A special course just opened at Baoshan Nanda Experimental School. Sitting up straight, students were waving hands and doing all sorts of facial expressions to express meanings instead of using voice. At the end of the class, they waved their hands widely to say goodbye to the teachers.

This is a sign language course. By offering this course, the School intends to encourage students to help the hearing-impaired through volunteer work.

“Since the ‘double reduction’ policy is introduced, we have been designing new courses to allow students to gain different learning experiences,” the principal of the School said. As she recalled, the research on barrier-free facilities she joined in 2019 brought her attention to the disabled. Since then, she has been thinking about how she can help these people.

“It was at the time that I started to think about opening a sign language course to our students.”

As part of the after-class service, the course is offered to first-graders every Tuesday, with duration of half an hour.

On February 22, three professionals were invited to give the very first session of this course: Ni Lan, an associate professor at Shanghai University, introduced the course; Zhu Li’na from Hongkou Association for the Blind and Deaf acted as the lecturer; Li Sixian, a postgraduate student who is studying for the Master of Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages, acted as the sign language interpreter. Facing them were over 30 first-grade students.

An enthusiasm gripped the class as the teachers interacted frequently with the students. As the interactions turned from vocal to mute, students learned how to express “thanks”, “goodbye”, “reading”, “teacher” and so on, and they were all keen on presenting themselves in front of the class.

Full of curiosity, students shifted their attention between the PPT instructions of the lecturer and the signs made by the interpreter. Meanwhile, they imitated the actions as much possible as they can.

Huang Yuxin, one of the students, said what impressed her most was that the instructor told them to wave their hands widely and make eye contact to greet the teachers instead of saying “welcome”. 

“Likewise, we also waved our hands widely to say goodbye at the end of class, we hope the teachers can feel that we are looking forward to the next session,” Huang Yuxin said.

As students grasp sign language skillfully through the course, the School will encourage them to do volunteer work to provide practical help to the hearing-impaired.