"""Deaf learning"" project was implemented from September 2015 to August 2018 in partnership with 5 organization from 5 European countries: Polish Deaf Association Lodz Department (Poland), Doncaster Deaf Trust (UK), Ca'Foscari University in Venice (Italy), Kaunas Educational Centre for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (Lithuania), Alpen-Adria University in Klagenfurt (Austria). The aim of the project was to develop teaching materials, which will help to improve the literacy skills of deaf adults in 5 national languages: English, Polish, Italian, Lithuanian, German. Those materials include the course programme, handbooks, and e-learning courses. The programme contains questionnaire data, research choices, hints for teaching methodologies, trial experiences, suggestions on how to handle the materials. Handbooks contain:120 lesson plans CEFR levels A1, A2, B1, B2, 30 lessons level A1, 16 texts for reading comprehension as a teachers’ guide to developing their own level-based programs. E-course contains 6 lessons level A1 on the Moodle platform for independent learning.All materials were prepared for 5 languages. Over 500 teachers of a deaf, deaf adult, parents and scholars took part in different multiplier events in 5 countries. All teaching materials are open access and available on the project website: www.pzg.lodz.pl/deaflearning. Polish language courses for the deaf based on ""Deaf learning"" project teaching materials are now conducted in Poland."

Sign Language is not a universal medium; on the contrary, each one has developed naturally over the years within its local community, exactly like oral languages. While there are in fact a number of international signs and gestures, used for example at international meetings and conferences for deaf people, these are a mere communication aid and cannot be considered a language. As a result, international communication between deaf people requires the learning of a foreign sign language, in precisely the same way as with people who can hear.However, despite the clear incentives to promote multilingualism provided by the European Commission’s VET policies, very few of the projects and learning materials created over the years have taken into consideration the needs of deaf people. Their opportunities to learn foreign sign languages therefore remain severely limited, which effectively represents a major obstacle to transnational communication between deaf people and therefore a limitation of their citizenship rights, particularly in terms of free circulation.Within this context, this project aims to:a) Carry out research into foreign sign language learning needs, identifying the most urgent communication needs;b) Create a common training programme for foreign sign language learning at elementary (A1/A2) level for Portuguese, British, Turkish and Austrian sign languages (NB: on the contrary to oral language, Austrian is different from German);c) Validate these programmes in schools for the deaf located in the partner countries by means of involving sign language trainers, who will therefore play a double role as both learners and trainers;d) Promote the learning of the sign languages of the partnership among all the entities working with the project, especially among trainers, teachers and researchers in this area;e) Promote the exchange of knowledge and experience among the professionals involved and among the deaf communities in each partner country;f) Facilitate the learning of a foreign sign language directly from the native sign language, i.e. without having to subject the learner to the intermediate acquisition of the respective written languages.The GIVE ME A SIGN project will, in this way, make an important contribution towards closing the knowledge gap regarding the learning of foreign sign languages, with special emphasis on removing the additional burden of having to previously learn the respective written languages. This is itself represents a major innovation in this area. The project will therefore facilitate communication between the deaf communities across Europe and consequently open the doors to mobility for this target population, which will in turn contribute decisively towards ensuring equal opportunities. GIVE ME A SIGN also aims to promote the recognition of European sign languages as official languages of each country, and indeed as part of the national heritage of each member state in just the same way as the oral languages of the EU, this contributing towards public awareness of the value of this form of communication.In the medium term, the results of this project will subsequently serve as the foundations for a second project in which, based on the findings of our research and the resulting creation of learning programmes, the partnership will begin to create learning content and materials, with particular emphasis on mobile applications to assist the learning of foreign sign languages. This is an ideal platform, given the limitless visual possibilities of tools such as Skype or FaceTime. Our ultimate goal is therefore to work towards a situation in which the learning of foreign sign languages becomes not only much easier but also a realistic curricular option for training institutes working with deaf people, so that in the not too distant future these trainees will be able to finally participate on equal terms in transnational professional mobility initiatives. GIVE ME A SIGN is therefore expected to become a reference for the teaching and learning of foreign sign languages. On a global level, over 110 million citizens use sign languages as part of everyday communication. This number includes the deaf, their families, their teachers and auxiliaries, among many others, and is a number which cannot and should not be ignored, given the expected impact of this ground-breaking project. In addition, the dissemination of the project aimed to reach many millions more, by developing awareness among those able to hear, of the advantages not only of learning to communicate with the deaf, but also of ensuring they are included as equals in both everyday and professional life.

