Luiz H. Rose Maiza Fatureto BRO ZB hE) CAMBRIDGE LORS A'8 3 S30 wad ahdChapter 1 A special child Mark was born in Lawrence, Kansas, in the U.S. He was an only child. His father, Bill, was a shoe salesman and his mother, Katherine, was a receptionist. When Mark was still a baby, Katherine noticed something strange. When she said Mark’s name, or when she made any noise, Mark did not look at her. One day, Katherine and Bill took their baby to the doctor. “I think something is wrong with our baby. He doesn’t look at me when I say his name,” Katherine said. “Don’t worry! We will check to see if there is a problem,” the doctor said. Mark had to undergo several tests. When theresults of the tests were ready, the doctor talked to Katherine and Bill again. “I'm afraid your son was born with a problem in his ears. He is completely deaf. He can’t hear anything.” “Is there anything that can be done?” Bill asked. “Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do right now, but medicine is progressing a lot. Maybe in a few years there will be a way to treat deafness,” the doctor answered. Katherine and Bill were sad, but they were not discouraged by the news. They started to read a lot of things about deaf children. They also talked to other parents who had deaf children. Katherine and Bill decided they would help their son as much as they could. First, they learned sign language. They read a book that said you can start teaching sign language to your child around 7 months of age. So, they started to teach Mark sign language.When Mark was 3, he could already communicate with his parents. Also, Mark soon started to learn to communicate by reading lips. Reading lips helped Mark communicate with people who didn’t know sign language. Reading lips is not a perfect method of communication, though. If a person spoke too fast, or if the person was not looking at Mark, he couldn't understand that person. Chapter2 At school In Mark’s town, there was no special school for deaf children, so his parents decided to put him in the public school. They chose a school near their house and went there to talk to the school principal. The principal decided to accept Mark, but she knew it would not be very easy for him. She spoke to all the teachers and talked to Mark’s classmates. Mark loved his school and had many friends there. He was a good student, and his hearing problem did not affect him very much. When Mark got older he had to change schools. He was now a teenager and things started to get a little bit more complicated. His mother was very protective and she 9didn’t let Mark do some of the things that the other kids did, like go out alone. Sometimes Mark got angry with his mother and wished he was like other kids. Mark became a very quiet boy. He didn’t have many friends at his new school, and he sat alone most of the time. His best friend was a girl named Carol. She was his neighbor and she came to his house almost every day. Sometimes Mark talked to Carol on the Internet for several hours. His mother didn’t like that very much because Mark often went to bed very late.Chapter 3 An embarrassing situation One day Mark went to school and there was a new math teacher. His name was Mr. Brown. The school principal forgot to tell him about Mark's deafness. Mr. Brown wrote some math questions on the board and started asking students to answer them. He called on Mark, but Mark had his head turned to the board, so he could not see Mr. Brown’s lips. He called Mark’s name again, but nobody answered. He asked the students who Mark was, and they pointed to Mark. The teacher asked him, “Why didn’t you answer my question?” “{ didn’t know you were calling on me. I could not see your lips. I’m deaf. Didn’t the principal tell you?” he asked. All the students laughed. “No, she didn’t. Maybe she forgot. I'm sorry,” answered Mr. Brown. Mark was very embarrassed.When Mark returned home, his friend Carol came over to visit him. She noticed something ‘was wrong. “What happened, Mark?” she asked. Mark told her about the new teacher and how everybody had laughed at him. Mark was very upset because of it. Carol didn’t like to see her friend like that and she invited him to go to the movies with her. She thought that perhaps it would make him feel better. Mark and Carol went to the movies. They had a good time together. The next day, Mark did not feel sad anymore. Chapter4 The party In Mark’s class there were two girls, Linda and Sandra. They were cheerleaders and they were very popular. They were very pretty, too. Linda and Sandra were good friends, and they always hung out together. They had a lot of friends and they were always going to parties. Linda and Sandra never spoke to Mark. ‘They thought he was weird and simply ignored him Mark never tried to talk to them. He wanted to be their friend, but they never gave him the opportunity. One day, Linda threw a birthday party at her house. She invited most of the class, but she did not invite Mark.Mark was very sad. He wanted to go to the party. His mother noticed that he was sad and tried to talk to him. Mark told her about the party and how he wanted to go. His mother was very supportive, but she didn’t know what to do. She always loved her son and tried to help him. She taught him many things, but she did not teach him one important thing: how to deal with prejudice. She had an idea. She told Mark he could have a party at their house and he could invite all his friends. Mark was not very enthusiastic about the idea, though. That night, Mark stayed in his room thinking. He realized that he would have to learn to deal with prejudice by himself. The next day, Mark went to school and all of his friends talked about the party. When they asked him why he didn’t go, he lied to them. He said he was sick. He did not want them to know that he was not invited.Chapter5 At the park A few weeks later, on a beautiful sunny day, Mark decided to go to the city park for a walk. It was spring, and the trees were full of flowers and birds. People were biking, in-line skating, jogging, walking, or just sitting on the grass. The park was very big, and some areas of the park were full of people, but other areas were almost empty. When Mark was walking through one of the empty areas, he saw two girls in the distance. At first, he did not recognize them, but when he got closer he saw that they were Linda and Sandra. The girls were not alone. There were two boys near them. Mark did not know the boys. When he got closer he noticed that the girls did not know the boys either. The boys were following the girls. The boys were saying bad things to them. Mark noticed that the girls were afraid of the boys. His first impulse was to help them, but then he remembered that Linda did not invite him to her party. He began to turn away, but then he decided to help them. He came closer to Linda and Sandra and asked them if they were all right. The boys saw him, and they told him to go away. But Mark did not obey them. He stayed near the girls.Mark was ready to fight with the boys if necessary, but they decided to leave. The girls were very relieved. They thanked Mark. The next day at school Linda and Sandra told their friends about what happened in the park. Everybody admired Mark’s courage. At lunch time, Linda and Sandra sat at Mark’s table. Linda wanted to apologize for not inviting him to her party. They started to talk. The girls realized that Mark was not as weird as they thought. He was just quiet because not many people wanted to talk to him. Mark also realized that the girls were nice. They did not talk to him because they thought he was strange. After the incident in the park, Mark, Linda, and Sandra became good friends. Chapter6 Anew project One day, a teacher asked the students to prepare a project in groups. Mark, Linda, and Sandra formed a group and worked hard on the project. The teacher loved their project and showed it to the principal. The principal had to choose a group of students to participate in a national competition. When the principal saw their project, she decided to choose them. The aim of the project was to help communities around the world. Mark, Linda, and Sandra knew it would not be easy, but they accepted the offer enthusiastically. They decided to prepare a project to promote the understanding of diversity and citizenship. The day came for them to present theirproject. They had to present it in a big auditorium. It was full of important people. Lots of other groups were presenting their projects. When it was Mark, Linda, and Sandra’s turn, they were nervous, but they presented the project to the audience. When they finished everybody clapped. They were relieved. Later that day, the judges announced the winners of the competition. Mark, Linda, and Sandra won! They were very happy. Their parents and their teachers were very proud of them. The prize was a trip to Washington, D.C. to visit many important monuments, museums, and even the White House. They traveled to Washington and enjoyed it very much. When they returned, they showed their pictures to their friends. And something happened to Mark. He was different. He was not a quiet boy anymore. He talked to everybody, and everybody talked to him. Mark learned an important lesson. He learned to deal with prejudice. But he was not the only one to learn a lesson. Many of the other students learned a lesson, too. They learned that it’s important to accept diversity, and that we all deserve respect.