From Dwilson@brooklyn.cuny.edu Fri Mar 10 10:08:23 2000
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From: Donna Wilson <Dwilson@brooklyn.cuny.edu>
To: "'classics@u.washington.edu'" <classics@u.washington.edu>
Subject: RE: Audiotapes
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 13:07:27 -0500
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	David Meadows wrote:
> Are there any individuals or organizations out there who put Classics 
> textbooks (stuff for courses), papers (ditto), both in English and say, 
> Latin or Greek, for the benefit of visually-handicapped students? Or is 
> this sort of thing usually accomplished by having volunteers read to such 
> students?? If the former, it seems to me that it would be a good thing, in
> 
> the Marth Stewart sense, to create some sort of informal 
> network/clearinghouse so departments could share such resources, no?
> 
> dm
> 
I have had two visually-handicapped students in class over the last couple
of years (one in Greek and classics in translation, the other now in a
classics in translation course).  Both of them use computer scanning and
vocalizing software for everything in English and with very satisfactory
results.  The computer often pronounces proper names oddly, but most of the
problems with vocalization were easily cleared up.   (Come to think of it,
the computer didn't necessarily have much more trouble with proper names
than the students themselves often do!).  I don't know if the software has
replaced audiotapes of textbooks and the need for volunteer readers--I
wouldn't think so--but these two students, at least, were quite happy with
the scanning/vocalizing capabilities of their computers.  
For beginning Greek we used a modified transliteration system (that could be
easily translated into braille).  She had some success with using her
computer to scan and vocalize transliterated exercises, but she also worked
on them in braille (and then read them back to me).  We  provided her with a
tutor/reader (advanced Greek student) and audio tapes that I had made.   I
believe she was also able to locate the Greek New Testament in braille
(though the same student did Hebrew with me, and now I'm not certain if it
was the TaNaK or the New Testament that she had in braille).  She had such
disciplined oral memory that we all had to be sure to pronounce things
precisely and correctly the first time, because once you said it, she had
it.  It was one of the most delightful experiences I have had in my years of
teaching Greek.
If someone has made, or would be interested in making and marketing, audio
tapes for a standard elementary Greek text-book, and probably a computer
scannable-vocalizable (?) version of the text, think it would be a wonderful
service.  And it would be a service not just to the students, but to
departments by inviting many new and wonderful students to take Greek who
may have been otherwise hesitant to try it. 
DFW   
.