Some 10 special education teachers across Ndu municipality have concluded a three days inclusive training on designing a curriculum on Limbum Sign language. Organized by United Youths Organization (UYO) with technical support from Cultural Survival, the training was meant to transcribe wimbum language into sign language to ease access to communication for hearing and speech impaired persons. The special education teachers drawn from different educational settings were trained on curriculum design and methodology, new ways of signing Limbum indigenous language for hearing and speech impaired persons as well as transcription of Sign Language in Limbum.
These 10 special education teachers are the latest to design an inclusive wimbum curriculum for hearing and speech impaired persons and also to have benefited from such a reach cultural training. It is expected that these sign language teachers will develop community-oriented curricula which includes proverbs, folktales and other frequently used Limbum grammar that can serve the hearing and speech impaired, their families, and caregivers.
Participants were equally given the opportunity to express themselves in Limbum language using the folk tales, proverbs and Limbum grammar.speech impairment from the 17 villages in the Ndu municipality. With the inclusion of these materials into the curricula of most native language literacy centers and community libraries and archives, the Limbum language and Wimbum cultural values can be maintained for future generations, even among the hearing and speech impaired. With the training of Indigenoussign language teachers, the signing of basic Indigenous words and phrases can always be taught among the hearing and speech impaired in schools, churches, and other social groups in the community.
The Chief Executive Officer for United Youths Organization Melvin Songwe Shuye and the Project Manager of Cultural Survival in his addresses said “While Indigenous language literacy is gaining in popularity in the local communities, sign language has not really found its place among Indigenous Cameroonian languages. Translations of Indigenous language alphabets, numbers, and words are yet to be explored, preventing hearing and speech impaired persons from being able to fully appreciate the linguistics of their native tongue”
He added that in order to help combat this trend, they will work on a Wimbum Sign Language Project with interpretation and translation primarily from the American and British Sign Language models. With a goal to give Wimbum people the opportunity to learn about their cultures and history, the direct beneficiaries are women and men with hearing and speech impairment.
