Jean Lethbridge

My name is Jean Lethbridge and I have been deaf from birth. I was born in Totnes and lived there until I was seven, after when my family moved to Exminster.

I then attended The Royal School for the Deaf in Exeter, leaving at 16 to start work as a data processor for the Trustee Savings Bank in Bedford Street, Exeter.

I moved to Plymouth in 1976, when I married my husband Andrew, who is now retired but was employed at Princess Yachts International plc.

Andrew and I have two grown up sons. My husband and one of our sons are also deaf, and we all use British Sign Language everyday as our means of communication. My family and I live in the Eggbuckland area of Plymouth.

In addition to using BSL, I am very good at lip reading because my parents, brothers and sisters are not deaf and did not possess BSL skills when I was a child.

I have been a Tutor of British Sign Language since 1984, and I teach for both the Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People and the British Deaf Association.

I have attended various courses and achieved many qualifications over the years. They include British Sign Language Teacher Agency, City and Guilds and my Certificate in Education. I have also completed CACDP Curriculum Training for BSL Level I, II and III, and BDA Curriculum and Assessor Training for BDA Introduction, Foundation and Intermediate Levels. I am looking forward to raising my teaching levels, and hope in the near future to be able to teach BSL at Advanced Level.

Since 1992, I have been employed by the Plymouth City Council teaching at Eggbuckland Community College. Since 1986, I have also been teaching with the Workers Educational Association.

I believe that a point has come in my life where I need new challenges, and relish a change of direction in my teaching career. To this end, I have taken up the opportunity to work with Paul Craven and Sue Bevans in running our own school. This allows me to continue working within the Deaf community teaching BSL, but also provides the challenge of jointly running a business with my two colleagues and friends.

I hope that, in the long run, I will be able to continue to promote BSL; not only as a language skill but as a subject others may eventually teach and thereby leave this rich and beneficial language as a legacy for the future.