[Tdol's Blog] Veils and English Support Lessons

[Tdol]

Veils and English Support Lessons



While I think that Jack Straw is wrong over his wishes for veiled Muslim women to remove their veils before speaking to him- it's his job to represent people as they are and not as he would like them to...

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[BobK]

I think your point about language learning depending crucially on lip movements is too often missed in discussions of this case. When I first heard the story on the news I couldn't see the point of the school letting her wear the veil in corridors and the staff room; the story didn't mention language teaching at all.

When I was learning Spanish, in Spain, I thought watching films would help. But they were mostly American films, and often not sub-titled but dubbed. As the lips told me nothing, having Spanish sounds coming out of the box was useless.

b

[Tdol]

The discussion has centred around the Islamophobia issue, but I think that there is another issue more pertinent to the subject being taught. I have slightly modified it today as I think that my comment about being able to teach chemistry or history did not take into account the problems of hearing-impaired students. I think that in a language classroom, it would be a particular disadvantage, but I think in any classroom with hearing-impaired students it would be a disadvantage. I had a hearing-impaired student who also had visual difficulties and he had to sit in a specific chair to gain the most out of the lessons- what would he have gained if he couldn't see my face?

[Tdol]

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Would you employ her with or without the veil?