Deaf ESL Students - Gallaudet University

Corderoy du Tiers: Not long. A few weeks.
I remember very well. They had teased
me, so I was happy to say “goodbye”
and move to the upper class.
ODYSSEY: First you studied to catch up,
and then you studied to get ahead!
Corderoy du Tiers: I was so proud to
move up to join my brother. He was a
year older than me, but after that we
were always in the same class. We graduated
together only four years later.
ODYSSEY: What do you remember as a
cultural adjustment?
Corderoy du Tiers: Primarily learning a
different sign language. In Taiwan, we
hold up the middle finger for many
different signs, like older brother, banana
and airplane. In America, you have to
be careful to avoid making signs with
the middle finger!
ODYSSEY: What were some of the strategies
that you used to learn English?
Corderoy du Tiers: I brought my
Chinese/English dictionary to school
every day. I carried it everywhere! I
lived with it. I also feel it helped that
teachers signed to me in English word
order. This helped me to see the structure
of English. And reading. It is so
Spring 2000
important to read.
ODYSSEY: What is your best memory?
Corderoy du Tiers: My brother and I both
went to Gallaudet after we graduated
from Kendall. I joined a sorority and
he joined a fraternity. In our senior
year, I was so pleased to be elected
president of my sorority. When I
walked out as the new president, I saw
my brother. He had been elected president
of his fraternity. That year we
were both presidents!
ODYSSEY: Do you feel that being an
ESL student gave you important skills?
Corderoy du Tiers: Oh, yes. Six years ago,
I married Henri Corderoy du Tiers.
Henri is French and I moved to live
with him in Paris. The first few years, I
did the same thing as I did when I
arrived in the United States. I was very
quiet, just watching. I carried my
English/French dictionary everywhere.
I took a private course in French, and
my teacher required me to write three
diary entries every week in French. I
didn’t want an interpreter. I wanted to
be independent. I learned French Sign
Language, too, of course. We call it
LSF—Langue des Signes Français.
ODYSSEY: Now what projects are you
involved in?
Corderoy du Tiers: I wear many hats, in a
variety of projects. I am a dancer-performer
for the cafe theatre, a coordinator
for the deaf program at a training
and workshop center, and a
consultant/“ambassador” of deaf
American and French communities. A
film was made of my cafe theatre for
the holiday television shows in France.
I designed international French-
English-Sign greeting cards and post
cards. I am working on an ABC book
for deaf French children. With Sue
Gill-Doleac, I established the National
Deaf Dance Company in the United
States, which performed throughout
1991. Now I have a dream of setting up
a dance company for the deaf in
France, and hope to start a small
group for performing at a festival in
France in June 2000.
ODYSSEY: Do you have any advice for
today’s deaf students from other
countries?
Corderoy du Tiers: France is the fifth
country that I’ve lived in for an
extended period of time. After living
in Taiwan, Brazil, and the mainland
USA, I moved to Hawaii and then
Indonesia. Now I am hoping to remain
in France. As the world gets smaller,
more deaf students will have the experience
of visiting and living in different
countries. The experience is often difficult,
never easy, but it teaches skills
that students can use throughout their
lifetime. ●
ABOVE: Fanny Yeh-Corderoy du Tiers in a cafe
near her Paris home.
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