A Collaborative Teaching Proposal to Understand the Novel Os Sertões In
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2021-4161-AJE – 26 MAR 2021 1 Images and signs: a collaborative teaching proposal to 2 understand the novel Os Sertões in the Brazilian Sign 3 Language (LIBRAS) 4 5 6 This article reports a collaborative teaching experience of Portuguese for 7 the deaf through a dialogue on Os sertões, by Euclides da Cunha, between 8 deaf student, Libras / Portuguese translator / interpreter and the Portuguese 9 language teacher. The purpose of the proposal was to encourage the 10 creation of specific vocabulary in Libras. The teaching experience took 11 place using the Digital Dialogical Notebook tool. For now, aspects of fauna, 12 flora, hydrography and relief of the northeastern hinterland stand out from 13 Os sertões. For this, the iconographic, geographic, anthropological and 14 linguistic aspects of this pre-modernist novel were studied. After analyzing 15 these indicators, photographs and images were perceived, linking all these 16 factors to a visual literacy that allowed a greater understanding of the work. 17 Recordings and video editions were made with the search of historical 18 record of these creations. It was found that, due to the direct and indirect 19 interactions between the professionals (translator / interpreter and teacher) 20 and the native speaker of Libras, it was possible to create linguistic material 21 of great social and educational value, since the Deaf People do not have 22 access to most literary works written in Portuguese. 23 24 Keywords: Libras, Os Sertões, Collaborative Teaching 25 26 27 Introduction 28 29 The present work is an experience report of the stages of creation of 30 vocabulary/lexicon in the Brazilian Sign Language of the species of fauna and 31 flora and the relief of the sertão, reported in the novel Os Sertões, by Euclides 32 da Cunha. It is intended from this proposal, to contribute to the development of 33 Libras with regard to the learning of Portuguese and Literature, to enable the 34 adaptation/translation of the work so that the deaf community has access in the 35 mother tongue, to show the importance of using of images in the teaching of 36 deaf students, serve as a historical record for the deaf community, as well as 37 foster more translations of accessible literary works. In the stages of production 38 of work, a presentation is made of the current situation of deaf people in 39 relation to access to bilingual education, as well as the difficulties they face in 40 making teaching and learning for deaf people possible. Soon after, the Digital 41 Dialogue Notebook is described, its proposal and the use of it for teaching 42 through images in the reading and interpretation of the novel. Photos of some 43 conversations in the Digital Notebook and images used in the production of the 44 vocabulary are shown, in addition to the QR codes so that deaf people and 45 listeners can see the signs created. Then, the steps of translation and 46 interpretation are detailed from the perspective of a complex process of 47 linguistic analysis. 1 2021-4161-AJE – 26 MAR 2021 1 A Little about the Deaf and their Education in Brazil 2 3 The proposals of this work on the creation of Lexicon and vocabulary 4 analysis of the work arose due to the scarcity of adaptations for Libras of the 5 novels and literary documents that are the basis of the teaching of Portuguese 6 Language, Writing and Literature in Brazilian regular schools and sources of 7 study of Linguistics. The deaf person is seen as bilingual by society, however 8 access to Libras and the Portuguese language respectively does not happen 9 during the language acquisition period or in the proper way. According to 10 Lenneberg (1967 apud QUADROS; and CRUZ, 2011) there is a critical period 11 for language acquisition. This period “would start around 2 years of age and 12 end around puberty” (p.33). 13 Many deaf people live in rural cities where there are no associations of 14 deaf people, ESA (Specialized Educational Service) and similar centers, but 15 who share political and cultural movements and are users of sign languages. 16 There are also other deaf people isolated in rural areas, without contact with the 17 deaf community and who, like all deaf people, build their “world formation 18 through visual cultural artifact” (STROBEL, 2008, p. 20), with a degree 19 differentiated language, through familiar home gestures or familiar signs14. 20 The deaf people are made up of people from rural areas, urban areas, 21 Indians, deaf women, quilombola communities, deaf users of Sign Languages, 22 oralized deaf people5, implanted deaf6, with different genders and sexualities 23 and many others. These deaf people also make up the deaf people and need 24 access to information and communication as the texts of Laws No. 10,436 25 (Libras Law) and No. 12,319 (Law of the Translator / Interpreter of Libras) 26 sanctioned in 2002 and 2010 respectively and Law No. 13,146 (Brazilian Law 27 for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities). 