Sign language for the deaf and mute taught from scratch. Basic training courses in sign language. Structure of teaching the language of the deaf and mute

How to learn sign language? This question has worried people for a long time, because there have been deaf and dumb people at all times.

It is more difficult for such people to adapt to society and to lead a full life. In the old days, in many European countries, people with hearing and speech impairments were not considered normal. They were sent to psychiatric hospitals for compulsory treatment. Society treated them negatively.

Before answering the question “how to learn sign language?”, let’s consider how the situation has changed over time and learn the background to the emergence of deaf pedagogy and dactylology.

Bonet system

Fortunately for the deaf and dumb, there were also positive-minded people who felt sorry for them and wanted to help. Such a person was, for example, the priest Juan Pablo Bonet. He lived at the beginning of the 17th century. One day Bonet was hired as an assistant in one rich family, the head of which was an important official. This gentleman's son suffered from deafness; no one could teach him writing or arithmetic.

Soon the priest created his own training system for this boy. He came up with a special symbol for each letter in the alphabet. The question of how to learn sign language did not even arise with this deaf-mute boy; Bonet began to work with the child with enthusiasm and great enthusiasm.

Very soon the boy learned the entire alphabet. After this, rumors about the Bonet system spread throughout Spain. The priest published a book in which he described his method in detail.

School of Michel Charles de Lepeux

Michel Charles de Lepeux became famous for organizing and opening the world's first school for educating deaf and mute people. He took the book of Juan Bonet as the basis for his method. By the way, in Paris at that time there already existed a semblance of sign language in Old French. However, Michel de Lepe adapted this similarity to modern French, and communication between deaf-mutes began to consist of more than just individual words. Now people could communicate for real, build a smooth and coherent “speech”.

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet School

Thomas Gallaudet, after visiting the de Leppe school, returned to the States and opened his own educational institution. The method was borrowed from a French colleague. At Thomas Gallaudet's school there were real "lectures" on how to learn sign language, adapted into English.

And again this method enjoyed great success and popularity.

Oralists opposed such a system of education. According to their beliefs, such a technique separates deaf people from the hearing community, and there is actually no benefit from it.

Alexander Graham Bell and his school of oralists

Here they taught writing and reading using a completely different system. Each speech sound (depending on the position of the lips) was marked with a written symbol. Initially, this method was supposed to be used to correct diction. But in the process, Bell taught the deaf and dumb in the same way.

The first deaf pedagogical schools in Russia

In 1806, the first school of deaf pedagogy was opened in Pavlovsk (near St. Petersburg). They taught here according to the French system.

In 1860, such a school opened in Moscow. In the capital, the German method was used as the basis for teaching how to learn sign language for deaf and dumb people.

Gradually, researchers and scientists began to appear in our country who were interested in such a training system.

Lev Semenovich Vygotsky

At first, he did not particularly believe in the benefits of sign language; he considered it very limited. But some time later, in one of his works, he called sign language extremely complex and diverse. The scientist considered it richly developed and recognized its undeniable benefits for deaf and dumb people.

Rachel Boskis and Natalia Morozova

We studied Vygotsky's works. In their work on speech development, they concluded that the grammar of simple Russian and sign language is different.

It was mistakenly believed that deaf people cannot learn sign language on their own, and also learn verbal speech at the same time.

Victor Ivanovich Fleury

He was a teacher and worked as a school director in St. Petersburg. He conducted a deep analysis of “deaf-mute speech” and came to the conclusion that sign language, Russian, can be learned by every person with hearing or speech impairment. In addition, he noticed that in certain companies and societies of the deaf, sign language has its own characteristics, differences and subtle patterns inherent specifically to that society. Just as in “our” (verbal speech) there is jargon and specific words, so in “silent speech” this is also present.

He wrote the book "Deaf and Mute". In this work, the teacher collected all the gestures and signs known to him.

There were other people who contributed to Russian education of the deaf: I. A. Sokolyansky, L. V. Shcherba, A. Ya. Udal.

