The deaf community in the Municipal Library of Jerez de la Frontera with “Tales to See and Listen to”

Abstract

In May 2022, the activity ‘Tales to See and Listen to’ was resumed after the pandemic in its sixth edition. This article attempts to bring together the aspects of the meeting that took place in the children's and youth literature room of the Municipal Library of Jerez de la Frontera. Previous to this meeting, was the creation, in 2018, of a reading and writing corner at the Association of Deaf People of Jerez de la Frontera (APESORJE) in collaboration with entities from Cadiz and which is supported by projects, events and activities that combine spoken and signed language. The main objective is linked to the fourth objective of sustainable development, on the premises of Quality Education, interweaving linguistic normalization with literate culture in the deaf and hearing school population (CNLSE, 2020; Esteban Saiz, 2021). Hence, in the process, it was decided to prepare a review of the dynamics and didactic proposals aimed at removing barriers in communication. The selection of works was related to their availability and the cultural background of the public attending the storytelling ‘Tales to See and Listen to’. It was reinforced with online resources to support the understanding of oral and signed narrative discourse. Likewise, a booklet of homework activities was prepared as an extension of the literary experience of those meetings. In these pages we describe a proposal for an extracurricular action with the involvement of Education students from the University of Cádiz, sign language interpreters from the Association, surrounding schools (especially Infant and Primary), and member families of the Jerez Municipal Library. It shows how the collaboration between agents and the involvement of families is key to artistic and literary socio-cultural proposals in which experiences of encouraging reading coexist in oral and signed communication.