Thirty private school professors together with parents from various La Salle schools in Metro Manila volunteered for a four-day workshop in Pangasinan to train teachers and parents in Filipino Sign Language (FSL) for deaf students.
In the past, lecturers and pupils had to travel to Manila to learn FSL.
The entire activity delved on sign language with a deaf awareness seminar plus arts and dance at Escuela de Nuestra Señora de La Salette in Tapuac District in Dagupan City. Four faculty members and nine undergraduates from De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB)’s School of Deaf Education and Applied Sciences (SDEAS) facilitated the activities.
Ma. Fe Andrea Faustino, Leadership and Involvement Program coordinator of SDEAS Center for Deaf Esteem and Formation, says, “The participants were very happy that for the first time they had a deaf awareness workshop. They learned the importance of sign language, even if they had no relations who are deaf.”
Faustino hoped the lessons helped the teachers address the needs of deaf students, as well as foster awareness on their needs within the local community. “As in many places around the country, this lack of awareness often meant giving less priority for the requirements of the deaf.” she explained.
She added that the workshop provides the locality with material to build on for future FSL lessons.