Tourist guide is the person who will introduce the country to domestic and foreign tourists in the best way, help them during their travels, provide accurate information, and have a professional authority certificate (TUREB 2006: 246).Especially in tourism, which is based on cultural heritage, sufficient knowledge and high quality tour guidance service should be provided (Dahles, 2002: 783).İZRO is one of the most important occupational chambers serving the tourist guides of our country.It organizes continuous face-to-face training activities for the personal and professional development of its members.The uncertainty in the working hours of the tourist guiding profession, intense and tiring working conditions, and the ignoring of the personal life, personal, professional and educational works of the guides during the organization of the tour programs are expressed as an important professional problem for tourist guides (Doswell, 1997: 3).Due to the working conditions of the members, it is generally not possible to participate in the training activities.The research carried out by İZRO in 2019 in the form of tourist guides throughout the country confirms this situation.72% of the tour guides participating in the survey study and focus group meetings stated that vocational and personal training activities should be on digital and online platforms (İZRO, Determination of Personal and Professional Development Activities, 2019).The tourism industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world.It has become an important advantage to develop new tourism types in an increasingly competitive environment and attract more tourists with new destinations.One of the most important types of tourism sector is the disabled tourism market.The European Hearing Impaired Federation (EFHOH) stated in its report titled “Hearing Loss: The Statistics” published in 2015, although it is difficult to know the exact number of hearing impaired in the world and in Europe, an estimated 9% of the population of the European Union with 507.4 million.He states that approximately 50 million people are deaf.This is a huge number and represents an important tourist potential.The tour guides who participated in the Determination of Personal and Vocational Training Activities; It is accessible for 60% of tour guides to know sign language, 60% of them encounter hearing-impaired individuals on their tours, 93% of them have communication problems with these people, 100% believe that they can communicate with these people even if they have the opportunity to learn sign language.He stated that he contributed to the idea that he would contribute to tourism completely or partially, and that 96% of the tour guides participated in the idea that tour guides would contribute to the tourism and increase the number of tourists.Our reason for preparing our project is our belief that we will produce a practical and quick solution to these needs.Our project will meet a very important need of the hearing impaired, support the participation in social and cultural life, and ensure that our country and project partner countries become competitive in the tourism market for the disabled.Our target groups are families of hearing-impaired individuals as well as hearing-impaired individuals, sign language users, hearing-guided tour guides and tourism industry.The idea of ​​our project was through output works;• An Education Management System that tour guides and other interested parties can use free of charge,• Sign language curriculum for tourism and tour guides at A1 and A2 levels,• Training materials at A1 and A2 levels,• A Tourism Sign Language Dictionary will be created in the A1 and A2 programs and in the field of tourism with frequently used signs. The titles of our management activities are as follows: A1.Project Management, A2.Dissemination, A3.Monitoring and Evaluation, A4.Activities That Will Create a Multiplier Effect. Within the scope of our project, many multiplier activities and three Multiplier Events are planned. Multiplier events activities are as follows. E1-A1 Level, E2-A2 Level Promotion and Evaluation Conference E3-''Vocational Sign Language on Tourism '' Project Promotion Conference Our project has three transnational meetings and an educational activity. M1-Opening, M2-Evaluation, M3-Final Meeting. Our training activity will be held in Portugal and the two focal points of training are as follows: a.LMS Admin Panel Management, User Panel and Technical Training b.Management TrainingOur project priorities are the disabled - special needs, open and distance education, foreign language teaching and learning. In addition, our project contributes to the overall objectives of the Erasmus + Program, especially education, the goals of the Europe 2020 Strategy, the strategic framework goals for European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020), the goals of raising European values, and multilingualism.

