A delegation comprised of representatives from NTID, the Nippon Foundation made site visits to four countries in the ASEAN region to continue discussions with current partner programs and explore new partnership opportunities with established programs in the region. The group traveled to Cambodia, Hong Kong, Viet Nam, and the Philippines.
The P-CEN delegation began its trip by visiting two school programs in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This visit served as an exploration into the types of educational programs and services available to the Cambodian Deaf community. On day one, the group visited the Maryknoll Deaf Development Program (DDP) where Mr. Justin Smith, Deputy Director, welcomed the delegation and provided a guided tour of the facilities. The delegation observed classes, and had an informal discussion on the history of DDP and its future goals. DDP provides core-subject (math, reading, writing, etc.) instruction at the secondary level for deaf and hard-of-hearing students as well as sign language instruction for hearing people who plan to become Cambodian Sign Language interpreters.
The following day, the delegation visited one campus of Krousar Thmey, a school that provides primary level instruction for blind as well as deaf children. The group met with Mr. Auray Aun, Director, and Mr. Kimchorn Hang, Program Coordinator for the deaf, to learn about the history of the organization. Discussions between the P-CEN delegation and representatives from both the Deaf Development Program and Krousar Thmey centered on areas of collaboration to provide teacher education and professional development for Cambodian teachers of the deaf.
James DeCaro, Theresa Christine B. De la Torre, Thomastine Sarchet and Nora Shannon were then hosted by Dr. Gladys Tang for visits to two programs for deaf children as well as a meeting with deaf college students attending the Chinese University- Hong Kong. First Dr. Tang took the P-CEN team along with Mr. Minoru Yoshida and Eriko Takahashi of the Nippon Foundation to observe classes in a unique bilingual program for deaf children based on a new model of deaf education, sign bilingualism and co-enrollment, in a mainstream setting. This program is fully integrated in Kowloon Bay St. John the Baptist Catholic Primary School. Deaf children are included in classrooms where there are two teachers - one deaf and one hearing. This bilingual model for the education of deaf children is proving to be very successful and it is hoped that the program will continue throughout the students' secondary education. The second program that the group visited was the Hong Kong Lutheran School for the Deaf. This is a more traditional separate school setting for deaf students.
Finally, all of the participants, in addition to Dr. James Woodward, met with deaf students from all over the ASEAN region. These students are studying Sign Language Linguistics at the Chinese University-Hong Kong. After completing their studies, these students will return to their home countries and be leaders in analyzing their native sign languages.
The P-CEN team was joined in Viet Nam by Mr. Raphael Domingo and Ms. May Cabutihan from DeLaSalle-College of St. Benilde. Ms. Hoa Nguyen and Dr. James Woodward, co-directors of the Dong Nai Project hosted the group. The P-CEN team traveled from Ho Chi Minh City to Dong Nai University. While there, they met with the teachers of deaf students in the high school program. Some of these teachers were participants in the Teacher Education Institute that was held at NTID during the summer of 2010. The teachers described the program and the opportunities and challenges that they face. The P-CEN team also met with students in the program and were able to observe classes taught by expert teachers in the program. At the end of the day, the group met with the University officials who expressed their pleasure in having the Deaf Education Program at Dong Nai University.
This visit was also an opportunity for the P-CEN team to meet with the leaders of deaf education in Viet Nam and to discuss the ways that P-CEN can cooperate with the goals of the educators in Viet Nam.
Mrs. Nora Shannon and Ms. Thomastine Sarchet journeyed to Manila, Philippines to meet with representatives from the Sec-I network school programs. The delegation visited the College of St. Benilde, the Bible Institute for the Deaf, and La Salle Green Hills to introduce Ms. Sarchet to each of the partner schools in P-CEN. The purpose of this visit was to meet with teachers and administrators to see their current program offerings and to discuss who will enroll in the second cohort of the Teacher Education Institute. In addition, Mrs. Shannon gave a workshop on teaching writing skills to teachers from La Salle University Ozamiz City School for the Deaf and the Iligan School for the Deaf.