So how do you learn silent sign language?

Let's look at this question in more detail. Below are step-by-step instructions.

Introduction to dactylology

First you need to get acquainted with dactylology. So called special shape speech. Dactylology includes the fingerprint alphabet. In it, each letter of the alphabet has its own designation - a sign made of fingers. These signs are called dactylems.

Many people are deeply mistaken that sign language and the dactyl alphabet are one and the same thing. There is a difference: dactylems convey words letter by letter, while sign language conveys whole words.

There is also manoral speech. With this form of communication, words are read from the lips, gestures only emphasize hard and soft, deaf and voiced consonants.

Finger placement technique

When learning the fingerprint alphabet, you should not rush. You need to remember well and practice the technique of placing your fingers. At first your hand will get tired. But after two or three workouts, your fingers will begin to get used to it and bend better.

Fingering speed

Having perfected the technique of forming dactyls, we move on to the speed of placing fingers. In deaf pedagogy, proper names, surnames, and geographical names are shown letter by letter.

The dactyl alphabet can be found in the form of a picture or use a more visual video tutorial. By the way, sign language and dactylology are different in each country. Unfortunately, there is no single language for the deaf and dumb.

Practice

Having mastered all the dactylems, you should practice. Learn basic words, names or titles. Videos, films can help with this, there is even a special application for Android.

Counting and numbers

Once you have a little practice, you should master counting. It is advisable to immediately learn to show at least the simplest numbers. This will greatly advance the study of sign language.

Sequence of study

Let's move on to sign language itself. It contains about 2000 different symbols. How to quickly learn sign language with such a volume of signs? In fact, everything is not as difficult as it seems.

Learning gestures should start with simple words“hello”, “goodbye”, “sorry”, “thank you”. You should learn them gradually, without chasing quantity. It is better to learn a small number of gestures in one training session.

And the last recommendation. If you are seriously thinking about learning the language of the deaf, it may be worth looking for such courses in your city. They are not widespread, but you can still find them. Such courses are good because here you can get practice in live communication, hone your skills and language proficiency.

Our world is diverse. It cannot be said that there are people who are exactly alike, both externally and internally. Thus, another universe, which has its own properties, is also inhabited by those who are usually called deaf-mute people. Their perception environment differs several times from how reality is understood by a person who does not have such physical abnormalities.

But it is important to note that the sign language of the deaf and dumb has the same versatility and colorfulness as that of healthy personality. The dictionary contains more than 2,000 gestures. And gesture signs are entire words, so showing and learning some of them will not be difficult.

Nonverbal sign language

Before getting into the dictionary of sign language, it would be appropriate to note that one of the misconceptions about it is that it depends on the verbal language that we use every day (sound and written) or that it allegedly originated from the latter, and even that the language of the deaf was founded by a hearing person. Moreover, it is generally accepted incorrectly that gestures of a silent language are accepted as fingerprinting of letters. That is, letters are depicted with hands. But that's not true.

In this language, dactylology is used to pronounce geographical names, specific terms and proper names. It is very easy to get acquainted with its basics since there is an established alphabet. And you will be able to easily communicate with a deaf-mute person by spelling out the word using gestures. Sign language for the deaf in Russian dactylology has 33 dactyl signs.

Sign language lessons

More detailed information about the language of the deaf and dumb can be found in the book by G.L. Zaitseva. "Gesture speech" Here is a more detailed look at the most common gestures.

If you're wondering, "Do I need... healthy person, know such a language?”, the answer is simple - sometimes there is never too much knowledge, sometimes it is unclaimed. But perhaps one day, thanks to them, you will be able to help, for example, a lost deaf-mute.

Few people have encountered the problem of communicating with deaf people. More less people understand what such speech is based on. One of the misconceptions is that deaf sign language was invented only by hearing people, and that it depends on ordinary speech. Actually this is not true. The second misconception is that sign languages ​​include fingerprinting of letters, that is, drawing letters with hands.

