You show up at Wal-Mart just people watching and then all of the sudden you come across two or more people waving their hands around. Although you wonder why and may think that anyone who does that looks stupid, they do it for a reason. What those people are doing is talking in sign language because they are what others call hearing impaired.
“We call it a club, but it is really an informal sign language class,” said physics teacher James Earnhardt. “We have access to an online course that is the equivalent of two college semesters of lessons. Each week we either cover a lesson or two of vocabulary and usage, or we take a video test over a lesson that we have covered previously.”
Not only is sign language all about lessons and vocabulary, it also focuses on syntax which by definition is the study of rules for the formation of grammatical sentences in a language. This after school class also has guest speakers from the local deaf community.
“They come to talk about deaf culture and services available to the deaf and careers as interpreters,” said Earnhardt. “Some of our members already know a good bit of signing and want to become professional interpreters. Others want to learn to sign just because they find it interesting.”
As this signing class was new to both students and staff, some found it very useful and loved it very much.
"I like sign language because I get to learn something new," said senior Elizabeth Guerra. “Compared to a second language it is very different. Instead of talking you use your hands. It is actually better than a second language.”
For Guerra she goes because it is interesting to have a club like this in a High School. While she likes it now Guerra hopes that she will continue signing as she goes on through life.
“I know that there are lots of people out there that cannot talk,” said Guerra.
Now that Guerra knows how to sign she said that it will make it easier for them to talk to her instead of having an interpreter.
While Guerra probably did not know how to sign before she knew about this club, others like senior Sarah Weidner had other reasons why she chose to get involved.
“It helps keep my sign language fresh,” said Weidner.
Compared to a second language for Weidner the lessons are interactive and it makes it easier to learn and you do not have to conjugate as much. As Weidner continues on in life she plans on using sign language a great deal.
“I want to go into a career that involves sign language in some way,” said Weidner.
While Weidner attends this club in preparation for her future, others appreciate going for short term benefits.
"I liked learning all the signs that I did not know before," said former member senior Christina Moore. "I also liked the video tests because of how it tested you on how much you remember."
In fact Moore learned so much that she teaches some of her friends that want to learn or that asks her what a certain word is in sign language.
"It is better than a second language because some colleges consider signing as your second language," said Moore.
The whole sign language idea was Mr. Earnhardt's.
"I used to teach at a Nebraska School for the deaf. It closed in 1998, so I was forced to change jobs," said Earnhardt. "Of course I was able to sign very fluently when I worked there, but after many years my skills were deteriorating greatly through lack of use. Since I had devoted a great deal of time and effort in learning to sign I hated to lose it. I had knowledge that I wanted to share, and I also wanted a reason to practice and concentrate on signing, and from all of that the sign language club was born."
Through all of the work that Earnhardt puts into this class he plans to keep it going till the day he leaves Benson. For all you that have nothing to do and are probably judging this club you should never judge anything until you try it first. Just look at it this way if you attend just one meeting after school on Wednesdays at 3:00 pm in room 242 there is the possibility of actually liking it.
For those who are still unsure if sign language club is for them go to
http://www.lifeprint.com/ to see what all you learn. Also everyone that attends gets a free copy of the disk. A big plus is that each word has a picture play by play on how to do it. Some words even have short motion clips that show you how to do it. Take the word deaf for example this is what the picture play by play looks like. It goes from start to finish.
Story By: Mercedes Schwerman