Croatian sign language in primary schools

Hrvatski znakovni jezik priznat je kao samosvojan jezični sustav u Republici Hrvatskoj, neovisan o jeziku čujućih osoba. Gluhi i nagluhi stvorili su vlastitu kulturu, prepoznali svoje vrijednosti i važnost te krenuli u borbu za ostvarivanje prava. U ovom su radu prikupljena teorijska saznanja o (hrvatskom) znakovnom jeziku, kulturi Gluhih te njihovim posebnostima. Iz kratke povijesti znakovnog jezika vidimo koliko su zajednica i sustav napredovali, ali i koliko još ima prostora za napredak. Utjecajni ljudi kao što su Helen Keller, Pedro Ponce de Leon i Antun Zimmerman postavili su nam temelje na kojima možemo graditi čvrstu zajednicu gdje smo svi jednaki. Nabrojena su neka od istraživanja koja pokazuju važnost znakovnog jezika za cijelu zajednicu. Najveći je izazov u odgoju i obrazovanju danas stvaranje inkluzivne sredine, odnosno škole za sve. Nažalost, brojni zakoni i članci ostaju samo slova na papiru. U radu je opisano koliko je znakovni jezik zastupljen u školama, gdje se provodi i na koji način. Zajednica je uglavnom složna oko uključivanja gluhih u redovni školski sustav, ali oni se susreću s preprekama zbog nedovoljne educiranosti. Cilj je rada istaknuti važnost uključivanja čujućih u kulturu Gluhih te učenja njihova jezika. Prikazane su brojne prednosti koje učenik ostvaruje kroz učenje znakovnog jezika, kako i za gluhe tako i za čujuće učenike. Učenje znakovnog jezika korisno je svima nama jer se stvara obogaćena sredina, umanjuje socijalna osiromašenost i brišu se barijere u svakodnevnoj komunikaciji. Kako bi pokazali da se znakovni jezik može provestti u nastavi, na kraju rada prikazan je mogući metodički scenarij za učenje hrvatskog znakovnog jezika u nastavi hrvatskog jezika osnovne škole.Croatian sign language has been accepted as a self-sufficient language system in the Republic of Croatia, independent from the language of hearing people. Deaf and hard of hearing people have made their own culture, they have recognized their values and worth and have started a battle for the exercise of rights. In this paper is collected theoretical knowledge of (Croatian) sign language, the culture of Deaf and their particularities. From the short history of sign language, we can see how much communities and systems have progressed, but also how much more is left to progress. Influential people such as Helen Keller, Pedro Ponce de Leon, and Antun Zimmerman laid us the groundwork on which we can build a strong community where we are all equal. There are listed some researches that show the significance of sign language for the entire community. The biggest challenge today in care and education is creating an inclusive environment or schools for everyone. Unfortunately, many laws and articles stay only words on paper. In this paper, it is described how much sign language is represented in schools, where it is implemented, and in which way. Community is mainly in unity about including deaf people in the regular education system, but they come across challenges due to insufficient education. This paper aims to point out the importance of involving hearing people in the culture of deaf people and learning their language. Many advantages are shown of what pupil accomplishes throughout learning sign language, how much for deaf pupils that's how much for hearing pupils. Learning sign language is beneficial to everyone because it creates an enriched environment, reduces social impoverishment, and barriers in communication fade away. To show how sign language is possible to implement in teaching, at the end of the paper, it is presented the potential methodological scenario for learning Croatian sign language in the teaching of Croatian language in primary schools