Passing on the gift of speech

3 October 2007

When Joan Saunders says: 'I don't believe in age, I believe in attitude,' there is nothing false or cliched about it. 'I believe anyone can do anything,' she adds, and the more this seventy-five-year-old English-language teacher talks, the more convincing she becomes.

Overcoming the barriers
Profoundly deaf from the age of four, Joan missed out on any proper schooling and was assumed to be mentally retarded for many years.

Now she has an honours masters degree in psychology, provides counselling for people with tinnitus and teaches advanced English.

Joan has no hearing in her left ear and only three per cent hearing in her right ear, however, modern technology now allows her to hear others relatively well. A small, portable microphone picks up sounds and transmits them directly to a digital hearing aid. As technology has improved, communication has become increasingly easier for Joan, but she will never take hearing or speaking for granted. One of the main reasons she became an ESOL home tutor was to be able to pass on the gift of speech.

Her late husband, Peter, taught her to read and speak English, and now she is passing on the ability to her student Vialda, a retired teacher and sport-school manager from Cuba.

Vialda is an advanced student. Her comprehension, writing, and reading skills are excellent, but she wants to improve her pronunciation. As both the student and teacher explain, Vialda speaks too quickly and leaves off the ends of many words. Other words she understands when reading but doesn't know how to pronounce.

For someone who clearly enjoys conversation as much as this vibrant and out-going woman does, pronunciation problems are a frustrating obstacle. In their classes, Joan listens to Vialda and also watches her mouth as she speaks. Joan can tell from lip-reading alone when Vialda has mispronounced a word. She interrupts Vialda several times during the interview, making her repeat the word something slowly, concentrating on the 'th' sound in the middle.

Vialda is grateful for this. She wants to be interrupted. 'People in this country are too polite,' she says. 'They will not interrupt me and tell me when I have said something wrong. How can I improve?'

The culture of communication
Joan explains that her goal is to help Vialda speak more clearly without losing any of her personality. She believes the speed of Vialda's speech is partly due to the nature of Spanish, her native language, and partly due to Vialda's enthusiasm and vitality. Although Vialda constantly reiterates her desire to have her pronunciation corrected, Joan explains that there are moments when their conversation is such that it would be an imposition to stop her. Vialda is Joan's third student, and the rapport between them is clear from the first moment.

They are two intelligent, high-achieving older women who enjoy each other's company. They challenge each other constantly, and the classes are as much about enjoyment as they are about learning. 'We are very compatible,' says Joan, and Vialda agrees, adding that they have become great friends.

'I am very pushy, I keep asking for more and more and more,' says Vialda, 'but Joan always gives me more. Sometimes our classes can go on for three hours'. It is clear that neither woman has a problem with the lessons dragging on longer than originally intended.

Adding some structure
Their classes begin with a list of words that Vialda has written down since they last met. These are unfamiliar words she has read in books, magazines, newspapers, or on signs. Together they work on each word, discussing its meaning and using it in sentences. They also record each word on tape so that Vialda can practice her pronunciation after class. Another part of every session is devoted to reading together.

During one class, Joan noticed a Spanish-language edition of an Isabel Allende book on Vialda's table. She had the same title in English, and so now they are reading the English edition together. Joan speaks very clearly and precisely but also sounds natural and expressive. She believes this is the result of how she herself learnt to speak as an adult.

Learning English at home
She says that her husband instinctively knew the right way to teach her, although he had never known anyone else who was deaf. He bought her simple books, and as they worked their way through them, she tested his patience by requesting the meaning and pronunciation of almost every word. He helped her become aware of her vocal cords and taught her how to modulate her voice.

She points out that the only problem with this method was that if her husband mispronounced a word, so did she. Gradually, the couple moved to books with more and more complex language and eventually Joan became a fluent, independent reader and speaker. Although shy in younger years, Joan now exudes a confident and articulate manner that few could better.

Invaluable time
In spite of now being past the retirement age, Joan gives no sign of slowing down her life or accepting any limitations. Perhaps this is due to missing out on so much when she was young, but her beliefs are infectious and inspiring. She has not let being 75 and profoundly deaf stop her becoming a successful English-language teacher, in fact she has turned her limitations to her advantage.

Her student Vialda now lives alone in Auckland, her only relatives here having recently moved to Blenheim. She misses them a great deal but is not yet ready to move south. For the moment, her English classes are too valuable to give up.