I met a sign language teacher (my fiancé’s brother’s girlfriend’s brother’s girlfriend…) the other day and she told me about a problem with the national math exams.
All children here have to take the national math exams. Children whose first language is sign language have a right to get the questions translated to sign language, but this presents some issues. For example, if the question is “What is the definition of a rectangle?”, part of the task is to remember what a rectangle is and not to confuse it with for example a triangle. In sign language, however, the sign for rectangle shows the shape of a rectangle, thereby answering part of the question. The solution the schools came up with is that the interpreters have to fingerspell “rectangle” (and other such words) to avoid giving clues.
I don’t know about this. On one hand, I understand the reasoning behind this - that no one should get unfair advantages. On the other hand, it’s impossible to even out all differences.
Filed under: language | Tagged: language, sign language
That is an interesting concern. What do they do about the numbers 1-5 since the sign involves holding up the number of fingers that matches the number?
I don’t know about the numbers, but I would guess that they are seen as so basic that it doesn’t really matter that the sign shows the number.
But if the question was “Draw three apples” and it was a test to see if a child knew how many three are, it would be a different matter.