In accordance with its conviction, 'Love makes the impossible possible', there is a school which gives hope to hearing-impaired students. 'Glove', a film directed by Kang Woo-suk, was released in January of this year. 'Glove' was based on the true story about the baseball team from that school. The team members heard in their minds instead of their ears, and they presented pleasure and hope to people with disorders. Also, the film called attention to deaf people. -ED
 
 Chungju Sungsim School for the Deaf was founded by Fr. Joseph Borer, an American priest on April 19, 1955, and it has contributed to hearing-impaired students for over half a century. The school provides free education for infants to high school students. According to the vice principle, most students are poor in the school. A total of 129 students including infants, kindergarteners, primary school students, middle school students, and high school students are in the school.
 
 At first, the CBT reporter thought that the students used sign language in order to communicate with each other before visiting the school. However, the CBT reporter saw kindergarteners who ran around in the corridor while calling out their friends' names loudly, so they looked like children without any disorders. Teachers used not only sign language but also spoken language. Then the students understood and responded to what the teachers said. Kindergarteners receive training in listening with hearing aids. Recently, as Cochlear implants have become more common, the school has encouraged students to have the surgery. Thanks to hearing aids and Cochlear implants, hearing-impaired students also can use spoken languages.

 
 Middle school students are disciplined in lip reading, called 'gu-hwa'. It helps hearing-impaired students understand the others' words by looking at the movements of lips and facial expressions. The school teaches students to use sign language, lip reading, and spoken languages flexibly.
 
 Most of the students live in a dormitory, so their activities are limited to the school. Accordingly, unfamiliar visitors make students feel excited. A group of public officials visited the school when the CBT reporter was there. The students looked at the officials with eyes full of curiosity and greeted by waving their hands.


 The school has sources of pride and joy, such as the development of a software program for special education, called 'MALCHINGU' and the foundation of a baseball team which consists of hearing-impaired students for the first time in Korea. The purpose of creating 'MALCHINGU' is for speech therapy. An English version of the program was also developed as the program has become widely known. The school has distributed the program to 110 countries. The baseball team was established on September 9, 2002. The former vice-principal, who graduated from a technical high school, enjoyed playing baseball. In addition, he perceived that students might play baseball well because baseball players exchanged signs by hands as well. Finally, he founded the baseball team with the hope of fulfilling his old dream through the students. The baseball team is a new breakthrough in overcoming obstacles.
 
 A female student who is going to graduate next year said, "I entered this school when I was a high school freshman. At that time, I only knew a finger alphabet and sign language for greetings, so I was shocked to see students who used sign language fluently. As time went by, the ability of my sign language improved, and I could deliver my thoughts to friends and teachers. Also, I made good memories with my friends and I helped juniors who had difficulty in adjusting to the school. My heart was filled with pride at that time."
 
 The CBT reporter asked what the vice-principal's wish for the future was. He said, "I think that disabled people should prepare for today's global era. Therefore, I hope that American teachers will come here and teach students American sign language. Due to the time difference between Korea and America, it is difficult to learn American sign language in real time from American teachers on the Internet. Now, our school is interacting with Japan, China, and America in many ways. I want our school to interact with Vietnam, Mongolia, and Africa in the future." He added, "I hope that our school will last long as one of the representative schools for the deaf."    

By Kong Hae-gyoung
hg31@cbnu.ac.kr