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SASL Star: Annemarie Le Roux

22 September 2021 | Story Michelle Nöthling | Photo Supplied

“I love working with children.” This is one of the first things Annemarie le Roux mentions when asked to describe herself. This love for children propelled Annemarie into the field of education and she graduated in 2006 with a BEd in Foundation Phase at the UFS. Annemarie immediately immersed herself in the Deaf community, enriching the lives of children at the Thiboloha School for the Deaf in Qwaqwa and the De la Bat School for the Deaf in Worcester.

The academic world enticed Annemarie back to the University of the Free State (UFS) and she was appointed as a junior lecturer in the Department of South African Sign Language (SASL) and Deaf Studies in 2013. Going from strength to strength, Annemarie completed her master’s degree in SASL in 2019, and published an article earlier this year that she co-wrote with Marga Stander. In this article, they found that SASL “has become an increasingly popular language that hearing university students want to learn as a second language” and subsequently explored different teaching methods used for this emerging group of interested students.

Although now firmly established in academia, Annemarie is still committed to the practical application of SASL. “I am closely involved in student and community engagement through the SIGNALS Sign Language student association that helps empower the Deaf community and South African Sign Language.” She also interprets for the Deaf community whenever she gets an opportunity, as well as for Deaf students in class and meetings.

On the importance of Sign Language and the recognition of the Deaf community in South Africa, Annemarie believes it will open greater opportunities for development. “More people will be able to learn SASL, and it might even become a subject in school for hearing children.”

News Archive

Prof. Van Coller elected as member of ASSAF

2010-11-08

Prof. Hennie van Coller

After he had been nominated by Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS), Prof. Hennie van Coller, Head of the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French, was elected as a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAF).

ASSAF consists of approximately 340 members and Prof. Van Coller is proud to be the only Afrikaans literator amongst the members. Apart from Prof. Dingie Janse van Rensburg, who retired earlier this year, Prof. Van Coller is also the only staff member of the UFS’s Faculty of the Humanities who is a member of ASSAF.

Prof. Van Coller is a former Chairperson of the South African Academy for Science and Art and states that his membership of ASSAF proves that a good relationship and collaboration exist amongst the academies for the benefit of science.

The academy’s core function requires that the country’s most outstanding academics be honoured as members. With that in mind, Prof. Van Coller’s research and contribution to Afrikaans literature were not in vain. “Recognition cannot be bought, and therefore recognition by one’s peers in particular is very precious,” said Prof. Van Coller.
– Lize du Plessis

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