When Turkey Disability Survey and Turkey Employment Agency’s data are examined together, the maximum of %15 of hearing impaired individuals are capable to work and only 5% of them are employed. It can be said that, 95% of hearing impaired individuals are unemployed. The target audience of our Project is hearing impaired individuals between the ages of 18-30 who don’t have any business.The basic desire of the hearing impaired individuals is to find a respectable place in society by producing as every healthy human. To participate in their social life, depends to sustain independent living. The most important way to ensure this is employment. If hearing impaired individuals work, produce and gain, they participate in social life and get happy. Unemployment is a huge problem. The most important aim for the hearing impaired should be to remove this issue from the agenda of them. Our main reason for making this Project is to prepare a new certification program for hearing impaired individuals in order to provide employment.With this study, we will educate hearing impaired tour guides who use sign language and we will offer different job opportunities to hearing impaired people by creating a new model of vocational training. A training program is not available in this area. If appropriate educational areas are created, numerous hearing impaired people may be employed in this sector. Well trained persons with disabilities will have more opportunities to have a job. This study is a first and completely original work to open a new field of employment for hearing impaired citizens in our country. At first, the participants that we trained will work with professional tour guides as assistants. There isn’t a certificate program for hearing impaired individuals for being tour guides with cockades in our country. This certificate program will be created within our project. Project Partners:Doncaster Deaf Trust (England)Fundación Pública Andaluza el Legado Andalusí (Spain)Istituto Statale Sordi (Italy)Asociatia Tedy Bear (Romania)Turkish National Federation of the DeafChamber of the Guides of İzmir (İZRO)Buca AcademyThroughout the process, we aim to convert the certificate program that we have prepared as a tour guide of a Deaf Faculty in a university. After compilation of our project, the results that we aim to achieve can be summarized below.• Developing the Tour Guide Certificate Program” for hearing disabled.• Creating a new employment area for hearing impaired people.• To provide guidence for domestic and foreign hearing impaired individuals.• To create a workforce that can adapt to evolving technology and can struggle with the competitive market technology by giving better quality of vocational training. • Giving importance to sign language training in vocational education area.• Understanding different applications resulting from intercultural recognition.• Participants will have the opportunity learn the mother tongue and sign language of the country they visited also can explain their language and develop their foreign language.The methodology of our project can be summarized as a route map consisting of 5 steps.a. Preparation of Projectb. Conceptual Designc. Applicationd. Continuous assessment and evaluatione. Dissemination and SustainabilityOur project is a 24 months study and the operating plan adopted by all of our partners are as follows. Preparation Of General Meeting (Turkey)Preparation Of General Meeting (Spain)General Preparation MeetingSelection Of Youth Hearing Impaired PartıcipantsPreparation Of Lesson PlansBasic Turkish Sign Language EducationEnglish Language TeachingVocational Training Courses-Section 1Vocational Training Courses-Section 2 Preparation Of International Sign Language (ISL) EducationISL Training Preparation Of Evaluation Meeting and Tourism TrainingEvaluation MeetingTourism TrainingPreparations Of Vocational Training Application In Field (Aegean Region)Vocational Training Application In Field (Aegean Region)Preparations Of Vocational Training Application In Field (Abroad)Vocational Training Application In Field (Abroad )Collection Of Assessment Results, Finalization And Reporting The Study Intellectual Outputs - Preparation Of Vocational Education Certificate Program.Fulfillment of the first meeting, the distribution of tasks.Determination of Vocational and Applied Education, Foreign Language and ISL training.Determination of Norms of National Occupational Standards Determination of Qualification LevelPreparation of Intellectual Outputs BookPreparation Of Final meetings Preparation of Multiplier EventsFinal Meeting in Izmir/TurkeyMultiplier Events/ İstanbul ConferenceMultiplier Events/Ankara ConferencePreparation of the Project Booklet and Final ReportPublishing Project Booklet

