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Students learn to speak loudly in silence - DailyBulletin.com
Leah Carrasco's class at Upland High School isn't just quiet like a library, it's quiet like an oldschool library. A library of a forgotten time when storytelling, computer classes or any activity that would put a stern librarian in a tizzy did not exist.
But Carrasco's class is hardly short of dialogue. For two hours, Carrasco and her students communicate through American Sign Language, replacing their voices with gestures and movements that are the center of the deaf community.
Carrasco, a Chaffey College instructor, leans into her movements and makes her arched eyebrows jump up and down in the course of a short sentence. The students, having studied the language for four months now, sign back, sometimes with a nervous chuckle, oftentimes with a hint of hesitancy.
"I talk with my hands now," said Ryleigh Escoboza, 14. "My friends are always asking, `What are you doing?' "
Interest in ASL education has spiked in recent years with friends and relatives of the deaf and hard-of-hearing studying alongside visual learners and high schoolers who think it's cool.
This semester, Upland High partnered with Chaffey College to introduce the ASL class on the high school campus. Half of the students are Upland High students, the other half are enrolled at Chaffey College.
Carrasco said some of her students at the community college are service professionals who find ASL skills helpful. One student was a California Highway
Patrol officer who was able to use sign language he learned in Carrasco's class to communicate to an accident victim.
At Chaffey College, ASL is the second most popular language class with 15 classes offered this semester. ASL is not as popular as Spanish (39 classes) but is more popular than French (five classes).
Local interest mirrors a national trend. According to a Modern Language Association study, ASL enrollment at American colleges increased nearly 30 percent from 2002 to 2006, making it the fourth most studied language.
At Upland High, students simply see it as a fun way to satisfy a language requirement. It's expressive, it's unique and it beats conjugating verbs.
Some use sign language as a secretive way to communicate with their ASL classmates in other classes. One student admitted to cheating after signing an answer to a test for a friend across the room.
But for Devon and Melissa McGehee, learning ASL isn't just fun and games.
Melissa, 15, who is hard-of-hearing, has been learning ASL and trying to introduce it to the family. The brother and sister duo has learned a lot in Carrasco's class. They recently went to a supermarket and decided to use only sign language to communicate while shopping.
Devon, 19, said ASL will come in handy not just with his sister but while he prepares for a career in emergency medical services.
Melissa said she wants to be a child advocate in the deaf community.
"When I was in kindergarten, they didn't know I was hard-of-hearing so they thought I was just a bad kid," said Melissa. "When I got my hearing aid in the first grade, I got teased a lot."
The introduction of the class is a sign that Upland High's language program is in transition. The school is phasing out German classes and in addition to bringing the after-school ASL class, it also started offering Mandarin Chinese classes this year.
Principal Ben Rich said now is the time to start thinking about the future of the language department and whether two foreign languages - Spanish and French - are enough.
"If we can invest in this, our students can be better neighbors to those who are hard of hearing," Rich said. "There are enough challenges in life already. We can build some bridges."
Perhaps it's a lofty goal for a high school principal but Rich also believes learning a second language makes the world a better place.
"I'm really a strong supporter of people speaking more than one language. It helps shape your thinking," Rich said. "If everyone spoke another language other than English, I think we would be thinking a little differently as a nation."
But learning a new language is no easy task and ASL, despite the fun, expressive movements, is difficult to master. The language has different syntax and grammar than English and the movements can be confusing.
"Family," for instance, is expressed when both hands make a circular motion while forming an "okay," or in ASL, an "F" sign. But rotate that circular motion in the opposite direction and the word means "important."
"Sometimes I have students tell me, `My important is family,' " said Carrasco.
The class, which gives high school students a year of high school credit in one semester, started with English instruction. Three weeks into it, Carrasco "turned off her voice" and entered ASL immersion, bringing near silence to the 120 minutes of instruction.
"If I get that glassy look in their face or if I have to give a cultural lesson, then I turn on my voice," Carrasco said.
Students sign among themselves whether it's practicing the day's lesson or asking questions about Carrasco's lessons. When they're tardy, they sign their excuse. When they're stuck, they finger spell their way out.
"It's weird at first," said Jesse Robles, a Chaffey student. "When you go outside, it seems so much louder. It's like you can hear the air."
Once the ears adjust, you realize the classroom isn't completely silent. There's the sound of fingers slapping against open palm. Hand jewelry banging against each other. Someone is bound to crack their knuckles.
This week, the students completed their penultimate quiz of the semester. Afterwards, the anxious class broke into soft whispers.
"I have no problem giving you a zero before you turn in your test," Carrasco said. "Please do not talk."
Carrasco used her voice, so the students knew she was serious. Without additional coaxing, the classroom was silent once again.
