Comparison between hearing impairment and learning a foreign language

        As a French teacher and a forever learner or English, I have always wondered if the difficulties to understand other people speaking in a foreign language could be compared to a person with  hearing impairment.

      While learning a foreign language you need to be spoken slowly; the message is better understood if repeated twice; you understand more information if you already know something about the topic; you get easily confused if the speaker uses some kind of slang or dialect; the comprehesion lessens dramatically if there are noises all around you,...

        Here are a few examples from my own life experience to illustrate it.

1. While I am listening to an English song, I usually don't understand anything: the music interferes with the lyrics and I get completely lost. 
• However if I have read the lyrics before, I discover words I wouldn't been able to imagine by myself without this clue. 
• And, it becomes as clear as day if you listen to the song while reading the lyrics at the same time.
2. Watching a tv series in its original version is more difficult than watching a translated one into another language. 
• Do you know the crime series "Castle"? Well, I used to watch it in French and it was easier than watching any other crime French series. Then I realised that when a film is translated to another language, it loses all the dialect nuances and consequently it will be easier understood by a foreigner listener.
3. The topic is important too.
•  A love film is better understood than a complicated plot of a spy film. 
• In my case, if I'm listening to a show on the radio about medicine and health, I feel at ease with it; and otherwise, if it is related to sports I don't understand a thing (you don't need to be a magician to imagine which one is my favorite topic). 
• Another example. Sometimes I listen to an English radio station but located in Spain. When the news are broadcasted, the first part is about English news and the second one about Spanish news. While listening the first part, I usually feel as I am still in a level A2 and then, magically, when Spanish news start, my English level increases dramatically and what's more, I reach the maximum level if I have already learnt about these elsewhere before.
• To put it in a nutshell: if you are already informed about the topic you are listening to in English, all is well that ends well, but, - and there is always a but- what is the use of making this effort if you had already learnt this information before?
4. Repetition is useful
• It's important to listen to an audio several times, because with each audition, you discover something new, a new detail.
• I am fan of "Startrek" and every chapter starts in the same way "Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the startship Enterprise with its continous missions, seeking new civilisations that boldly go where no one has gone before" It is great, isn't it?
• You get used to the voices of every actor, and in the end your understanding improves a great deal, because of this effect of repetition.

      I think that we can use the same strategies with a deaf person. 

      I encourage you to imagine all the difficulties you have to understand someone speaking English while your are speaking to a person with a  hearing impairment; it is agood  way to put uourself in  this person's shoes. Your reaction will be completely different and more adjusted to reality.

sorry, can you repeat it, please?

Deaf teens and Problems of adaptation

      In this link https://www.hearinglikeme.com/what-no-one-tells-you-about-being-a-deaf-teen/ you can find some of the problems that a deaf student can suffer while in school.

     The most important issue to take into account is ISOLATION

We must avoid isolation

       Deaf people can't follow as well a conversation as most of us. They need to watch your face to realize who is talking; if there is a lot of noise, they will be confused; if  you speak too fast they won't have the time to process the message in a suitable way.        

       Therefore I advise you, as a teachers:

• Speak slowly
• Place yourself in front of the student and, better than that, put all the students in a circle so that the deaf student can see everyone in the class.
• Try to avoid external noises. Students should be silent while somebody else is talking in the class.
• Don't shout; the deaf student usually has a radio aid which amplifies the sound.
• Repeat the message and better than that, repeat it in a different way.
• Don't speak too much time, deaf people get tired sonner than the others because they have to make great effort and to focus on what is being said.
• Support your explanations and reading materials with lots of images, diagrams and videos.
• Give them more time while reading and be more tolerate with spelling mistakes.
• Teach the other students about deafness to prevent possible misunderstandings.

Overcoming obstacles because of deafness

       Click here and you will watch a sutitled video about three deaf girls who receive support at school because of their deafness.

       Two of the girls have a coclear implant because they have profound deafness. Another has only moderate deafness and therefore she wears two hearing aids and at chool she also has a kind of microphone so as to hear the teacher louder.

       There are hearing support teachers to help these girls in their lessons but also to improve their hearing and speech skills.

a coclear implant

a hearing aid