How To Stop

There are many methods to help break down the barrier between languages. You could take the approach like my group did and express your self through art, or you could express your self through something else like music, films or photography. Obviously the options are endless. You could find a way to express yourself in many different ways other than speaking.

It:

"We Help Your!" Creating a Set of Digital Painting Icons Part 3 Paint Brush Icon. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. <http://www.wehelpyour.com/creating-a-set-of-digitalpainting-icons-part-3-paint-brush-icon.html>. "Cartoon Camera - Public Domain Clip Art Image @ Wpclipart.com." WPClipart Is a Collection of High-quality Artwork and Photos Optimized for Use with Word Processors and Inkjet Printers. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. <http://www.wpclipart.com/cartoon/objects/cartoon _camera.png.html>. "40 Gal Bucket List." Learn to Say Hello in 40 Languages . Web. 18 Apr. 2012. <http://40galbucketlist.wordpress.com/c ategory/learn-to-say-hello-in-40languages/>. "Change The World." Dad-O-Matic. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. <http://dadomatic.com/change-theworld/>. "Americas Language Barriers." Americas Language Barriers. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. <http://tsobjective.com/2011/08/31/lang uage-barriers/>. BrainyQuote. Xplore. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/k eywords/language.html>. "Musical Note 2 Clip Art." - Vector Clip Art Online, Royalty Free & Public Domain. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. <http://www.clker.com/clipart4474.html>. "Vector of 'Silhouettes of Children in Colors and Races Holding Hands'" Royalty-free Images, Illustrations and Videos for Web and Print. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. <http://www.colourbox.com/vector/silh ouettes-of-children-in-colors-and-racesholding-hands-vector-1969433>.

Language Barriers between the hearing and the deaf

Take Action: Our experience with

By: Julia Thompson

For the Take Action portion of our project, we decided to address the issue of Language Barriers and use art as a form of communication. After discussion my group and I came up with the idea called Paint-Pals, which are like Pin-Pals but instead of writing to your Pin-Pal, you would draw them something. We also chose to do this project with Elementary school kids in first through third grade. In order for our experiment to work we had to choose two different language-speaking schools, so we ended up with Texas School for the Deaf and Austin Montessori School. We first went to the Austin Montessori School and dived right into the project. We first asked them how they felt about language barriers and that if they thought the deaf kids were just like them. We really wanted them to understand the concept of what we were trying to accomplish, and they all did. We then asked them to draw, paint, or color on a piece of paper what their favorite things in the whole world were, but the thing was there could be no English. Some of the students found it to be quite challenging to have to draw things like a cat with wings or a dinosaur without using English. That was part of the main message we were trying to express, and the kids really understood. They also thought it was super cool that they were going to be able to

communicate with another child who didnt speak English. They had a great time drawing about themselves and they were so excited to send them off and get one back. At Texas School for the Deaf, we gave the same speech to them with the help from a translator, and they said practically the same thing the kids from Austin Montessori said. They were just as excited to reply to their Paint-Pal, as they were to look at their pictures! It was so awesome to see how they reacted! The kids all of a sudden knew what their pals favorite things were and knew a bunch about them without even meeting them. The experience was too cool. We are going to keep in touch with the teachers who worked with us so that they can continue to do this activity. It would be awesome to come back to Texas School for the Deaf and Austin Montessori in a couple of years and see that they still are continuing to use our Paint-Pal activity! I really believe that if more schools use methods like ours it will help break down the language barriers. My group and I really appreciate the teachers who allowed us to do this activity with their students!

Use what language you will, you can never say anything but what you are. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Language barriers are one of the leading causes for people to not communicate with others outside of their language bubble. For example, if I was going to a supermarket in Mexico, I would feel a little uncomfortable and awkward because I wouldnt be able to understand anyone and vise versa. Though there are many new high tech methods of breaking through the barriers, there are also many ways that only require a pen and paper. My group and I found that this method would be the most effective because of how universal art is.