28 29 30 The Teaching Experience 31 32 Based on the proposals made by the Portuguese Language course taught 33 by professor José Radamés Benevides in previous years at IF Baiano (Baiano 34 Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology), the dialogical 35 communication notebook between students and the teacher for improving 36 reading and writing was created and used for a few years in the classroom with 37 regular high school students integrated into the agricultural course at the same 38 Institute. In notebooks acquired by the students, texts of different genres, 39 images and reports were transcribed or pasted weekly and delivered to the 40 teacher. The teacher, in turn, took it to his residence, read, responded and made 41 constructive observations in order to encourage more productions. 1Term used by researchers and linguists that designates the communication of deaf subjects who, when isolated and without access to sign language and Portuguese, use gestures and dramatizations to communicate. 5Deaf people who speak Portuguese in oral mode. 6Deaf people using cochlear implants. 2 2021-4161-AJE – 26 MAR 2021 1 2 The Subjects of the Dialogue 3 4 Since in Brazil, the deaf people have late access to learning Libras (L127) 5 and successively to the Portuguese language (L28); for deaf students, this work 6 was already happening collaboratively between Libras translation / interpreting 7 professionals and the Portuguese language teacher using the students' own 8 notebooks and the Specialized Educational Service (AEE) moments. 9 According to data, “more than 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents 10 who do not use sign language” (STROBEL, 2008, p. 35), as a result, “deaf 11 children are often exposed to sign language as a first language in an age range 12 well beyond childhood ”(QUADROS; CRUZ, 2011, p. 5). 13 14 The Medium of Dialogue: The Digital Dialogical Notebook 15 16 In 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, this work was adapted for 17 digital version through a group in the WhatsApp application, always on 18 Wednesdays on the afternoon shift, allowing a direct conversation between the 19 student and these professionals. However, some concerns arose from the 20 formation of this virtual work (Figure 1). As the Digital Dialogical Notebook 21 (nomenclature adopted by the Portuguese language teacher) had the objective 22 of working on written communication in Portuguese language via the Internet 23 with the deaf student and encouraging their learning, the proposal arose to use 24 it for analysis and appreciation of literary works in the Portuguese language, as 25 explained by Oliveira (2009): 26 27 Faced with the complex contemporary social reality, which makes all kinds of 28 information available through the most varied linguistic systems and 29 technological devices, the school needs to form a citizen capable of interacting 30 and communicating through all these means. In this context, a language that is 31 constantly used is visual. (Oliveira, 2009, p. 5) 32 33 7First language 8Second language 3 2021-4161-AJE – 26 MAR 2021 1 Figure 1. Photograph of part of the conversation in the Digital Dialogue 2 Notebook. 3 4 Source: Author's collection. 5 6 All this work also comes from the specific incentive of a study and 7 research group created in the Senhor do Bonfim region in Bahia within the 8 Federal Institute of Bahia (Libras-Português-Libras Group) with the 9 participation of several deaf and hearing professionals. In 2019, he offered a 10 Portuguese language teaching course as L2 for deaf people in the region. 11 12 The Dialogue about Os Sertões: Fragments of a Conversation 13 14 One of the novels chosen to work with the discipline Portuguese 15 Language, in 2020, through the Dialogical Notebook was the book Os Sertões, 16 by Euclides da Cunha, an emblematic work from the pre-modernist period, 17 published in 1902, and which would be read by all students of the third year of 18 the Technical Course in Agricultural Integrated to High School. A regionalist 19 novel that chronicles events of the Bloody War known as the Canudos War. It 20 was led by Antônio Conselheiro in the region of the city of Canudos in the 21 interior of the State of Bahia during the years 1896 and 1897. The book is a 22 historical account that mixes culture, relief, fauna and flora of the Brazilian 23 Sertão and a historical landmark of the history of Brazil; it can be analyzed by 24 several areas of knowledge and sciences such as Anthropology, Sociology, 25 Geography, History, Linguistics, among others.