In the classroom -- A sign of their time

Mary A. Castillo

The tension bounced off the walls in the hallway. As parents and

friends filled the seats in the band room, Edison High School students

anxiously talked about their upcoming performances. This just wasn’t a

final exam; it was the first time any of them would ever perform in

American Sign Language.

However there was one person in the room who wasn’t nervous at all.

“The students have been working hard on their poems, songs and

children’s stories,� said Kristie Sullivan, the ASL instructor. She was

more than confident that they had what it took to stand up in front of

the audience to perform.

Although this was the first year ASL had been offered as a foreign

language class at Edison, Sullivan plans to build a complete program

similar to the one at Huntington Beach High School. ASL now fulfills the

foreign language requirement for graduation and the students were

optimistic to continue learning.

“If our school doesn’t offer more classes,� said Jhiela Mirdamadi, 16.

“I’m going to take night classes.�

As the time approached for the first performance, Jhiela and her

project partner, Debra Slonim, 15, rehearsed the poem they will perform.

“We interpreted the poem for meaning not word for word,� explained

Jhiela.

“I think we might have missed a few words so it’s not perfect,� added

Debra.

But when they stood before the audience and the interpreter, Leah

Guillen, read the poem out loud, the girls looked like they had invested

plenty of practice.

The audience perked up when Tim Enrreich, 15, and Chris Grubb, 16,

performed “I Want To Hold Your Hand.� Whistles erupted from the crowd

when Tim imitated John Lennon’s signature scream.

“I really got into this class because it’s visual,� Tim said. “I also

learned there’s a whole different world within the deaf community.�

The program continued with performances as varied as “Stairway to

Heaven� -- and yes, they signed the entire eight minutes -- to Humpty

Dumpty.

Amy Castro, one of the interpreters who has worked at Edison for four

years, was excited to see the students embrace ASL.

“They understand that it’s just a different language,� she said. As

more universities and high schools accept ASL as a foreign language,

Castro hoped that students will choose to become interpretors or simply

become fluent in the language.

But for all the 36 performers, their first ASL class not only whet

their appetite for more classes, but also made them want to learn more

about the deaf community.

“The class definitely brought me into the deaf culture and made me

understand it as a group of people,� said James Rodriguez, 16, “not a

disability.