| The story of Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller is the story of a dedicated teacher and an eager student. |
| This story is very remarkable and inspiring because the teaching was done without sight and without sound. |
| Helen Keller was born in the American state of Alabama in 1880. |
| She was a happy and healthy baby, but before she reached the age of two, |
| she was struck by a severe fever. |
| As a result of this fever, she became both deaf and blind. |
| After her illness, the young Helen Keller learned to use her other senses. |
| For example, she touched other people’s hands to figure out what they were doing. |
| In this way, she also learned that people could communicate by moving their lips. |
| Helen could not talk; |
| instead, she communicated with her family by making sign movements with her hands and body. |
| However, Helen became very frustrated by her inability to see, hear, and talk. |
| She often became very angry and had many “temper tantrums”. |
| When Helen Keller was six years old, her family took her to see Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, |
| who was an expert on educating deaf children. |
| (This man was also famous for inventing the telephone). |
| As a result of this visit, Helen’s parents hired a tutor for their daughter. |
| The tutor was a very intelligent deaf woman named Anne Sullivan. |
| At first, it was difficult to teach Helen because she still made many angry outbursts. |
| Gradually, Anne Sullivan gained Helen’s trust. |
| One day, Anne began to teach Helen to communicate. |
| Anne took Helen to a well and pumped some water onto Helen’s hand. |
| Then, Anne used her finger to write the letters “WATER” onto Helen’s hand. |
| By repeating this, Anne was able to teach Helen how to write the word “water”. |
| As soon as Helen learned that things could be named in this way, |
| she wanted to learn the names of many other objects and actions. |
| She was curious about many things, and learned a great number of words. |
| She also learned to read by using the Braille alphabet. |
| This alphabet allows the reader to feel letters and words, |
| which are represented by bumps on a page. |
| Also, Helen learned to talk by feeling and then copying the movements of people’s mouths. |
| When Helen Keller was 16 years old, Anne Sullivan went with her to college. |
| Anne acted as Helen’s interpreter, and Helen was very successful in her studies. |
| After her graduation, Helen dedicated her life to improving conditions for the blind, the deaf, and the poor. |
| Anne Sullivan died in 1936 and was remembered as the “Miracle Worker” for her triumph in educating Helen Keller. |
| After Anne’s death, Helen continued to give lectures in countries around the world, |
| and was active in many political causes. |
| She met with presidents and prime ministers, and helped to improve conditions for people who were deaf or blind. |
| At the time of her death, in 1968, Helen Keller was one of the most admired people in the world. |
