Starting an ASL/Deaf club at school?

by Vince

Hello Michelle,

I think your website is great. I am a nontraditional student and have chosen ASL as my foreign language credit. Currently I am in ASL 3 and Deaf culture and have noticed a gap between the deaf and hearing. In an effort to bridge this gap in cultures I am starting the process of building an on campus club that seeks to bring the deaf and hearing together. If you can offer me any thoughts or ideas on pursuing my dream, much like you have, it would be greatly appreciated.

Answer:

Hello Vince,

Thank you for your kind comments about my site! :)

I think it's a great idea to start a club on campus! Do you have a lot of deaf students at your school? And students interested in ASL? This can be a really great thing. You can get together, play games, schedule speakers, discuss current events, or just hang out and sign. :)

You can also turn it into a "learn from each other" type of thing if you want to. For example, you can all read a Deaf Culture book and discuss it together--like what you learned, and you can relate it to hearing culture and discuss that as well.

You can schedule Deaf events with your club outside of school--like at a coffee house or restaurant and post it on http://www.ohsoez.com and maybe get more people to join you, sign together, and make friends.

You can also volunteer together at a local deaf school or deaf services center if you have one near you.

You can even offer to volunteer to run an after school-type program at a junior high school to teach some basic signs and a little about the Deaf community one night a week for a few weeks and maybe get them interested enough to take ASL in high school.

Like I said, this can be a really great thing. :)

God bless,

Michelle Jay

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Starting an ASL/Deaf club at school?

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Aug 30, 2010
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by: Donna

Yea that would be great. My town is so small its like blink your eyes and youre in a totally different town, as well as the next three after that...not a big community at all. Thats the problem with my community...there isnt any deaf or hard of hearing in my area, unless they are small children whose parents are leary of groups like this (this community, everyone is paranoid), or they are too disabled (wheel-chair bound and the like) to be able to go anywhere. Not a lot of options for my community, so im stuck out in the raging river without so much as a stick to paddle my way in, so to speak, lol.I do enjoy comming on here and learning from you and other students, though. Im starting to teach my daughter and she tries to copy...monkey see monkey do as they say. Well have a great day and God bless you all. Keep us all informed about how you are doing with the group

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Starting an ASL/Deaf club at school?

Comments for Starting an ASL/Deaf club at school?

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Starting an ASL/Deaf club at school?