Social Mission
SLCO Community Resources Limited (“SLCO-CR”) is dedicated to providing sign bilingual development programmes and social enterprise projects based on linguistic research and front-line experience, to enhance the language, cognitive, communication and social abilities of those in need and to promote Sign Bilingualism in communication, education and social inclusion, with the goal of building a diversified and inclusive society without communication barriers.
Business Model
The major service programme of SLCO-CR is “Fun with Sign and Speech (FS2) – Early Sign Bilingual Development Programme 雙語樂-早期手語雙語發展計劃”, a preschool parent-child language development programme targeted at families with deaf and hearing children aged 0-6 years old.
The aim of the programme is to help children with hearing impairment build up language foundation through sign bilingual language activities. The children’s parents will also attend the classes and learn sign language with their kids in order to facilitate parent-child interactions and communication. The classes also enroll hearing children and children with special education needs, demonstrating how cross-modal (auditory and visual mode of communication) bilingual input could contribute to children’s overall development and social inclusion. The Programme consists of the Baby Sign Bilingual Class (for families with children aged 0-3 years old); and the Sign Bilingual Reading Class and Parent Signing Class (for families with children aged 3-6 years old). Every class of the programme is led by one hearing instructor and one deaf instructor co-teaching using spoken language (Cantonese/English) and signed language (Hong Kong Sign Language) respectively.
The Programme will also develop a learning package in Chinese and Hong Kong Sign Languages. It will consist of illustrated stories, flash cards, story-based activities and sign language videos to help parents and children to learn sign language with ease. The learning materials will be available for sale after research and development.
Founding Team
Prof. Gladys TANG, Director; Mr. Chris YIU, Director;
Mr. Raymond WONG, Project Officer; Ms Ham CHU, Assistant Project Officer
Impact
Expected Impact of “FS2 – Early Sign Bilingual Development Programme”:
- Enhanced social integration for hearing-impaired children
- 125 families with hearing-impaired children and 283 hearing/SEN families to be benefited by the FS2
- 500 families to be benefited by the learning package
Project with Students
The Company is proposing projects in the following areas, depending on the expertise and interest of the students:
- Developing a marketing campaign for the promotion of the “Fun with Sign and Speech (FS2 )– Early Sign Bilingual Development Programme”
- Market research for the production of the FS2 sign bilingual learning package
- Developing a business plan for a new service line involving sign language teaching to specific businesses, e.g. customer services, catering, etc.