DIARY ACCOUNT OF THE WHOLE EXCHANGE…………………………..

24th November - 2nd December 2000

Introduction
Last January (1999), Stuart and I went to Tokyo, Japan to discuss with the leader Mariko Tahammua
about a future exchange between England and Tokyo. We exchanged reciprocal contracts. After
this, we kept in touch with Mariko and confirmed the dates for the group of Japanese participants to
come over to England and mix with English participants.

Airport
Their plane was due at Heathrow Airport, Terminal 4 at 4.35pm. Stuart and I went to the airport to
meet the group. It was such an exciting feeling to see them arriving to England after 11 months of
administration and organisation into the event. The group of 23 Japanese deaf people had arrived, it
was great to see them, and they looked so excited. We took them to the underground to their hostel
in Russell Square. At the first moment, they took out their cameras and took several pictures in the
underground!

Welcome party
At the beginning, we have to give an introductory talk and played a few games - a good way to warm
up together and exchange our sign names!!! Everyone looked happy and laughed all the time. Ruth
Montgomery and Ahmed Mudawi, were there; we told them that they would be their guides during
the week to help out the leaders. Unfortunately Della couldn't be there on that day!!

We went through the programme and there were some questions asked. Next we gave out the
T-shirts that had to be worn on the last day!!!

The English deaf people came to the hostel and gave them a good welcome, it was a good start to the week, a great atmosphere and the Japanese eyes were wide-awake due to the long flights!!!

London all day (see Diary)

Planet Hollywood's (see Diary)

Family homes
The Japanese participants were split up into either pairs or 3s to stay overnight in English family homes.

BDA
We were split into two different groups - the first group went into the building, while the group went
around London for an hour. Raymond Lee gave an introduction about what the BDA was, and the
area councils around Great Britain, using a visual map.

Paul Redefine- Head of Community and Youth Development - talked about his job within the BDA.

Natalie Koenig showed the group a Nokia 9110 which is so popular with deaf people in Great Britain
to keep in touch together. The Japanese's mobile phones were so advanced. They showed us these
phones and it was agreed by everyone that it was so small and weighed like a feather!!!!

At the end, Jeff McWhinney - the head of BDA gave a short talk about his role in the BDA and told
the group about the billboard poster that was designed to make an impact on hearing people that the
government didn't do anything with the recognition of British Sign Language.

Afterwards, there was lovely food provided to everyone and two of the Japanese presented a small
present for BDA. They put in their cupboard, which they demonstrate gifts from around the world.

Madame Tussaud's
We took them to Madame Tussaud's museum, they were really impressed with the wax works and
didn't stop touching the wax and looking at their facial expressions!! They took lots of pictures
especially with Princess Diana and the Beatles!!! Some of the waxes are part of English history and
they asked the guide questions about these, as all of these had a small written explanation about the model, which the guide had to translate into ISL.

Bowling (see Diary)

Shape
Shape is an Arts Organisation for deaf people. John Wilson and Jen Dodds made a presentation to
the Japanese people about Shape and it does. There was a group workshop which discussed
differences between England and Japan in the area of art. Later on, Neill came along and showed us
some slides about his works and told everyone about his childhood experiences which were expressed into pictures.

Later on, John showed us to his office room, he was a bit embarrassed at the beginning because it is
so small. He took half of the group; they were impressed to see how big the room is compared to
Japan, as most of the offices in Japan were smaller with full of paperwork everywhere!!!

RNID

We were all starving when we arrived at noon to the RNID building! The RNID workers welcomed
us with great hospitality and kindly provided lovely, delicious sandwiches. After lunch we were
introduced to Mr.Jennings. He explained to the Japanese visitors what the RNID was all about. Ahmed
and I had fun trying to translate BSL into international sign language to ensure everyone followed!
Mr. Jennings explained that one in seven people in the United Kingdom are affected with hearing loss
in their lifetime. He mentioned the facilities provided, such as minicoms and fire alarms. They also lobby the government on behalf of deaf and hard of hearing people.

We had eight individual speeches by employees doing different jobs each for RNID. They work in
areas such as writing magazine articles, giving counselling/advice, equipment and facilities to those who needs it. The Japanese visitors listened with keen interest and asked many questions. At the end, they had a good look around at the offices. They were then given a bag of gifts that included a T-shirt, badge, note pad, and many small odd bits. All in all, the Japanese were very impressed and
thoroughly enjoyed their visit.


