“The unexpected change in lifestyle has left a great teaching for humanity and allowed a total turn to technology, we must reinvent ourselves to take on the transformation,” says the sign language interpreter of the educational institution Francisco Fernández de Contreras, Jonathan Cárdenas Durán, who guides children with hearing disabilities in inclusion programs.
Despite the fact that his contract has not been renewed so far, he has altruistically established contact with deaf students and through videos on WhatsApp he explains the tangents and cotangents of the tenth-grade programs.
Students with text messages approve the explanations and express the concerns to be cleared by the teacher from a distance. They also expect the teacher´s appointment to enjoy the instructions once they return to the classrooms.
The teacher of Spanish Language of this educational institution, Luddy Cecilia Ortiz Ascanio, highlights the mission carried out by the sign language interpreter. “Accompaniment with children with hearing disabilities is essential and at this time it achieves an interaction between parents and young people,” she stresses.
Margarita Rosa Casadiego, mother of a student, describes the instructor as an upright person who shows passion for what he does. “He has guided my son Wilson since he was a child and received the high school credential. We are now working together to get college started. He is an excellent human being who is willing to teach even without being paid a single peso.”
Mrs. Sandra Ballesteros, mother of the young Juan Sebastián Vergel Ballesteros, who is in tenth grade of high school, points out that he’s quite a help. “Since he entered sixth he has been guiding him in the tasks, but there is a problem that the secretary of education takes a long time to name him, look, now we got the coronavirus and he was not appointed,” she added.
The teacher, who also act as an instructor in the National Service of Learning, SENA, from an adverse situation has discovered essential mechanisms for the appropriation of technology among the deaf population.
He records videos explaining the exercises and send them to the students. The idea is that they explore these technological tools from their homes and strengthen sign language through digital platforms. “They already know how to organize material, in Google they look for photos, tutorials and if the material is very heavy, they proceed to compress them, then there is feedback,” he says.
