A total of 16 hearing-impaired children from Da Nang and its neighbouring localities are now attending a free-of-charge learn to swim course at the Ly Cong Uan Primary School.

The hearing-impaired children learning how to swim

The course, the first of its kind in the city, is being jointly organised by the municipal Department of Education and Training, the Support Centre for the Deaf in Central Viet Nam, and the Assemblies of God/World Relief (AOGWR) from Australia.

The course consists of 20 lessons, and the trainees will be granted certificates once they finish their studies.

With the help of sign language interpreters, the disadvantaged children are being taught how to swim and cope with dangers in water, especially keeping themselves away from drowning accidents.
During this special course, the hearing-impaired children feel very excited to learn how to swim.

Mr Phan Thanh Son, the maternal grandfather of a 7-year-old participant who is deaf from birth, gave high praise for this meaningful course whose trainees have the opportunity to enhance their physical strength, learn to swim, and develop water safety techniques to reduce their risk of drowning. Importantly, the disadvantaged become refreshed and more energetic when attending this course.

Trainers wholeheartedly teach the children such basic swimming skills as backstroke, breathing and floating during a particular period of time.

Physical education teacher Nguyen Duc Tu from the Nui Thanh Primary School, one of the course’s trainers, said it takes him much more time to teach the hearing-impaired than the able-bodied.

Regardless of the hardship, Tu and other trainers, with their deep sympathy for the disadvantaged, take the trouble to inspire them to become more actively engaged in swimming lessons.

All the participants strictly comply with the trainers’ instructions, and practice diligently.

Checking the attendance of the trainees before and after the courses is being strictly implemented to ensure their ultimate safety. 

Mr Kelvin Windsor, a representative from AOGWR Viet Nam, underlined the great significance of such a learn to swim course in helping disabled children access vital survival skills, hereby keeping themselves away from being injured and drowned.

He said more similar courses will be opened for hearing-impaired children in the coming time.

In particular, swimming instructors will learn more how to use sign languages to effectively communicate with the hearing-impaired without the help of interpreters as currently.

Apart from funding learn to swim courses, AOGWR Viet Nam will assist 3 primary schools in the districts of Ngu Hanh Son and Hoa Vang to build movable swimming pools for their pupils.

It is easy and convenient to disassemble these pools and move them to different locations.

According to Mr Ngo Ngoc Hoang Vuong, a manager from the municipal Department of Education and Training, apart from offering swimming courses for the hearing-impaired, a total of about 30,000 able-bodied pupils are attending similar ones during their ongoing summer break.