Dactylology shows words one letter at a time, while sign signs show them as a whole. There are more than 2000 such gesture words in dictionaries for the deaf. Some of them are quickly remembered and easily depicted.

The concept of "sign language"

The sign language of the deaf is independent language, which arose naturally, or created artificially. It consists of a combination of gestures that are made with the hands and are complemented by facial expressions, body position, and lip movements. It is most often used for the purpose of communication among deaf or hard of hearing people.

How did sign languages ​​originate?

Most of us are inclined to believe that deaf sign language actually originated among hearing people. They used gestures to communicate silently. Be that as it may, people with speech and hearing impairments use it.

An interesting fact is that only 1.5% of people in the world are completely deaf. Largest quantity residents with hearing impairments are found in Brazil, among the Urubu tribe. There is one deaf child for every 75 children born. This is the reason why all Urubu representatives are familiar with sign language.

At all times, the question has been about how to learn the sign language of the deaf and dumb. Moreover, each region has its own. Appearance problem common language began to be considered in large areas from the mid-18th century. At this time, educational centers designed for children with hearing problems began to appear in France and Germany.

The teachers' task was to teach children writing native language. For the explanations, gestures used among the deaf and dumb were taken as a basis. On their basis, a gestural interpretation of French and German gradually emerged. That is, sign language is largely artificially created. Anyone can understand and use this language.

Teaching the language of the mutes in the past

Each country has its own sign language for the deaf. This is due to the fact that the gestures taken as a basis could be interpreted differently in different states. For example, in the USA, teachers from France were invited to create their own school for the deaf. It was the teacher Laurent Clerc who developed this trend in America in the 18th century. But Great Britain did not adopt a ready-made language, adopting only the methods of deaf pedagogy. This is precisely the reason why American for the deaf is similar to French, but cannot have anything in common with English.

In Russia, things were even more complicated. The first school for the deaf appeared here at the very beginning of the 19th century. In Pavlovsk, the knowledge and practice of French teachers was used. And half a century later, an educational institution was opened in Moscow, which adopted the experience German specialists. The struggle between these two schools can be traced in the country today.

Sign language is not a verbal tracing. Wherein for a long time its structure and history have not been studied by anyone. Only in the second half of the last century did scientists appear who proved that the language for the deaf is a full-fledged linguistic system. And it has its own morphological and syntactic features.

Gesture communication

In order to understand a silent language, the gestures of which vary depending on the state, you need to decide where it will be needed. In particular, Russian dactylology has 33 dactyl signs. A book by G. L. Zaitseva entitled “Sign speech. Dactylology" is suitable for studying the sign language of the deaf and dumb in Russia. Learning words will take time and require a lot of practice.

For example, here are some descriptions of gestures and their meanings:

• hands raised to chin level and bent at the elbows, connected by the fingertips, mean the word “house”;
• circular rotations simultaneously with both hands in the hip area mean “hello”;
• the bend of the fingers of one hand, raised to chest level and bent at the elbow, means “goodbye”;
• folded into a fist right hand, which touches the forehead, means “thank you”;
• a handshake at chest level means "peace";
• smooth movements of two parallel palms looking at each other from left to right should be understood as an apology;
• touching the edge of the lips with three fingers and moving the hand to the side means “love.”

To understand all the gestures, it is better to read specialized literature or watch video tutorials. However, even here you should understand which language is best to learn.

Tongue gesturing

The problem of understanding among deaf people around the world became very acute only in the last century. In 1951, after the emergence of the World Federation of the Deaf, it was decided to create a universal silent language, the gestures of which would be understandable to participants in all countries.

Work on this issue bore fruit only in 1973 in the form of the first dictionary of simplified sign language. Two years later, international sign language was adopted. To create it, the languages ​​of England, America, Italy, and Russia were used. At the same time, the methods of communication among representatives of the African and Asian continents were not taken into account at all.

