Miss-Delectable
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Signing 'Nemo' at Olympia High School - Henrietta, NY - Henrietta Post
Taylor Rodwell stands on the edge of the stage at Greece Olympia High School, signing to friend Alexandrea Rambali next to the risers. Their hands move rapidly, and other students mill on stage waiting for direction as they rehearse a stage setting of “Finding Nemo.”
Teacher Sharon Duffy says, verbally, to have students take their places and perform from the top. Offstage students begin reading the script, and half-costumed performers on stage sign along.
Not everyone here is deaf. But they’re all students in Duffy’s American sign language classes, and their love of the language goes beyond the classroom into the ASL Club.
“I think they’re just incredible passionate to be here, for the time and effort they’re putting into these shows,” Duffy said. “The students are so dedicated to it and willing to stay and work for the group.”
The play’s the thing
Around two dozen students who take class with Duffy perform in the show. It’s an extracurricular in the truest sense of the word — no budget, no funding, no extra credit, just a pursuit.
Often, Duffy said, the students are there until 7 p.m. or later. She’s right there with them, helping clarify signs and call the shots like any director might.
To Duffy, it’s clear the play practice helps their learning of the language — and it offers a creative outlet. Rambali says signing on stage is tougher than being an actor, without having a voice and inflection to rely on.
“You have to have a bigger presence than a normal actor,” she said. “If you want everyone to look at you while you’re signing, you have to have a big presence on stage.”
But this group is well-seasoned to pull it off. In April, students competed in the University of Rochester’s “Sign Idol” competition, and won the top three spots and an honorable mention. They also do an annual variety show, performing in sign to pop tunes.
In fact, the expression needed for sound language is one of the biggest draws for students.
“It’s not just spelling out words and using signs for things,” Duffy said. “It’s also using your hands shapes in response to what things look like.”
For example, in “Finding Nemo” signs that would normally indicate a person as the subject of a thought are replaced by flat, bending hands to resemble a fish.
Unity and community
Rodwell graduated from Olympia last year, but returns to help out with the ASL Club. After “falling in love” with the language in Duffy’s classroom, Rodwell plans to become a professional interpreter.
Jason Clarke was enrolled in Italian when Duffy, his advisement teacher, introduced him to sign language and now pursues both courses of study. He, along with his fellow club members, say they often see deaf people out in the community and have common interactions — like saying “Thank you” to a grocery store cashier.
“I’m always using sign language in the real world,” Clarke said.
Duffy is sure to introduce the students to Rochester’s deaf community — which is tight-knit and much larger than the populations in similar sized cities. That’s in part due to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology.
“It brings an international community to Rochester,” Duffy said. “New York state actually have five or six schools for the deaf, other states typically would only have one, or even none, unfortunately.”
Students enroll for a variety of reasons — maybe a family member is deaf or losing hearing abilities, or a close friend. Or maybe, they just want to be different.
Or prepared.
Duffy says statistics show one in 12 people will lose hearing at some point in their life. That news doesn’t scare her students. She’s also apt to remind them that sign language will come in handy in a variety of careers — medicine, social work or education, to name a few.
The background of students is varied. Rambali, for example, started learning sign language while attended elementary school, and then continued studies. But like many of her classmates, the hard work and dedication from the ASL Club helps her put in the effort to pull of the performance.
“When I got to school I took it because I loved it, and now I love Mrs.Duffy,” Rambali said.
Taylor Rodwell stands on the edge of the stage at Greece Olympia High School, signing to friend Alexandrea Rambali next to the risers. Their hands move rapidly, and other students mill on stage waiting for direction as they rehearse a stage setting of “Finding Nemo.”
Teacher Sharon Duffy says, verbally, to have students take their places and perform from the top. Offstage students begin reading the script, and half-costumed performers on stage sign along.
Not everyone here is deaf. But they’re all students in Duffy’s American sign language classes, and their love of the language goes beyond the classroom into the ASL Club.
“I think they’re just incredible passionate to be here, for the time and effort they’re putting into these shows,” Duffy said. “The students are so dedicated to it and willing to stay and work for the group.”
The play’s the thing
Around two dozen students who take class with Duffy perform in the show. It’s an extracurricular in the truest sense of the word — no budget, no funding, no extra credit, just a pursuit.
Often, Duffy said, the students are there until 7 p.m. or later. She’s right there with them, helping clarify signs and call the shots like any director might.
To Duffy, it’s clear the play practice helps their learning of the language — and it offers a creative outlet. Rambali says signing on stage is tougher than being an actor, without having a voice and inflection to rely on.
“You have to have a bigger presence than a normal actor,” she said. “If you want everyone to look at you while you’re signing, you have to have a big presence on stage.”
But this group is well-seasoned to pull it off. In April, students competed in the University of Rochester’s “Sign Idol” competition, and won the top three spots and an honorable mention. They also do an annual variety show, performing in sign to pop tunes.
In fact, the expression needed for sound language is one of the biggest draws for students.
“It’s not just spelling out words and using signs for things,” Duffy said. “It’s also using your hands shapes in response to what things look like.”
For example, in “Finding Nemo” signs that would normally indicate a person as the subject of a thought are replaced by flat, bending hands to resemble a fish.
Unity and community
Rodwell graduated from Olympia last year, but returns to help out with the ASL Club. After “falling in love” with the language in Duffy’s classroom, Rodwell plans to become a professional interpreter.
Jason Clarke was enrolled in Italian when Duffy, his advisement teacher, introduced him to sign language and now pursues both courses of study. He, along with his fellow club members, say they often see deaf people out in the community and have common interactions — like saying “Thank you” to a grocery store cashier.
“I’m always using sign language in the real world,” Clarke said.
Duffy is sure to introduce the students to Rochester’s deaf community — which is tight-knit and much larger than the populations in similar sized cities. That’s in part due to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology.
“It brings an international community to Rochester,” Duffy said. “New York state actually have five or six schools for the deaf, other states typically would only have one, or even none, unfortunately.”
Students enroll for a variety of reasons — maybe a family member is deaf or losing hearing abilities, or a close friend. Or maybe, they just want to be different.
Or prepared.
Duffy says statistics show one in 12 people will lose hearing at some point in their life. That news doesn’t scare her students. She’s also apt to remind them that sign language will come in handy in a variety of careers — medicine, social work or education, to name a few.
The background of students is varied. Rambali, for example, started learning sign language while attended elementary school, and then continued studies. But like many of her classmates, the hard work and dedication from the ASL Club helps her put in the effort to pull of the performance.
“When I got to school I took it because I loved it, and now I love Mrs.Duffy,” Rambali said.