The Onze Lieve Vrouwelyceum in Breda is the first school in the Netherlands to offer sign language as an optional subject. Eva (15) is one of the first students to sign the sign language certificate. “Now I can talk better with my nephew.”
Eva chose this elective to be able to talk better with her nephew. He was born deaf six years ago due to Usher syndrome. He has a hearing aid, but if many people are talking at the same time, he quickly finds the conversations difficult to follow.
“He always talks a lot about dinosaurs. He really knows everything and he’s super knowledgable about it,” laughs Eva. “When the two of us talk, he understands me, but if there are more people, he quickly finds it too busy. Now I can also talk to him well when there is more noise around us.”
During the lessons only sign language is spoken “It looks like French or German. When the lesson starts, spell your name first. After that, everyone only talks in sign language. That was tough in the beginning! But after a while it does get stuck in your head. The more I do it, the easier it gets.”
Eva now has sign language level 1. That means she can count, read the clock, spell and sign 750 words. “Some things are easy. If you want to say it’s going well, just raise your thumb. Making whole sentences is difficult. Some words are very similar and you have to portray them very well.
She is proud to have received the certificate. “I think it’s an honor. There aren’t many people who can do this, so I feel special now.” And whether she will do something with sign language later on? “I’m not thinking about that yet. Maybe if I still like it later.”
Eva was taught by Nienke Fluitman from Oosterhout. She convinced the school to offer sign language in their regular curriculum. “These are the first 25 students to receive the certificate through classes at school and hopefully many more will follow. If they have passed this course, they will receive a recognized diploma. This allows them to work with hearing-impaired people on, for example, a care farm.”
Nienke hopes that more schools will decide to offer sign language as an optional subject. “In the Netherlands, 30,000 people depend on sign language. Fortunately, more and more people are becoming aware of how important this language is for the hearing impaired. It has been an officially recognized language since July and there is an online dictionary. New words are added to this every day.”
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