About Helen Keller.
Helen Keller.
Helen Keller was born on june27, 1880 on Tuscumbia, Alabama, a Southern state in North America. She was the first of two daughters born to Captain Arthur Keller and Katherine Adams Keller . Her younger sister was Mildred. The family was well-
connected on both sides. Arthur Keller had served as an officer in the Confederate Army during the Civil War - the war that ended slavery in America ------ and owned a cotton plantation.
Helen was like any other child for the first eighteen months of her life but in February 1882 she had a "brain fever" that made her lose her sight and hearing. Helen was thrown into dark, silent world where she was cut off from her surroundings. Her parents did not know how to handle her fits of anger. Neither could they help their daughter with her condition.
Helen did manage to communicate some basic words and phrases, but this was hardly enough for a growing child. Her fits of rage became worse as she grew older and her frustration at being unable to communicate grew stronger.
In sheer despair, Helen's father consulted various eye doctors to find a solution. But nothing could be done. Finally, Alexander Graham Bell, an expert in the problems of the blind and deaf advised them to contact the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston. And this is how Anne Sullivan became Helen's teacher - a relationship that lasted forty-nine years.
Sullivan was innovative, loving and wonderfully patient. She understood the needs of her pupil. She immediately realized that Helen lacked social skills. So she asked Helen's parents to let her stay with Helen in the cottage. And here, she trained Helen to control her temper and
practice good manners. At the same time,
she showed Helen how to enjoy the world around her. The home-schooling was not easy and Helen disliked the strict routine at first. Yet Sullivan succeeded in breaking down the barriers that confined Helen. Sullivan adapted teaching strategies to suit Helen's need and her nature.
Once Helen realised the value of her education, her desire for knowledge onlyvgrew. She learnt the names of everything around her. Sullivan matched Helen's zest for learning with her own
eagerness to teach. She opened up the world in terms that Helen could understand. She also introduced Helen to Greek and Roman classics and to English literature .
But such informal teaching had it's limitation and Helen was eager to attend regular school and college with Sullivan as her interpreter. Her ultimate aim was to learn to speak so that others could understand her. Helen worked incredibly hard for twenty-five years to master speech. She had to learn several other methods of communication like touch-lip reading, Braille, finger-spelling and typing.
In 1890, Helen went to the Horace Mann School for the deaf in Boston to improve her communication skills. In 1896, she went to the Cambridge School for Young Ladies to prepare for a college entrance examination.
Around this time, Helen became well-known for overcoming her disadvantages, and came into contact with some famous people. One of them was Mark Twain, the American writer. Twain's friend, Henry H. Rogers was so impressed with Helen's
determination thatcher paid for her college education. That is how she entered Radcliffe College. Anne Sullivan accompanied her, to interpret lectures and texts. Helen graduated from college in 1904 when she was twenty-four.
During bet second year at Radcliffe Helen wrote THE STORY OF MY LIFE - her transformation from child to a college student.
After graduation, Helen became a social activist, setting out to improve the lives of people with disabilities. She toured the country lecturing to eager audience. She set up many organisations for the blind and raised funds through her lecture tours to support them.
Helen Keller died in 1968 when she was eighty-seven years old.
In sheer despair, Helen's father consulted various eye doctors to find a solution. But nothing could be done. Finally, Alexander Graham Bell, an expert in the problems of the blind and deaf advised them to contact the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston. And this is how Anne Sullivan became Helen's teacher - a relationship that lasted forty-nine years.
Sullivan was innovative, loving and wonderfully patient. She understood the needs of her pupil. She immediately realized that Helen lacked social skills. So she asked Helen's parents to let her stay with Helen in the cottage. And here, she trained Helen to control her temper and
Once Helen realised the value of her education, her desire for knowledge onlyvgrew. She learnt the names of everything around her. Sullivan matched Helen's zest for learning with her own
But such informal teaching had it's limitation and Helen was eager to attend regular school and college with Sullivan as her interpreter. Her ultimate aim was to learn to speak so that others could understand her. Helen worked incredibly hard for twenty-five years to master speech. She had to learn several other methods of communication like touch-lip reading, Braille, finger-spelling and typing.
In 1890, Helen went to the Horace Mann School for the deaf in Boston to improve her communication skills. In 1896, she went to the Cambridge School for Young Ladies to prepare for a college entrance examination.
Around this time, Helen became well-known for overcoming her disadvantages, and came into contact with some famous people. One of them was Mark Twain, the American writer. Twain's friend, Henry H. Rogers was so impressed with Helen's
During bet second year at Radcliffe Helen wrote THE STORY OF MY LIFE - her transformation from child to a college student.
After graduation, Helen became a social activist, setting out to improve the lives of people with disabilities. She toured the country lecturing to eager audience. She set up many organisations for the blind and raised funds through her lecture tours to support them.
Helen Keller died in 1968 when she was eighty-seven years old.
Really helpful
ReplyDelete