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Suburban Journals | Special Feature | Deaf storytellers perform for students
Dominic Thrist, 11, was counting down the days until the storytellers came to Becky-David Elementary School.
Thrist, a fifth-grader, can remember details from stories he heard back in first grade. So can many of his classmates, said his teacher, LaWanda Brewer.
"They're probably going to be talking about this nonstop," she said.
For the past five years, deaf storytellers have visited the school as part of the annual St. Louis Storytelling Festival. It's an event deaf and hard-of-hearing students look forward to each year. It's more than a chance for them to see stories, Brewer said, it's an opportunity for the students from different schools to meet one another and to meet adults who are like them.
Storytellers Nina Wilson, 55, of St. Louis, and Peter Cook, 48, of Chicago, told tales Thursday afternoon to about 25 deaf and hard-of-hearing students from throughout the Francis Howell School District.
Some students in the audience had hearing aids and FM transmitters, which send the voice of a person wearing a microphone to their hearing aids. Other students communicate through sign language. Both storytellers used American Sign Language and translators interpreted the sign language into spoken word.
Cook told students how they can use their body to tell stories. He hunched over, his knees wobbling as he pretended to walk with a cane.
"Guess what I am?" he said. "An old man? I didn't use my voice when I did that and I didn't sign. It's called body language. You can become anything you want through your body."
Cook recruited two third-grade boys to act out one of his stories. They had to pretend to be Cook's dirty sneakers. He had the boys make believe their arms were shoelaces. As Cook pantomimed tying his shoes, the boys twisted their arms around to simulate knots. Then Cook stomped his foot on the ground, and one of the boys jumped.
Cook told the students he became deaf at age 3, after he had spinal meningitis. He learned to sign when he was 19 and went to college.
"I loved sign," he said. "I was immersed in sign."
Cook started telling stories about 20 years ago and today tells stories to lots of people. He said he likes to get the kids involved.
"They love to play and they want to be a part of the story," he said. "At that age level they have a huge imagination. I take that and I incorporate sign language."
Cook said he tailors each performance to his audience. When he tells stories for an entirely deaf audience, he doesn't have to explain signs. But Cook will teach an audience of both hearing and deaf people or a hearing-only audience the signs for certain words.
On Thursday, he taught students the sign to use when asking for help. He pretended to be a dentist who needed the help of a postman, a secretary and a baseball team to pull out a tooth. The students volunteered to play the roles, and practiced signing, "Yes, I will help."
"It's their language," he said of the deaf and hard-of-hearing students. "I want to expose as much as I can for them, especially in a mainstream school. It's not often you have an adult model who is deaf."
Brewer, a teacher of the deaf and hard-of-hearing, said she is always looking for an opportunity to bring deaf students together. In previous years, students from Warren County, Wentzville and St. Charles School Districts have attended the storytelling event at Becky-David, but this year only students from Francis Howell gathered to eat pizza and socialize before the storytelling.
"It doesn't matter if they are oral or signing, they find a way to communicate (with each other)," she said.
Kelsi Long, 11, got to meet her pen pal - a student from another district school - for the first time during the lunch. She said she enjoyed the whole experience.
"You meet other deaf and hard-of-hearing kids," she said. "It makes you feel like you're not the only one. Sometimes you feel different."
Dominic Thrist, 11, was counting down the days until the storytellers came to Becky-David Elementary School.
Thrist, a fifth-grader, can remember details from stories he heard back in first grade. So can many of his classmates, said his teacher, LaWanda Brewer.
"They're probably going to be talking about this nonstop," she said.
For the past five years, deaf storytellers have visited the school as part of the annual St. Louis Storytelling Festival. It's an event deaf and hard-of-hearing students look forward to each year. It's more than a chance for them to see stories, Brewer said, it's an opportunity for the students from different schools to meet one another and to meet adults who are like them.
Storytellers Nina Wilson, 55, of St. Louis, and Peter Cook, 48, of Chicago, told tales Thursday afternoon to about 25 deaf and hard-of-hearing students from throughout the Francis Howell School District.
Some students in the audience had hearing aids and FM transmitters, which send the voice of a person wearing a microphone to their hearing aids. Other students communicate through sign language. Both storytellers used American Sign Language and translators interpreted the sign language into spoken word.
Cook told students how they can use their body to tell stories. He hunched over, his knees wobbling as he pretended to walk with a cane.
"Guess what I am?" he said. "An old man? I didn't use my voice when I did that and I didn't sign. It's called body language. You can become anything you want through your body."
Cook recruited two third-grade boys to act out one of his stories. They had to pretend to be Cook's dirty sneakers. He had the boys make believe their arms were shoelaces. As Cook pantomimed tying his shoes, the boys twisted their arms around to simulate knots. Then Cook stomped his foot on the ground, and one of the boys jumped.
Cook told the students he became deaf at age 3, after he had spinal meningitis. He learned to sign when he was 19 and went to college.
"I loved sign," he said. "I was immersed in sign."
Cook started telling stories about 20 years ago and today tells stories to lots of people. He said he likes to get the kids involved.
"They love to play and they want to be a part of the story," he said. "At that age level they have a huge imagination. I take that and I incorporate sign language."
Cook said he tailors each performance to his audience. When he tells stories for an entirely deaf audience, he doesn't have to explain signs. But Cook will teach an audience of both hearing and deaf people or a hearing-only audience the signs for certain words.
On Thursday, he taught students the sign to use when asking for help. He pretended to be a dentist who needed the help of a postman, a secretary and a baseball team to pull out a tooth. The students volunteered to play the roles, and practiced signing, "Yes, I will help."
"It's their language," he said of the deaf and hard-of-hearing students. "I want to expose as much as I can for them, especially in a mainstream school. It's not often you have an adult model who is deaf."
Brewer, a teacher of the deaf and hard-of-hearing, said she is always looking for an opportunity to bring deaf students together. In previous years, students from Warren County, Wentzville and St. Charles School Districts have attended the storytelling event at Becky-David, but this year only students from Francis Howell gathered to eat pizza and socialize before the storytelling.
"It doesn't matter if they are oral or signing, they find a way to communicate (with each other)," she said.
Kelsi Long, 11, got to meet her pen pal - a student from another district school - for the first time during the lunch. She said she enjoyed the whole experience.
"You meet other deaf and hard-of-hearing kids," she said. "It makes you feel like you're not the only one. Sometimes you feel different."