Week 7: Li-ly-pad

CEID had spring break this week, and therefore, I was only able to work at WCC. At WCC, I noticed many of the teachers and therapists often corrected the children on pronunciation and grammar after they finished speaking. For example, one of the kids, Soph, had attempted to say “lilypad” when describing a flower. However, she couldn’t quite pronounce the word correctly. The teacher then repeated the word, put her hands up, and shook her hand at “li” and “ly.” Soph had then copied her teacher with the hand movement and pronounced the word. With grammar, if one of the kids had said “I eat a sandwich two hours ago,” the teacher/therapist would make sure to correct the “eat” to “ate.” Although it might seem somewhat normal and ordinary for someone to correct a child’s English as he/she speaks, it really isn’t. There is a huge focus at WCC on learning/speaking English, and the staff goes out of their way to facilitate the children’s growth and progress. Observing this focus this week made me compare WCC and CEID regarding focus on English. Although CEID does use spoken language at all times in addition to sign language, I wonder if the simultaneous sign language may take away from learning English. Because the children are using both spoken and sign language, if there is a mistake with their spoken language, it can just be glossed over because the child is signing as well. Of course, my lack of observation of correcting English by the teachers/therapists at CEID can be explained by the fact that the children are mostly younger and are still learning basics.