Southwark College
While half the group went to the RNID (see above), the other went to Southwark College. There are
some deaf students from 17 to 19 years old - most of them are refugees. We arrived to the college
and were straight to have lunch in the student's canteen. Some deaf students came along, there was a communication barrier between the Japanese and those students, The Japanese kept talking to the
students all the times yet the refugees had no idea about International Sign Language, They relied on me as their interpreter to translate from JSL to BSL.

It took quite a while for the ice to break between, and then the students began to become confident
and talked to the Japanese people themselves. They were curious as they thought the whole world
shared the same language.

We were due to go to the London Eye afterwards, the students came with us walking all the way to
Waterloo Station. On the way here, we showed the Japanese people the new Euro star train that
commutes from Waterloo to Paris and Belgium.

London Eye
We met the other group from the RNID and we split again into two groups to go on the London Eye
ride. It was around late afternoon… the view was beautiful, seeing London illuminated. The Japanese
were so excited and kept asking the guides about various places we could see from the top.

London at night
We decided to split into small groups and went around China Town for dinner and then explored
around Leicester Square. At the end, we went to Bar 38 for drinks. We spent ages in Bar 38 and
it was great atmosphere!!!

City Lit

The group were welcomed to the City Lit, Holborn by Mark Hopkinson who works for student
services. The City Lit is known to many deaf people in the area of the UK as the only college in
London that caters for deaf students primarily.

Various speakers came to talk to the group, telling them about their roles in college and the college's
main tasks.

These can be defined as below:

Supporting Students in FE or HE around the area of London
Teaching deaf people to teach sign language
Teaching sign language
Supporting refugees

There followed an in depth discussion comparing FE in Japan and here, and identifying the main
differences. It became apparent that there is no interpreter provision for students in HE in Japan,
which was astonishing. When we asked the group what they were going to do about this, they
seemed reluctant to do anything, saying that their society was harder to convince.

Remark!
We arrived on time, but Mark Nelson came 20 minutes late! He showed us his office and switched
on the computers and explained the group what Remark! is about. The group had a look at their
Website and were guided through.

This vibrant company which has young deaf members of staff and is owned by deaf partners was
quite astonishing for the visitors to see. Although in its early stage of development, the group were
impressed at the aims of such young achievers.

Dockland's
We split into two different groups - the first group went to Remark! While the other group were at
Remark, the other group did some shopping around Docklands.

Romford Deaf Club (see Diary)

Wolverhampton University

Students home
Wolverhampton University is one of the main Universities that has many deaf students. We were
invited into two different students' homes for lunch. They provided foods, typical English foods such
as bread with ham, chicken slices, crisps, and fruits. It was a great experience for the Japanese to
see real English Students' homes.

Workshop

We went into the University later where various speakers and students talked about tertiary education, which was really interesting and provoked many questions. Researchers into sign linguistics also spoke of the differences between JSL and BSL. Students spoke of how they found University life with the aide of interpreters etc.

Pub at the end

We all ate at a pub where students from Wolverhampton University joined the group and helped them order the right food! Later on we were invited to Royal London - Scream Pub, where Wolverhampton deaf students regularly meet every Thursday. There were even more deaf people there. It was a really good atmosphere and everyone talked to the Japanese people, exchanging news and experiences of tertiary education. The Japanese were so worn out due to this very long day!! We caught the coach back and almost everyone slept all the way there!!!

Grove House School Visit
We managed to find our way to the Grove House School for deaf children (primary) in Tulse Hill by
train from London Bridge, which took about 20 minutes. When we arrived, we were greeted by one
of the staff who kindly told us to make ourselves a hot drink! We met the Head Teacher of Grove
House, who introduced herself and started to talk about the history and the present day of the school. She explained that there was a small number of deaf children aged between 5 - 12, some have learning difficulties, some are bright and able to get on working, while some are mischievous! The school accepts many children of refugees and teaches English, Maths, Science, Geography, and many more on the list of the school's curriculum.

There are good teachers who are specially trained for the deaf, using sign language to communicate
and teach them. The Grove House school will not be continuing for much longer, as around Easter the
school will be closed down. It is due to the lack of funding from the Council. The Council's plan is
that the Grove House School merges in with another mainstream Primary school in order for deaf
children to receive better facilities and needs provided to them in the long run. After about 30 minutes
of talk about the schools and asking question, we all paired up in a classroom, meeting the children
and watching them at their lessons. One class was with very mischievous children!

The teacher was trying to tell a story. Toyo was interested in the British sign language and the responses from children during a story. We moved around, changing classrooms. In another class, the children were writing down their list of Christmas presents they wish to get from Santa! Toyo introduced himself in International Sign Language and obvious gestures and wrote his name in Japanese on a blackboard, it certainly did get the children's attention! The children were very enthusiastic, asking about Japan and wanted to know where it was on the world atlas. At the end of our classroom tour, I asked how the others what they thought. They thoroughly enjoyed it. We talked about it over lunch and then it was time we make our way back to the city of London to meet the others. We thanked the head teacher and the staff for an interesting visit.

NDCS

Within our small subgroup, we visited the National Deaf Children's Society, and were hosted by
Sally Reynolds and Paul Bartlett with Alison Bryan. After a few icebreakers and introductions,
the group were told about the NDCS' role in the UK which can be surmised as follows:

Supporting parents of deaf children
Encouraging neonatal screening tests for deafness
Helping students in HE
Recruiting deaf people to become teachers
Lending equipment to those who need it
Millennium Awards Project

The group were very interested in learning about the NDCS and said they had something similar in
Japan although less influential. They also felt they had less of a range of equipment than was presented.

They liked the idea of the Millennium Awards, which helps young deaf people achieve their dreams
and wanted to apply themselves!! The hosts were happy to answer their various questions.

Oak Lodge School

Oak Lodge is a secondary school in Balham, for 11 - 16 years old deaf children. There are 88
children altogether and 21 different languages around the school, as most of the children are from
refugee families. I went there with a group of 8 Japanese people. In the morning, it was a welcome
speech from the headmaster of the school, explaining about the school and what success they had in
the past. We were then split into two different groups; two younger pupils guided us around the school.

We visited all of the classrooms such as English, Maths, Science, Cooking, C.D.T, Art, Computer
Studies, and Deaf Studies. As part of the school curriculum, they use Deaf Studies instead of learning
another language - French or German. This is because they believe it is difficult for children to learn a
different language.

We were invited to a school assembly, the teacher was telling the pupils about the murder of Digilina
Taylor and telling the pupils that bullying can linked to danger thing. The guide had to translate it into
International Sign Language for the Japanese to follow it. Afterwards, the headmaster gave a talk
about how disappointed he was with some pupils. After the assembly, we were guided to dinner hall
for our lunch. Everything happened so quickly as the children walked around and moved around.
After Lunch, it was break-time, the children were outside and asking lots of questions to the Japanese.

They were so enthusiastic with their visitors in their school.

Free Time
The two groups who visited the schools met at Tottenham Court Road Station. It was their free time
to wander around Oxford Street and do their last minute shopping. The Japanese suggested that they needed more time for shopping, but it was really impossible because they had to be at the hostel ready for their evaluations before the Farewell party.

Farewell party
It then became impossible to have an evaluation workshop before the Farewell party as the Japanese didn't have the time and wanted to get ready for the farewell party. Therefore the evaluations workshop was postponed until the following morning before departure to the airport. Lots of deaf people from the visits as well as the group came to the farewell party, where there was a great and emotional atmosphere. The English and the Japanese as making new friends exchanged lots of presents. Plenty of foods was provided and drinks. There were photos were on the wall to review what we have been up to in just one week.

There was a speech at the middle of the party to thank all the guides and to declare the youth exchange as being successful. We said we hoped to see the Japanese friends again next year. Presents were given out to the guides. Mariko and three others Japanese students gave everyone a speech about their experiences and apprehensions before arriving England.

The bar in the hostel opened until 2am. Most people chatted away in the bar, and in the end… some
people even went off to a nightclub in Covert Gardens, to have a great memory before going home on the next day.

The Farewell party was really great and so lively… lots of people came and made the night a good
memory for the Japanese and us. They will never forget this evening of their trip.

Evaluation
This took place in the Youth Hostel before getting the train to airport. We talked about things that had room for improvement in order to improve our future exchanges with other countries. There were lots of questions asked and lots of feedback given. Most of them liked the Youth Hostel as it is in a good, central position although one disliked it. Most of them did not like the foods provided from the Youth Hostel. Everyone loved the programme, but believed 8 days was too short, and the programme was therefore too heavy.

Most of them complained as the T-shirts were too large; they would rather to have it medium or small. But they liked the design!

Family homes for overnight, they believe it is too short and wished it was for the whole weekend. For
those Japanese participants who stayed in a student's home, they thought it was all right, but they would rather stay in a proper family home.

Their thoughts about the leadership team -

Angela - checking number of people is good
Angela and Stuart - both communication is good and explain in good details. Taking care of people
who were sick. The overall evaluation was good.

(See enclosed evaluation data)

Airport
Everyone looked so worn out and it was time to go home. On the underground, we gave out a
quantitative questionnaire for them to fill out of the overall trip. Upon arrival at Heathrow airport, it
was so sad to see them go. They kept waving until their bodies became smaller from our perspective
at the gates.

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