This has led to the fact that in addition to the official one, there is also an informal sign language in the world.

Dactyl alphabet

Gestures can show not only words, but also individual letters. This is not exactly the sign language of the deaf and dumb. Words consist of individual letter gestures, which makes communication difficult and takes longer. Using the dactylic alphabet, which is what this method is called, common nouns, scientific terms, prepositions, and the like are designated.

This alphabet has its own differences in different sign languages. It is quite easy to study it, since it consists, as already mentioned, of 33 dactylic signs. Each of them corresponds to the image of the corresponding letter. To understand Russian speech, you should study the corresponding dactyl alphabet.

The target audience: a course for a wide range of people who want to learn Russian Language from scratch.

Course length: 72 hours.

Purpose: for self-development and initial practice of communicating with the deaf.

Course “Russian Sign Language. Started." 80 hours

Target audience: course for teaching staff, teaching deaf people in secondary vocational and higher education organizations. Supplemented with lectures on psychological characteristics deaf.

Course volume: 80 hours.

Purpose: for initial practice of communicating with the deaf as part of the educational process.

Course “Sign language for parents. Family format." 40 hours

Target audience: course for parents of deaf children studying in their final year of school.

Course volume: 40 hours.

Purpose: to restore psychological balance in families and prepare deaf high school students to work in colleges with sign language interpreters.

Sign language course for parents of deaf high school students in a family format.

Main! - one place on the course is provided for three people at once - a family: the father, mother or other relatives of a deaf child and for the child himself.

The course developed at the institute is aimed at quickly learning sign language.

By completing this course, you will significantly improve the quality of your communication with your child and your ability to help him with his studies, and, at the same time, learn sign language.

The course includes a lecture on the basics of the psychology of deafness (for parents only), given by a candidate of psychological sciences, professional translator sign language, Chairman of the Academic Council of the Institute.

The number of places in the group is limited - only 10. That is, 10 families.

The course volume is 40 academic hours.

The sign language course is equipped with multimedia support - that is, the gestures included in the educational vocabulary are filmed, which relieves students of the need to take notes on lectures. Now there is no need for this: each family is given a sign language textbook, a reference book “Short words: prepositions, particles, conjunctions” and mobile app"Russian-sign explanatory dictionary".

Therefore, this course will be useful not only for beginners to learn sign language, but also for deaf people for whom RSL is their native language: they will be able to see live connection sign language with hearing language.

The course volume is 72 academic hours.

This course provides the very beginnings of Russian sign language: the basic vocabulary and the beginnings of linguistics of Russian Sign Language. For the first time, gestures, as lexical units, are given not as a mirror image of Russian words, but as independent concepts, which is what they essentially are, and a variable translation of these into Russian is offered for these concepts.
The course includes lectures on the basics of the psychology of deafness, given by a candidate of psychological sciences, a professional sign language interpreter, chairman of the Academic Council of the institute Kuzmin Vyacheslav Vyacheslavovich.

Therefore, this course will be useful not only for beginners in learning sign language, but also for teachers of secondary and higher education. vocational education working with deaf people in inclusive groups.

The course volume is 80 academic hours.

For the first time, a sign language course is equipped with full multimedia support - that is, all gestures included in the educational vocabulary are captured on video, which saves students from the need to take notes on lectures and record gestures shown by the teacher (each note turned into Stirlitz encryption), which is inevitable led to distortions and made it difficult to memorize the material being studied. Now there is no need for this: each student is given a set of 3 books - a textbook, workbook and a dictionary. About this kit teaching aids Let's say in more detail.

It all started again with the series. Although, to be completely precise, it comes from a beautiful interior. I was looking for series with interiors from Greg Grande, the same one who was the artist on .

This is how I came across the series “They were mixed up in the maternity hospital.”

It's about two girls who were mistakenly confused by doctors in the maternity hospital, and their families only found out about it when their daughters turned 16 years old. This is where the series begins, and then everything seems to be as usual: first love, conflicts with parents, arguments between the parents themselves, rivalry at school, breakups and reconciliations. Oh yes, all this in beautiful interiors.

