[NABS-L] Spanish Class!

Thu Jul 2 14:29:20 UTC 2020

You are most welcome. Glad to be of help.

Camille 

From: Kendra Schaber <redwing731 at gmail.com> 
Sent: Thursday, July 2, 2020 3:12 AM
To: ctate2076 at att.net; 'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [NABS-L] Spanish Class!

Hi! 

I think it's Canvus my school is changing to for fall term but I'll have to
check in the morning. I have to get my Spanish teacher's contact information
anyway. I have to run questions regarding inaccessible pictures and the
like, now that I know they exist. Thank you for letting me know about what
you ran into! I'm sorry you did run into those problems with accessability!
I hope to avoid as many of them as possible! 

Get Outlook for iOS <https://aka.ms/o0ukef> 

  _____  

From: ctate2076 at att.net <mailto:ctate2076 at att.net>  <ctate2076 at att.net
<mailto:ctate2076 at att.net> >
Sent: Wednesday, July 1, 2020 20:18
To: 'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'
Cc: 'Kendra Schaber'
Subject: RE: [NABS-L] Spanish Class! 

Kendra: 

I just completed my A.A. and took two semesters of Spanish online, prior to
COVID-19. I am not sure how your school will incorporate distance learning
with a foreign language, but there are two online platforms that I have
used. Vista Higher Learning (VHL), VHLCentral.com, was the most accessible
of the two software platforms I used in conjunction with Spanish online.
They recently updated the platform, so it will not be usable on Internet
Explorer; I used Google Chrome for Spanish 2. The issue I had with their
platform was the lessons that were matching exercises. They would present
pictures of what would correspond to a vocabulary word and you had to match
it. There was no audio description in either English or Spanish, so unless
you are given multiple attempts on that lesson, you will run into issues. 

McGraw Hill was used for my first attempt at Spanish 2. Accessing the e-book
and vocabulary was difficult. The navigation gave me trouble as well. That
is why I withdrew and took the second Spanish 2 class the following semester
with the instructor that taught Spanish 1. 

Your biggest accessibility issues will arise with the instructor lessons on
the school's distance learning platform. Some instructor lessons may be
inaccessible due to the pdf files they use. Also, there are some keyboard
shortcuts you should learn, as this will make it easier to write your
lessons in Spanish. On this note, those keyboard shortcuts will help you if
the instructor uses VHL Central. Using a screen reader may make the accent
buttons not work and you will have to type those in. 

It may seem like an insurmountable challenge, but you can be successful.
Reach out to the instructor for the class as soon as you are able to. Of
course, remain in contact with your school's disability office as well. I
have not used Blackboard as a blind student, so I am not familiar with any
accessibility issues, but I have used Angel and Canvas. Hopefully, your
school will look into Canvas, as I have found that to be the most usable
distance learning system. 

I hope this all helps! 

Buena suerte, 
Camille Tate

Sincerely,
Camille Tate 

President, Melbourne Space Coast Chapter, National Federation of the Blind,
FL 
Board of Directors, National Federation of the Blind, FL 
Email: ctate2076 at att.net <mailto:ctate2076 at att.net>  
Phone: 321 372 4899 
-----Original Message-----
From: NABS-L <nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org <mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org> >
On Behalf Of Kendra Schaber via NABS-L
Sent: Wednesday, July 1, 2020 10:55 PM
To: Jordan Mirander via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org <mailto:nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>
Cc: Kendra Schaber <redwing731 at gmail.com <mailto:redwing731 at gmail.com> >
Subject: [NABS-L] Spanish Class!

Hi all! 
In the fall, I'm planning on taking the first class of two years of Spanish
classes. I've never taken a foreign language class before. I know nothing
about accessability, technology, ECT. I'm also going to take it online
because my school is still vertual with acception of hands on classes that
can't be taught online. Since English and Spanish don't require hands on
which is unlike science, both my English and Spanish classes will be online
and distance learning. I'm guessing that I'll be stuck using Zoom which
isn't a problem since I'm racking up Zoom hours of experience as the result
of Covid-19 anyway. In addition to Zoom, I have Voice Over on my iPhone and
probably iPad. I'm supposed to get my first iPad this summer. I also have
both JAWS and NVDA on a Dell PC computer. I have a Polaris Braille Sense
that's currently in the shop for repair. I should get it back before summer
ends. I also have AIRA which is on my iPhone, also hope to get more of their
distance learning services from them. I currently have Black Board but I
think my school is switching online platforms. I'll have to double check if
they're still doing this because I don't know how Covid-19 related effects
are going to impact the technical apps, software and so on with my school. I
have YouTube, friends who either know Spanish or have just taken Spanish
this last year. I have the usual Google, Drop Box, MS Office home vertion,
Outlook, Safari, Firefox, Amazon, the usual book apps, Amazon Prime, Apple
T.V., Disney Plus, Netflix and HPO. I also have Sero too. I sometimes use
these services in school, pending class content. Outside of Shakespeare,
I've used YouTube the most outside of in school content that envolves
videos. In any case, I have these resources on hand without knowing which
one I'll be using, though probably sure that screen readers and Office Sweet
plus internet browsers will be on the top of the list. What tools are
commonly used in Spanish classes? What are the common accessability issues
that blind students incounter while taking Spanish classes? Also, how would
I go about language translation using JAWS 2020, NVDA and Voice Over on the
latest IOS? 
I greatly appreciate you taking the time to read this post! I hope to hear
from you guys soon! 

Thank you for taking the time for reading this email! I'm sorry for any
errors that appear in this message! 
Stay safe and healthy! 
Blessed be! 
Kendra SchabeR
Chemeketa Community College
Honor Roll Student for fall term of 2019 National Federation of the Blind
Secretary of the Capitol Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of
Oregon Vice President of the Oregon Association of Blind Students: a
devition of the National Federation of the Blind of Oregon 
Member of 350.ORG Salem     

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