[nabs-l] questions about taking Spanish in college

[Kassandra Cardenas]

Hello,

As someone who has taken a language course in college before (French
though, not Spanish), I might be able to provide a bit of perspective!

I have never used Supersite plus before, but my class also did incorporate
a specific software for language learning. The one that I used (the name
escapes me) was pretty inaccessible--and it wouldn't surprise me if yours
ends up being so. A lot of the way that language is taught is using images,
as to not associate English with the non-English equivalent. If that
software ends up being inaccessible for you, let your professor know as
soon as possible. I spent valuable time trying to see if there were things
I could do to get it to work for me, and consequently fell behind in
out-of-class assignments.

It falls on your professor or disability office to work with you though--so
in my case, for example, my professor would provide me with alternative
assignments from a workbook that she no longer used so that I could still
get a valid grade in the course. Other options might be working with your
university or twc to see if they might be able to provide you with a
reader, and then working through the assignments with that person to be a
visual aid for you.

Re:Videos and visual components in class, I didn't have too much trouble
with this area? A lot of things that your professor might be pointing at in
the classroom specifically would be things that you can distinguish as
being found in the classroom. In stead of my professor pointing at the
blackboard or the door, she would walk over and touch these things, so I
was able to still participate without her using English and thereby
teaching the way that she wanted to. If she shows videos in class, they
will typically be ones where it's just people talking about certain things.
There will naturally be a visual component, but more often than not you
will just be quizzed over what they are saying. The only time this might be
an issue for you is when instead of them giving their names, it shows up on
subtitles, so it would depend on what material your professor is using.

If she starts pulling up images in class though, and there's no way that
you can get other context, you'll just have to tell her to make her
learning style accessible to a non-vision using person. There's literally
no other way that you could receive the info, and you would need to to be
able to keep up with the class.

Basically, just communicate with your professor as much as possible. Doing
well in language classes as a blind person is totally doable, you'll just
have to come up with some work-arounds for certain things. If she's as
easy-going as you say she is though, I'm sure it won't be an issue.

Good luck! (and sorry this got so long)

Best,
-K

On Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 10:40 PM, Sophie Trist via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
>      I hope all of you are well, successfully completing finals and
> gearing up for the holidays! I will be taking my first Spanish class next
> semester, and I have a couple of questions.
>      First, my professor has told me that she uses a software called
> Supersite Plus as a companion to the textbook, which comes from Vista
> Higher Learning. Has anyone ever used Supersite Plus, and is it accessible
> with a screen reader? If so, does it work better with one screen reader
> than others? Any info on Supersite Plus would be extremely helpful, as I
> just heard of it a few hours ago.
>      The professor also told me that she will use a lot of gestures,
> videos, and other visuals in class to avoid using English. I have never
> taken any college-level language courses before, so if anyone has advice
> for how to deal with this, please send it my way. The professor has a very
> good attitude, so I feel confident this will work out, I'm just looking for
> some tips.
>
> All Best,
> Sophie Trist
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