Leah Carrasco's class at Upland High School isn't just quiet like a library, it's quiet like an oldschool library. A library of a forgotten time when storytelling, computer classes or any activity that would put a stern librarian in a tizzy did not exist.
But Carrasco's class is hardly short of dialogue. For two hours, Carrasco and her students communicate through American Sign Language, replacing their voices with gestures and movements that are the center of the deaf community.
Carrasco, a Chaffey College instructor, leans into her movements and makes her arched eyebrows jump up and down in the course of a short sentence. The students, having studied the language for four months now, sign back, sometimes with a nervous chuckle, oftentimes with a hint of hesitancy.
"I talk with my hands now," said Ryleigh Escoboza, 14. "My friends are always asking, `What are you doing?' "
Interest in ASL education has spiked in recent years with friends and relatives of the deaf and hard-of-hearing studying alongside visual learners and high schoolers who think it's cool.
This semester, Upland High partnered with Chaffey College to introduce the ASL class on the high school campus. Half of the students are Upland High students, the other half are enrolled at Chaffey College.
Carrasco said some of her students at the community college are service professionals who find ASL skills helpful. One student was a California Highway
Patrol officer who was able to use sign language he learned in Carrasco's class to communicate to an accident victim.
At Chaffey College, ASL is the second most popular language class with 15 classes offered this semester. ASL is not as popular as Spanish (39 classes) but is more popular than French (five classes).
Local interest mirrors a national trend. According to a Modern Language Association study, ASL enrollment at American colleges increased nearly 30 percent from 2002 to 2006, making it the fourth most studied language.
At Upland High, students simply see it as a fun way to satisfy a language requirement. It's expressive, it's unique and it beats conjugating verbs.
Some use sign language as a secretive way to communicate with their ASL classmates in other classes. One student admitted to cheating after signing an answer to a test for a friend across the room.
But for Devon and Melissa McGehee, learning ASL isn't just fun and games.
Melissa, 15, who is hard-of-hearing, has been learning ASL and trying to introduce it to the family. The brother and sister duo has learned a lot in Carrasco's class. They recently went to a supermarket and decided to use only sign language to communicate while shopping.
Devon, 19, said ASL will come in handy not just with his sister but while he prepares for a career in emergency medical services.
Melissa said she wants to be a child advocate in the deaf community.
"When I was in kindergarten, they didn't know I was hard-of-hearing so they thought I was just a bad kid," said Melissa. "When I got my hearing aid in the first grade, I got teased a lot."
The introduction of the class is a sign that Upland High's language program is in transition. The school is phasing out German classes and in addition to bringing the after-school ASL class, it also started offering Mandarin Chinese classes this year.
Principal Ben Rich said now is the time to start thinking about the future of the language department and whether two foreign languages - Spanish and French - are enough.
"If we can invest in this, our students can be better neighbors to those who are hard of hearing," Rich said. "There are enough challenges in life already. We can build some bridges."
Perhaps it's a lofty goal for a high school principal but Rich also believes learning a second language makes the world a better place.
"I'm really a strong supporter of people speaking more than one language. It helps shape your thinking," Rich said. "If everyone spoke another language other than English, I think we would be thinking a little differently as a nation."
But learning a new language is no easy task and ASL, despite the fun, expressive movements, is difficult to master. The language has different syntax and grammar than English and the movements can be confusing.
"Family," for instance, is expressed when both hands make a circular motion while forming an "okay," or in ASL, an "F" sign. But rotate that circular motion in the opposite direction and the word means "important."
"Sometimes I have students tell me, `My important is family,' " said Carrasco.
The class, which gives high school students a year of high school credit in one semester, started with English instruction. Three weeks into it, Carrasco "turned off her voice" and entered ASL immersion, bringing near silence to the 120 minutes of instruction.
"If I get that glassy look in their face or if I have to give a cultural lesson, then I turn on my voice," Carrasco said.
Students sign among themselves whether it's practicing the day's lesson or asking questions about Carrasco's lessons. When they're tardy, they sign their excuse. When they're stuck, they finger spell their way out.
"It's weird at first," said Jesse Robles, a Chaffey student. "When you go outside, it seems so much louder. It's like you can hear the air."
Once the ears adjust, you realize the classroom isn't completely silent. There's the sound of fingers slapping against open palm. Hand jewelry banging against each other. Someone is bound to crack their knuckles.
This week, the students completed their penultimate quiz of the semester. Afterwards, the anxious class broke into soft whispers.
"I have no problem giving you a zero before you turn in your test," Carrasco said. "Please do not talk."
Carrasco used her voice, so the students knew she was serious. Without additional coaxing, the classroom was silent once again.