the story
in American Sign Language. That
night his sister helped him add
information at home.
The next day at writers’ workshop,
the class resumed its work. Having produced
a block of text, it was time for
Eugene to revise, using the questions
from the previous day. I paired him
with another student who was also in
the process of revising his writing.
Together, they added information to
their stories through the use of “spider
legs”—lines that find their way into
text to mark where new sentences or
ideas should be inserted.
As the day’s workshop came to a
close, I felt momentarily stuck. Eugene
had produced a beautiful body of
Chinese characters, which now included
spider legs sporting English words.
Now what?
The next day, I met with Eugene
just like I meet with all of my students.
5. Incorporating a mini-lesson.
BELOW. The next day I started the
writers’ workshop by giving a minilesson
on paragraphs. Eugene
incorporated his new information
and structured his text into paragraphs.
6. Publishing the Story.
ABOVE. Many students find that
publishing is one of the most
exciting parts of writing, and
Eugene was no exception.
“Show me again what this says,” I
told him. I pointed to the unfamiliar
writing before me.
Again Eugene performed his story,
this time in section-by-section translations
from Chinese to gesture. I wrote
the English translation of the story on
the paper. Then I translated the
English to American Sign Language.
As I signed, Eugene watched intently,
his eyes moving back and forth
between my signs and the English
words.
“Good job!” I told him.
That night at home, Eugene elicited
the help of his sister, whose English
was a bit better than his, and added
more information to the story. He
showed me his work the next day.
Progress!
7. With his first story published,
Eugene began a new story.
BELOW. This time he wrote more
in English, filling in with Chinese
characters when he got stuck
for a word.