It’s 6 o’clock in the evening. Most students have finished for the day, but fifteen or so engineering students are settling in a classroom for their first sign language lesson. They have all signed up to learn the basics of this language that is still unfamiliar to so many of us.
After a sign language discovery workshop, organized on campus last March, many engineering students were in favor of a French sign language class starting up for the 2023/2024 academic year.
All the available places were filled after just 20 minutes,
explains Sylvie Guidal, disability officer for students and head of the Cellule AcOr (which stands for Welcome, Support & Orientation of students).
The teacher, Sylvie Thomas, from Breizh Signes, began the lesson by introducing herself than asking the students why they had decided to sign up for the class.
Several of them spoke of their frustration and sense of helplessness at not being able to communicate with someone they had met who was hard-of-hearing, and how they wanted a grounding to be able to hold a basic conversation.
I once found myself in a shop with a deaf person and wasn’t able to communicate with them. I felt stupid and frustrated.
I work as a receptionist on weekends. One day, a deaf person came up to me and I simply wasn’t able to give them the information they wanted. I’ve come along to learn sign language to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
Throughout the first session, an interpreter was available to facilitate the interactions and help the discussions go smoothly. The students naturally adopted an active listening stance, with no muttering or talking over others. From the 2nd lesson, they will be interacting directly with Sylvie Thomas, with no interpreter: an invaluable opportunity to finally be able to learn to communicate in sign language.
* LV3 refers to the 3rd modern language on the general engineering course. It is optional and taught through evening classes.
