Sunday 8 September 2013

In The story of My Life by Helen Keller, how was Helen as a learner?

In The Story of My Life, Helen Keller describes herself as an avid learner. As soon as she got the language connection at the pump, she began learning words as quickly as possible. She sought out these words so she could communicate about people and things in her environment. 


Aside from language, Helen also had a curiosity about the world. The book describes her many adventures in learning, facilitated by a teacher who wanted...

In The Story of My Life, Helen Keller describes herself as an avid learner. As soon as she got the language connection at the pump, she began learning words as quickly as possible. She sought out these words so she could communicate about people and things in her environment. 


Aside from language, Helen also had a curiosity about the world. The book describes her many adventures in learning, facilitated by a teacher who wanted her to learn. 


Helen did not shy away from a learning challenge. It is difficult for a sighted deaf person to learn to speak and more so for a blind and deaf person. But Helen set a goal of learning to speak, and she did. 


It was very unusual for women to go to college, but Harvard had established a college for women, Radcliffe, and Helen went there. Going to college was difficult because none of the textbooks were in Braille. Someone had to read each text and finger spell each word in Helen's hand. 


There are two factors that contribute to the fascination with Helen Keller's story: one is the desire of Annie Sullivan to teach Helen. She worked hard to figure out how to reach Helen and then how to give Helen rich learning experiences. The other was Helen's insatiable desire to learn. 

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