The main aim of the project was to provide the deaf vocational students from all over Europe with a fully accessible visual tool to acquire better language and communication skills in both, spoken and sign language, within their profession of education – and through this also to potentiate the students’ cognitive skills and facilitates coping in the work and study environments in general. A total of 420 360-degree images were photographed in each 14 partner country in a wide diversity of vocational and work environments, form very practical to highly academic ones. In each 360 photo numerous profession specific objects were captured , that got a clickable hotspot and connection to the corresponding videos in the partner countries’ sign languages. All the photos were added to an already existing online educational tool - an international sign languages` dictionary Spreadthesign (www.spreadthesign.com). Spreadthesign is a free visual sign language dictionary on the web that started out as a Leonardo pilot project in 2006 and today it inholds more than 580.000 sign language videos from 40 countries all over Europe and beyond. Sign languages are different all around the world and there do not exist any other dictionaries of the kind, where so many different sign languages with such a huge number of entries are presented. That is why there is a need for creating, maintaining and developing further the sign language dictionary Spreadthesign. The second project aim was to support the educational needs of deaf Slovakian students by adding 15.000 sign language videos in Slovakianto the Spreadthesign dictionary and make the Slovakian Sign Language accessible to the native users of it as well as everyone else who needs to learn it as a foreign language. Adding the 360-degree photo feature to the online dictionary is truly vocational, visual and innovative, created for the deaf vocational students and their trainers, but also to all the other specialists, co-students and colleagues who need to communicate with the deaf people in any kind of professional or educational setting – this also applies for student exchange situations, where the deaf need to cope in a foreign language environment. Due to the hearing loss, the unfavourable growing-up environment (as 95-98% of the deaf children are born to the hearing parents, who don`t know any sign language themselves to be able to support the development of their child enough) and limited access to information and communication, the deaf are a disadvantaged group in need of better language skills. The 360 will facilitate their integration process to the vocabulary of their future work life, as well as their educational opportunities by helping them to learn the vocational sign language and the professional spoken language which they struggle to acquire due to the hearing loss and tend to have a huge backlog in compared to their hearing peers.Some of the general objectives were:1) To support the social inclusion and integration of the deaf and raise awareness.2) To provide equal educational opportunities to deaf and people with hearing disabilities from partner countries.3) To support vocational trainers in their work with deaf students with a freely accessible and easy to use tool.The specific objectives were:1) To enrich the on-line visual dictionary Spreadthesign with video recordings of the Slovakian Sign Language.2) To offer an open, modern and advanced platform on the web (www.spreadthesign.com), and App, for sign language learning, to people all over Europe. 4) To organise National Conferences to spread the project's products and results.These fourteen transnational partners with the relevant, but also complimentary experience, carried out the project successfully:- European Sign Language Center in Sweden- Mert Öztüre Special Education Vocational High School in Turkey- UNIVERSITAET KLAGENFURT in Ausria- Savez gluhih i nagluhih grada Zagreba in Croatia- Vyssi odborna skola, Stredni skola, Zakladni skola a Materska skola, Hradec Kralove In Czeck Republic - Kuulmispuudega Laste Õpetajate Selts in Estonia- Rheinisch-Westfälisches Berufskolleg Essen in Germany- UNIVERSITA CA' FOSCARI VENEZIA In Italy- Kauno kurciuju ir neprigirdinciuju ugdymo centras in Lithuania- Polski Zwiazek Gluchych Oddzial Lodzki in Poland- UNIVERSIDADE DO PORTO in Portugal- DeafStudio in Slovakia- UNIVERSIDAD REY JUAN CARLOS in SpainWe also got an added value to the project with three partner countries from the Eastern partnership - Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, who joined this Erasmus project too via Swedish Institute funding’s and their Baltic seed projects.