The tricky part is that one of the main characters is deaf.

She became deaf when she was two years old and now wears hearing aids, goes to a school for the deaf and speaks sign language. And the plot is also strongly twisted around this.

I became seriously interested when I started watching interviews with actors and found out that some of the actors are actually deaf.

Actress Katie LeClair, who plays the main character, has Meniere's disease, the syndromes of which include hearing impairment and dizziness. The disease does not prevent her from working, but it helps her to talk about this diagnosis in interviews and more people go to the doctors to get checked.

While still at school, Katie learned sign language. Imagine, in the States you can easily choose sign language as a second language to study.

One of the episodes of the series was filmed entirely in sign language, not a single word is used in it. At the very beginning, the two main actresses appear and warn the audience that don’t worry, there’s nothing wrong with your TV, but some scenes will be filmed in complete silence.

It's so cool! Talk about people with special needs not through short commercials or speeches designed to wring a tear.

I watched the series and realized that disabled people are not only the people we imagine in wheelchairs.

Oh, this stereotype, firmly settled in the head thanks to the sign on car windows and on the asphalt of parking lots.

And so I ran into a deaf company at an intersection. I remembered that at the age of eight I myself suffered a serious otitis media with the risk of losing part of my hearing. The organizers of the event, who invited me as a speaker, asked me to speak louder, since there was a participant with a hearing aid in the hall.

It felt like the Universe was desperately hinting to me: “Would you like to learn sign language?”

I entered “sign language teaching” into the search and very quickly found it in St. Petersburg sign language school "Image". The school is located on the territory pedagogical university named after Herzen, which means that at least twice a week I find myself in the very center of the city.

The university campus, which I need to completely cross - from the entrance with a strict security guard to building 20, our teacher Denis Aleksandrovich - “So, you’ll already learn these gestures at home yourself, now there’s no time to waste on this” (in fact, he’s very cool!) - all this brings me back to nostalgia for my student past.

Training twice a week for two months. This is an express course, the usual course lasts four months. The lesson lasts one and a half hours. What you need to learn something new and not get tired. And most importantly - no sports uniform in a bag, which I hate, no changing clothes and showering in open stalls. In general, one hundred thousand five hundred times better than sports.

There are many students in the group. One of my classmates born in 2000. Imagine! I thought they were still somewhere in kindergarten, and they are already in the highest educational institutions. It's hard for me to believe this. But there are also adult students like me.

Most of my classmates ended up in class for the same reason as me. Interesting.

Only a few classes have passed, and I can already tell about myself, what my name is, what I do, how old I am and what year I was born. I can talk about the family and keep the conversation going: “Do you have a dog?” “No, I don’t have a dog, I have a cat.”

It's funny, but incredibly exciting.

Some interesting things about sign language

• Sign language in different countries different, for us it is Russian Sign Language (RSL). For some reason, this is terribly disappointing for everyone, they say, they could agree on one language and they would have super-power.
• Dactylology is a form of speech where each letter is expressed as a sign, but it is not a sign language. For example, you can edit the name or foreign word, for which there is no sign yet.
• Deaf people read lips, so it is important for them to see not only the hands that show gestures, but also the lips that pronounce words.
• Sign language has a different grammar and therefore uses a different word order. For example, a question word is always placed at the end of a sentence.
• Sign language is not a copy of a real language, but a full-fledged language with its own linguistic features, structure, and grammar. In sign language, the shape of the sign, its localization (the same gesture at the forehead and at the chest means different things), the nature of the movement and the non-manual component (facial expressions, turning the body, head) are important.

What I like most about my studies is that, perhaps for the first time, I am trying not to be an excellent student.

There is no need to write anything down in class - I took the notebook out of my bag after the first meeting. Yes, there is homework, but I don’t always do it. No grades or tests. I remember well what is taught in class and that’s enough for me.