Thursday's Children

Won the Academy Award for the Best Documentary Short of 1954. The subject deals with the children at The Royal School for the Deaf in Margate, Kent. The hearing-handicapped children are shown painstakingly learning what words are through exercises and games, practicing lip-reading and finally speech. Richard Burton's calm and sometimes-poetic narration adds to the heartwarming cheerfulness and courage of the children.

Richard Burton gently but passionately narrates this informative documentary that follows a group of young children at school. It's not clear from the start but quickly we are told that they are deaf. Some since birth, some through illnesses like meningitis, but all join together in a class room where the teachers take a very personal approach to introducing the alien concepts of vowels and words using techniques that seem simple to watch but prove remarkably effective - and fun. Toys, cartoons, mirrors, symbols and a balloon to illustrate the principles of reverberation all work well and the professionals here exhibit a remarkable degree of patience with their willing and enthusiastic students. There are a few scenes where the audience is invited to follow the lip-reading. Have a go! I couldn't understand a thing yet these children, as they grew older and more accomplished, dealt with it easily. A few of the teaching strands might not work so well nowadays, but the emphasis on getting these people onto the communications ladder transcends out-dated attitudes and delivers an engaging and authentic study of education at it's most relevant.