Sweet Talk

It was a kid’s dream come true: a table covered in junk food, awaiting willing hands and appetites. But to the chaperons, the chance for the students, who are either blind or hearing-impaired, to decorate a gingerbread man with sugar-packed goodies was a worthy, one-hour learning session.

Steve Longacre, principal of Taft Elementary’s deaf and hard-of-hearing program, said his 19 third- to fifth-grade students would learn more vocabulary during Friday’s field trip to the Corner Bakery in Irvine than in a week of classes.

“Because our kids struggle with learning language, it gives them a good experience,” Longacre said, watching as the kids signed to one another with sugarcoated fingers. “It’s like taking a walk in the park. They need to see it.”

About 94--or 10%--of Taft Elementary’s students are deaf or hearing-impaired; the Santa Ana school buses students from throughout the county to participate in its program.

The outing was also beneficial for Lisa Hering’s students from the Blind Children’s Learning Center in Santa Ana. “It’s a good experience for them because they have to use their other senses,” said Hering, who added that the youngsters, who range in age from 3 to 5, had yet to learn much Braille and that touch plays an intricate part in their learning process.

And of course, there’s the children’s favorite part: “They love to get to messy,” Hering said.

By the time the artists had completed their culinary masterpiece, which was nearly 10 feet long and 4 feet wide, the gingerbread man looked like a stomachache waiting to happen. Laced with white icing, the gigantic cookie sported red licorice, jellybeans, caramel popcorn, marshmallows, powdered doughnuts and chocolate chip cookies.

But not for long. The kids dismembered their artwork, put the pieces in doggy bags and headed back to the buses--no doubt for a tasty trip home.