Survey Results IS
Number of respondents
4 respondents from Iceland. At the time of the Survey, the total number of sign language teachers in Iceland was 4.
Age groups
Relatively, the Icelandic sign language teachers (brown) are older than their European colleagues. This is mostly an effect of the small number of teachers in Iceland; one teacher has recently retired.
Who do you teach, most of the time?
Sign language teachers in Iceland teach more deaf people than their colleagues in Europe. Almost all of the deaf learners are babies and young children (under 12).
The teachers teach sign language, not ’sign supported speech’.
Do you work together with other sign language teachers?
All respondents say: yes.
Three wishes for further training?
The main wish of the sign language teachers in Iceland: further training in using the CEFR.
Open question: Advice, good examples?
“We must tell hearing people about the history and culture of the deaf. Because most of them do not know about this. Sign language teachers must always know about history.
Open question: Barriers?
“It is difficult to teach children who have a CI. They don't know anything about our sign language's grammar and culture. Because they aren't integrated into the deaf community.”
“For us, I think the most difficult thing is to teach children - because we don´t have any program for them. I use some book for teaching English and I adapt it for sign language.”
More results can be found elsewhere on the SignTeach website.
