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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

UFS holds memorial service for Prof Benito Khotseng
2015-01-09

Prof Benito Khotseng

The management of the University of the Free State is saddened by the passing away of Prof Benito Khotseng, former Vice-Rector: Student Affairs at the UFS.

Prof Khotseng died from a heart disease on Sunday 4 January 2015 at the age of 67.
He joined the University of the Free State as a senior manager more than two decades ago.

According to family and colleagues, his death has left a void in the education fraternity.

Prof Kalie Strydom, who has been a colleague of Prof Khotseng for more than 20 years, described him as a principled leader who did not promote and argue educational issues in his own interest.

“His focus was never on benefitting opportunistically in the short term, whether professionally or financially. I had the privilege of participating with Benito in many meetings and fundraising efforts where the correct values/principles and the organisations/institutions for which he worked benefitted, but other than so often happens in life, Benito did not benefit personally. We celebrate him forever, though with tears in our eyes.”

A memorial service for Prof Khotseng will be held at the UFS’s Bloemfontein Campus:

Monday 12 January 2015
10:00
Albert Wessels Auditorium, Bloemfontein Campus, UFS

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