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This print is from the
National Film and Television Archive

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Monday's child is fair of face,

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Tuesday's child is full of grace,

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Wednesday's child is full of woe,

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Thursday's child has far to go.

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THURSDAY'S CHILDREN

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Dennis will be father,

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June will be mother.

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Janet is going to
give baby a bath,

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and Alan will fetch the water.

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This is the way we play.
This is the way we start our lessons.

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Every morning, at 9 o'clock, we
come in and we find our chairs.

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Our teacher is
called Miss Taylor.

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She looks after us when we are in school,
and she gives us all our lessons.

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There are different lessons every day, but
every morning starts in the same way.

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Bless...

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us...

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all...

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But we do not hear Miss Taylor.

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We watch her speaking...

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but we do not hear anything...

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because we are deaf.

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Alan is deaf.

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When he was 3,
he had meningitis.

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Since then, the world has
been a silent place for him.

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In this classroom, only
Miss Taylor can hear.

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To Robert and Rosemary, there
is no such thing as a sound,

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no such thing as language.

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They don't even know
what a word is.

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Without words...

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there can be no thoughts,

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only feelings with nothing
to join them together.

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What is a prayer to John?

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How can he know what a prayer is if
he doesn't even know what a word is?

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The first thing is to
give him some words.

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So we start with
a game for John,

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who does not know
what a word is.

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And for Rosemary, who has
never heard a sound.

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They have never been
to school before.

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Joan and Brian have
been here a year,

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and they know that
to win this game,

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you've got to watch
Miss Taylor's lips.

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For Robert, a shoe
will never be a shoe.

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It will just be:

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Now, the game begins.

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And, first of all, it is John who is
going to come to try to learn a word.

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Which of all these
toys does she mean?

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It's hard to tell just from
the way she moves her lips.

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This time John has to be helped.

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But one day he'll learn
that that movement means,

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"a doll."

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When he's played this
game as often as Joan.

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Things you pick up have names,

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and so have things you do.

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At first, this is
difficult to understand.

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Miss Taylor's lips tell
Rosemary nothing...

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but Brian has learned
what "jump" means.

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Brian has learned to lip-read.

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So, Brian falls...

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and Joan runs...

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and Robert walks...

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and Joan loves Brian.

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Now, it's John's turn again.

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John knows what his
word looks like,

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but he isn't sure what it means.

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Perhaps, it's the same as Brian's.

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Who can tell John
what "washing" means?

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So, John learns what
"washing" means,

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and "falling," and "jumping,"
and "walking," and "loving."

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He is beginning to
understand what words are.

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You can talk to him and he
will know what you are doing.

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Soon, when he's a bit older,

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there'll be a new game to
learn, and a harder one.

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These children are going to learn
how to make words themselves.

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This is a game...
called "Speech."

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We learn words by
imitating sounds,

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when we are too
young even to know.

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If you've never heard a
sound, you can't imitate one.

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These children have to be
shown what sound looks like.

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There are all kinds
of games that help.

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When you want to
make other letters,

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you have to start
using your voice.

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You can't do it by hearing,

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so you do it by feeling.

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Miss Taylor speaks and
the balloon vibrates,

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and you catch the
feelings on your fingers.

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Your fingers must be ears to catch that
voice and send it back to Miss Taylor.

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Speech is coming.

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And there are other games:

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Miss Taylor holds
your hand on a cheek,

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and you can feel the sound.

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And all the time,

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you are getting
nearer and nearer...

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to words.

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Bath.

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These children are starting
to pass through the door

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that silence has put between
them and the world outside.

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They are beginning to
understand each other.

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Father...

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fell.

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Baby...

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Father...

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jumped.

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The...

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The boy...

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jumped.

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The great thing is a
letter from home.

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Dennis can't read his
letter by himself,

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but he knows what it is
and where it's from.

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and he can take it
to Miss Taylor,

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and she can put it in the
simple words he knows.

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So, Dennis will know that
his Mother and Father,

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and his brothers and sisters,
who are not deaf,

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have not forgotten him.

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Dear Dennis,

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I hope you are well...

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Mother will send you a parcel.

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Baby Irene sat in the pram.

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Sometimes, Miss Taylor
will make a mistake,

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but Dennis will not be caught.

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Brother Ray has 12 rabbits.

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That's Father rabbit...

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that's Mother rabbit.

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Love from Mummy and Daddy.

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By the time they are 6 or 7,
these children

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are still a long way behind
children who can hear.

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They still don't
know many words...

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and it's only through words that their minds
can grow and reach out into the world.

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But they have started to
work together, and work...

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is a more serious business now.

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Miss Massey's children are beginning
to know where they are in the world.

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Is it Wednesday?

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- Thursday.
- Thurs... day.

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Is it the seventh?

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- No.
- No.

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- Eighth.
- Eighth.

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Eighth.

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No! No!

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Shall I rub it off?

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- No!
- No!

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Little Black Sambo has taken
the children's fancy.

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They only met him yesterday when Miss Massey
told them his story for the first time.

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They can follow a story now,

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retold in the words they know.

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For even a simpler story has words
that are new to these children.

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A beautiful green umbrella.

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Umbrella.

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But best of all,
like any children,

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they like to take parts in a
story and act it for themselves.

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Black Jumbo gave
Little Black Sambo...

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a beautiful green umbrella.

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Black Mumbo gave
Little Black Sambo...

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a lovely little pair
of purple shoes.

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Then, Black Sambo put on his
beautiful little red coat.

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Then, he went for a
walk in the jungle.

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There were tigers in the jungle.

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The tigers were very fierce!

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Little Black Sambo wasn't
afraid of the tigers.

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Little Black Sambo
was very grand!

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That is why nobody wants to
lose Little Black Sambo.

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- Don't you want me to rub it off?
- No!

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All right, I'll leave it on, then.

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Every story and every game
like this is a lesson as well,

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giving the children more words
and more understanding.

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Lip-reading must become
instinctive to them,

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as natural as hearing.

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Morris!

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Tell Morris.

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Morris, please fetch the mirrors.

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All the time, Miss Massey is drawing
the children out of themselves

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into the life of the class,

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getting them used to the idea
of doing things on their own.

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It is Linda's turn to
give the mirrors round.

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She's quite aware of
what Miss Massey wants,

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and quite aware of why
Catherine is making a fuss:

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she doesn't want just any mirror,

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she wants her own mirror.

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The mirrors are for speech.

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By this time, learning to
speak is less like play,

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and more like work.

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And so you start to recognise
what sounds look like

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when you are making them yourself.

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But a mirror can't
show you how to speak.

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There must be someone to help.

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Choosing the words that have come
up in class, perhaps in the story,

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Miss Massey sets to
work, day after day,

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to give her children speech,

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showing them the shapes
their mouths must make,

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making them feel the
sound of a voice.

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Black.

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Black.

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Jumbo.

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Jumbo.

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When someone speaks to you,
it's natural to watch their eyes.

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Deaf children have to
learn to watch mouths.

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Little Black Sambo.

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Black.

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- Black.
- Black.

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Sambo.

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A beautiful green umbrella.

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Over and over, the
sounds must be repeated.

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A word comes very slowly

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when you can only get it
right by remembering exactly

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what it feels like
when you say it.

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Beautiful.

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Beautiful.

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Get it there.

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Not in your nose.

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That's it.

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Beautiful.

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A beautiful...

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green umbrella.

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So, sounds grow to words,

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and words grow to phrases.

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And Catherine is going
to say a sentence.

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Who is that?

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Little Black Sambo.

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What is that?

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00:18:10,037 --> 00:18:14,818
Only one out of every three children who
are deaf can hope to achieve real speech.

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They must be given strength and
devotion from the outside.

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And they must have devotion
and strength themselves.

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Like Catherine.

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Little Black...

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Sambo...

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had a...

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beautiful...

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00:18:34,638 --> 00:18:36,185
green...

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00:18:36,467 --> 00:18:39,701
- Umbrella.
- That's right!

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00:18:44,481 --> 00:18:46,927
Only one deaf child in three

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will achieve real speech.

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Little Black Sambo.

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"Thursday's child has far to go."

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Four years old seems early to be
leaving home to go to school.

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But for these children,

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school is the safest and happiest way
of learning to live with other people.

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So, they learn together,

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and live together.

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As they live, they learn.

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Linda will find a place in life,
she is the managing kind.

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John and Rosemary are already getting
used to their first term at school

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and starting to look outside
themselves and enjoying what they see.

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Faces become brighter when there
is understanding in them.

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Eyes and hands are lively,

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expressing what
words cannot say.

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00:20:45,079 --> 00:20:49,344
And after time, you find that you can
use some of the words you have learned.

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These children are being saved
from the worst enemy of the deaf:

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from being alone...

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cut off in silence.

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There are many good things in life
that these children can never have:

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they will never hear music
or the sound of a voice.

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They will find that the world
outside is often in a hurry,

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and that luckier people,
who have hearing,

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are often impatient with
those who have none.

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00:21:17,029 --> 00:21:19,232
But these children will
not be unprepared.

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00:21:20,209 --> 00:21:21,740
There is a spirit in them,

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which will make up for some of the
good things they've got to miss.

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Their world will never be
the same as our world.

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00:21:29,982 --> 00:21:32,794
But it can be a good
world all the same.

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00:21:54,865 --> 00:21:57,318
Subtitles audio transcription by
johnnydeep