On September 26th-28th, the 25th congress of the European Federation of Associations of Teachers of the Deaf (FEAPDA) took place in Skopje, the capital of North-Macedonia. The topic of the congress was “Preparing deaf learners for life and independence” and it attracted participants from 16 different countries from all over Europe, including Estonia.

Alison Weaver, the president of FEAPDA, holding a speech 

A moment from the congress

During the congress days, the representatives of FEAPDA also had a chance to meet Stevo Pendarovski, the president of North-Macedonia. From KLÕPS, Raili Loit attended the reception.

The representatives of FEAPDA at the presidental reception

After the congress there was also held a FEAPDA council meeting, where the changes to the organisation`s constitution were approved and the decision about the next congress was made. The next congress will take place in Tallinn, Estonia in 2021.

The abstracts of all the presentations are accessible on the FEAPDA website, where you can also find a photo gallery of the event: https://www.feapdacongress2019.org/ 

On October 8th-10th, the Spreadthesign partners from 14 different countries had a work meeting in Slovakia, Prešov. The main focus was on discussing the 360-degrees feature in our dictionary, but we also had some time to get to know about the Slovakian history, culture and Deaf education.

From KLÕPS, Kadri Hein-Loik, Mari-Liis Ungerson and Raili Loit attended the meeting and hold presentations about the work progress within the Estonian team, mapping of the 360-degree pictures and documenting the work.

The meeting was very productive and interesting and as always, it was heartwarming to see and talk to everyone again!

KLÕPS as an organisation has been a partner of Spreadthesign since 2015, but most of the Estonian team members have been involved in the work since 2012 already.

A group photo from the meeting

A new e-book for learning basic signs in Estonian Sign Language has been published. The book is meant for small Deaf children and their parents to improve and ease the communication in everyday situations. It includes a vocabulary for simple everyday activities, equipped with thematical audio and video files.

The book can be found (via Google Chrome brauser) at: https://read.bookcreator.com/laSFKxrMRvaSZ6DPSKrlBdgT4SL2/69wVGx9zRaKxSW2AFgLMnQ

Thank you for the support to Tallinna Sotsiaal- ja Tervishoiuamet!