Escuela República de los Estados Unidos and Escuela Sara Cruz Alvayay promote inclusion through Chilean Sign Language

This experience, which promotes communication and inclusion among Huasco’s local service learning communities, is unique and innovative.

With the aim of fostering cases of mutual cooperation, the educational community of the United States Republic of Valinar School, together with the educational community of the Sarah Cruz Alfaye School of Genta de Valeriano in Alto del Carmen, and public educational institutions belonging to the Service Local de Educación Pública (SLEP) have implemented Huasco is an important initiative that has sought to promote inclusion and break down barriers of communication through the teaching of Chilean Sign Language (LSCh).

In this regard, Javier Obanos Sandoval, Executive Director of SLEP Huasco, expressed, “First and foremost, I congratulate and highlight this collaborative initiative between Sara Cruz Alvayay Schools and the United States Republic for the impact this will have on educational communities. We appreciate that such initiatives It largely responds to one of the guiding principles of Code 21040, such as promoting collaborative work and communication in schools. Therefore, I send all my appreciation to the teams of both schools for their willingness and commitment in striving to support our students.”

This valuable collaboration arose from a proposal made by students of the Altino Educational Foundation during the School Council, in which they expressed their desire to learn Chilean Sign Language. This motivated the teacher in charge of the Sara Cruz Alvayay school, Cicilia Gatica Rodríguez, to negotiate with the Escuela República de los Estados Unidos in Valinar, an educational institution with a long history and comprehensive educational brand, about the possibility of a co-operative. In this way, the proposal was enthusiastically received by Director Laura Campilay-Contreras and her team, who proposed and implemented a program together with the School Integration Program (PIE) team and the Foundation’s Hearing Loss team, moving to the local area with the aim of implementing face-to-face workshops and online sessions. To teach sign language to the students, officials and administrators of the Sara Cruz Alvayay School in this beautiful and comprehensive initiative. These workshops and sessions were delivered by the Vallenarino Creation Team, consisting of Deaf Co-Teacher, Michelle Alvarez Rivera, Team Liaison Facilitators Tamara Miranda and Javiera Aguirre, Team Director Andrea Paz and PIE Coordinator, Camila Vargas.

Laura Campilay Contreras, Director of the Escuela República de los Estados Unidos, noted, “The idea is always to plant this little seed of inclusion and in the hope that one day our cities, our country, will have a more inclusive culture. They will one day meet our students, and because this deaf community also includes more people to be able to participate in conversation and communication and not feel excluded.But very happy, and also grateful to Don Javier because when we presented this project to him, he agreed immediately, so I am very happy , satisfied, because I believe that the goal of this workshop has really been achieved.”

In this way, the two educational communities successfully completed the sessions and workshops, and finally gathered at the Valeriano Council to conduct an emotional ceremony of handing over certificates to the students with the educational community. The ceremony was chaired by Professor Cecilia Gatica and the Hearing Loss team, who passionately highlighted the beautiful process of learning and new experiences.

In this regard, Cecilia Gatica, Professor in Charge of the Sarah Cruz Alfaye School of Genta di Valeriano, commented: “It was a really great experience as the children said. This was a need we had for a long time, given how important it is for today’s world to have this kind of communication. It was a very emotional party, full of knowledge, today children can teach their parents at home many things that they learned in sign language.So thank you very much, we are very happy, very happy, this opens the doors so that children can understand, understand and feel appreciated, because they can That, and they learn and can also teach.”

The collaboration between Escuela República de los Estados Unidos and Escuela Sara Cruz Alvayay was an innovative and unique experience in the province, promoting inclusion and opening up pathways of communication for people with hearing disabilities. The two educational institutions are proud of this successful initiative and hope to continue working together to promote equal opportunity and build a more inclusive society.