Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
22 September 2021 | Story Michelle Nöthling | Photo Supplied
Annemarie Le Roux.

“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

A platform for students by students: Nkanyezi talk @ ufs to be launched on Monday 13 May 2013
2013-05-07

07 May 2013

A group of students from the university took the initiative to create a platform dealing with issues that affect them.

Mr Tate Makgoe, Free State MEC for Education, and Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector, will meet with students at the launch of this initiative on Monday 13 May 2013. The topic of the discussion will be: “The importance of an educated nation.” Prof Dennis Francis, Dean of the Faculty of Education, will be joining the conversation as well.

Bongani Zwane, coordinator of the initiative, said Nkanyezi talk @ ufs will give students a platform to voice their thoughts and ideas about issues affecting them during and after their university life. “We want to equip students on how to think, argue and reason like 21st century graduates. We hope to achieve this by having a regular panel discussion with experts as guests to help us understand and tackle local and global issues that affect us as students.”

Join the Nkanyezi talk @ ufs launch in the CR Swart Auditorium

Date: Monday 13 May 2013

Time: 17:30–18:30

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept