Paris

Paris has been absolutely amazing. There is so much history, art, culture there is not enough time to take it all in, although we are trying. We were able to walk in the rue de L'Abbe de L'Epee around the corner to L'Institut National de Jeunes Sourds. In the middle of the courtyard is the statue of L'Abbe de L'Epee. The school was established in 1791, the name may have changed but it has survived!

Cindy and her husband stormed the beaches at Normandy while Melissa and I continued to visit museums and palaces in the city.

Frank Barnes School for the Deaf, London

We visited the Frank Barnes School for the Deaf in London. It is the only Bilingual-Bicultural Primary school there. All of their staff are required to have at least a Level 2 British Sign Language background and are offered higher Levels at the school. All staff sign in public areas so that the students have access to language at all times. Similar to our school they have a weekly parent Sign language class. They also send out a questionnaire to parents asking what types of workshops/lectures they would like to have and based on feedback are able to offer a few different workshops per school year. These workshops are also opened to the community and to the medical professionals. Their classrooms are set up in clusters with a common area for larger group work and two classrooms off of that area for smaller group lessons in Math, ELA, Science, and History. This allows for teachers to work together to provide for the children. While the classrooms are much smaller than ours, they are very language rich environments. They very recently started a 0-3 year old group and it is still a work in progress. It is currently opened only two days a week. When the children reach their 6th year they take the same test as the National students for "middle/high' school". This year they had 3 out of 7 or 8 students pass the National exam at a Proficient or better and are going on the the next level for school. It was really great to be able to meet some of the students and chat, unfortunately, they have the same rules as we do about filming without parental consent. The students were fascinated that we can sign with one hand and we did our best to show what we had learned (spelling our names and few other signs we were able to pick up). It was a great experience and we are full of ideas that we can't wait to share! Here are few pictures of the school: front entrance, library, classroom, preschool outdoor play area and our guide, Sandra David. She is a part time teacher and part time Assistant Head.

WELCOME to London!!!

As you can see from these pictures we have been having very typical London weather!!! After touring around on the sight (can't see because of the rain) bus, we wandered to Sherlock Holmes' establishment on Baker Street. We had also wandered into a ticket agency to see about discount theatre tickets and the woman recommended a pub that would have some live music. We thought we'd give it a shot and once again the fates were on our side. It was Deaf Night at the pub. We met a large group and two were actually from the States. One girl moved here 2 years ago and the other is her friend who teaches at the St. Augustine School for the Deaf and Blind in Florida. Everyone was really great and even allowed us to videotape them. We have some great footage and anecdotes of them explaining their experiences at school. (of course the background music might need to be edited out). We never did find the live music which I guess was on the third floor that we never got to. Cindy's husband joined us the next day and what a trooper he was. Working on little to no sleep he was out with us for the night. He road around on the tour bus while we went and visited the school. More to come.....

Copenhagen Sites

Thought I would share a few sites from Copenhagen. We past a train station with quite a few bikes out front - true commuters?













The Little Mermaid












The Palace











The Old City

More Stockholm

These first pictures are from the Vasa Ship. This beautiful war ship with duel gun decks survived on the water for one hour before it sank in 1628.It was found and raised in 1961. The ship was 95% intact after 333 years. It seams the water is less salty. Melissa is sitting in what was used for 'scuba' diving. A person would stand in that and be lowered into the water. They were able to stay about 30 feet down for approximately 15 minutes. The bones were one of the victims of the ship.





After an exhausting day walking the city of Stockholm, we relaxed in the Ice Bar. Everything is made of ice even the TV is encased in ice. People are booked in for 45 minute intervals and Cindy was told most only last 20-25 minutes. We survived for 40 minutes before our toes were completely frozen!!

Copenhagen

After walking practically the entire city of Copenhagen and down this alley,













we happened upon the School for the Deaf




We were very fortunate that they were open and had a few staff and a couple of students there. They are also on summer holiday but had a type of day care for students whose parents were working. Two very nice Deaf gentlemen gave us a brief tour and were more than willing to chat with us. Melissa captured a lot on video. The younger of the men, Andreas, had just returned from a year at Galluadet, so he played the role of our Danish Sign Language interpreter. The school services about 65 students ages 13-17.  The Communication Center happened to be next door to the school.  It is where they train interpreters, teach sign language to parents and families of Deaf children.  

Melissa was out wandering and met some more Deaf folks in passing as well as a girl who attends the school we visited and has a Cochlear Implant.  

Due to some technical problems, Cindy's computer crashed and Melissa is missing the cord to upload her pictures to the computer, photos are limited.   

We have been doing a lot of walking and it feels like we walked all of Copenhagen today.  After we do a bit more touring tomorrow morning we are off to London!!!

Manillaskolan

As luck of fate would have it, we went to lunch on our first day here and sat beside a Deaf couple. They were very friendly and didn't mind us interrupting their meal. It turned out that our new friend Sophia used to work at the school that we had been planning to visit if it had been opened. She and her her husband were explaining how we could get to the school to at least see it and then offered to bring us there themselves. the school has about 150 students age 6 - 16, after that they move on to a different school in Orebro (unfortunately also closed and 2 1/2 - 3 hours away). Sophia and her husband Mikel shared stories and experiences at both schools with us. Here are a few pictures of the school building, gym and woodshop buildings and our new friends! One interesting thing we learned was that parents with children who get Cochlear Implants are strongly encouraged to learn sign and use it with their children.

Sightseeing

Sightseeing began in Gamla Stan (The Old Town) and the Royal Palace















This is a view from the Palace














We arrived just in time for the changing of the guard and Melissa captured it on video.













After the guards were done changing, we went into the courtyard which was spectacular. Melissa toured the castle while Cindy and I checked out some of the surroundings.













Then we met up for lunch....