My first name is Thuy Tien, and my family name is Ngyuen Tran. I was born deaf, and am the only deaf person in my family. I live in Ho Chi Minh city. I graduated highschool in 2006 and also received a certificate of sign language teaching this year. Now, I am a student in a teacher training program in Dong Nai College.
Through studying Vietnamese Sign Language, I’ve gained a lot of knowledge about it and understand more about deaf culture. I am also interested in making sign language teaching books, as well as sign language dictionaries. I’ve participated in a SL dictionary project to produce these books. Besides studying in college, I’ve taught Vietnamese SL for hearing people in the evenings or on Saturdays. I also participate in a deaf club in my spare time, as a vice president. I have responsibility for the issues related to international relationships. This club, the Deaf Culture Club, was established on 12-1-2008, and there are currently about 120 members.
Studying and working on Sign Language makes me want to be a teacher for the deaf people in the future. I hope that by teaching Sign Language for hearing people, there will be more people in our society who understand deaf culture and sign languages, and that there will be more people who can communicate with deaf people in order to make the lives of deaf people better in the future. Right now, in Vietnam there are no deaf teachers, but I hope that my classmates and I will be the first deaf teachers in Vietnam, and that our society will accept us.
