Today began with a series of mishaps.
Mistake number 1: We missed assembly completely this morning. Well done girls.
Mistake number 2: While feeling very Malaysian in our Baju Kurung (Moo Moos) we commenced the penguin shuffle to the school. Unbeknownst to us, the skirt was not meant to be that difficult to walk in - we had simply not undone the stitches at the bottom. Thankfully a gardener spotted us shuffling along, had a chuckle, and then fixed us up.
Mistake number 3: We learned that our recess yesterday was not free, but instead we were supposed to pay for it. So essentially we stole food from the special school. Mega Fail.
Mistake number 4: I got a mosquito bite. If I do not return home, I probably have Malaria.
The day did improve however, and in the afternoon Zaidee took us driving around Melaka to show us the sights and where we should visit. We ate some rather… interesting food, some of which I can still taste and smell hours later…not good.
The first experience was Coconut water – mine was horribly unpleasant, with my coconut husk containing absolutely no coconut. Jess scored a nice coconut and her water actually tasted somewhat pleasant. Next on the list was an ABC, which is ‘Air + Batu + Campur’ (we were told it had Ice, Corn, Peanuts, Sugar and Jelly). I tasted beans, jelly, corn and ice. Very odd!
Our third and most scarring experience = KING FRUIT. Called Durian in Malaysian, it is a fruit to be avoided at all costs. It looks like a huge conker, smells like overripe mango, has the consistency of brie cheese and tastes like nothing I have ever tasted before, or wish to taste again! We took one bite and dissolved into giggles/gags. The man working in the stall was very interested in Australian money and had all sorts of questions for us.
Everyone in the school seems very relaxed; it’s quite a nice teaching environment. Too bad we have absolutely no idea what is happening most of the time.
Speech
We observed a year 6 English class with Lee Swee Ling this morning. There were 6 children in the class, but hardly any noise! This is something Jess and I are finding it hard to adjust to – almost silent halls and classrooms (apart from the teachers.) The children all seem very well behaved as they are quiet, but upon closer observation, they all sign behind the teacher’s back, just as mainstream children would whisper and pass notes.
The children in this class will be sitting an exam at the end of the year – the same exam as children in normal schools; however, the marking will be much more lenient and the pass mark lower for the deaf children. They read very simple English and their sentence construction is poor. The lessons are conducted entirely in ASL (American Sign Language) which proved confusing for us as we are trying to pick up some Malay signing. Jess and I would like to learn some Malay signing, as well as some of the language, and so far we have learnt small amounts, but when we were in this class it was all different signs again. The teachers are amazing as they are able to speak English as well as sign in English and Malay.
The children were doing Information Transfer today in class, where they read passages in English and chose the relevant information to copy out. Lee Swee Ling was encouraging the children to respond verbally with ‘yes/no’ to no avail.
So far we have found the teaching style to be less interactive than in Australian school. The teacher is out the front and facing the students. This is obviously a matter of necessity as the students need to be able to see the signing; however, there is less input from the students. It would be interesting to visit a hearing impaired school in Australia in order to compare abilities and teaching styles/classroom behaviour.
Zaidee is acting as a fill-in Audiologist, and trying to learn as much about it as he can. We are fortunate enough to be able to observe a speech pathologist and an audiologist visit the school next week to test the children. The facilities are quite basic, so it should provide a fantastic insight into the fields of SP and Audiology in a developing country.
Hearing aids are often too costly for the parents to afford, which has a significant impact on the children. This does not surprise me, as many of the children here are from the village; however, what does surprise me is that many of the parents have not learned sign language and cannot communicate with their own children. The parents expect the teachers at the school to take care of the children and do not make the effort themselves.
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