Last week, Rye Middle School English teacher Peter Gouveia shepherded 18 members of his American Sign Language (ASL) class to Midland School, where they demonstrated their prowess to sixteen classes of kindergarteners, and first and second graders.

By Sarah Varney

Last week, Rye Middle School English teacher Peter Gouveia shepherded 18 members of his American Sign Language (ASL) class to Midland School, where they demonstrated their prowess to sixteen classes of kindergarteners, and first and second graders.

The District is moving to add ASL as a language elective. On February 24, Gouveia made a presentation to the Board of Education detailing the curriculum they’d developed to meet Common Core standards. At that meeting, he received approval to move ahead with the creation of ASL II curriculum.  

Gouveia first learned ASL in college and used it widely when he did mission work in Oaxaca, Mexico. The current ASL class comprises a mix of seventh- and eighth-grade students.

 

“Some of the students are taking ASL as their second foreign language, and some are taking it as a replacement language instead of French, Spanish, Latin, or Mandarin,” he said.

 

“They find it easier because there is no writing, speaking, or translating. Some students who might not have been successful in say, Mandarin, are making great strides in ASL,” Gouveia added.

For Midland students, learning ASL was all about fun. What child, at these ages, wouldn’t want to learn a “secret” language that Mom and Dad can’t translate?  In Cathy Landy’s fifth-grade class, the students and teachers spent the morning learning the signs for the alphabet in advance. In a kindergarten class, the children learned to say “I love you” and soon there were fingers flying followed by lots of hugging.

The kids’ comments were often hilarious. “Do these people speak English?” said one fifth-grade boy sotto voce as we entered the classroom. In the lower grade classes, challenging the middle schoolers to devise spur-of-the-moment combos to match their requests provided plenty of amusement. One kindergartener asked for the signing for pancake. Another wanted to know how to sign whale.

While some words have their own specialized movements — like elephant — more difficult and more unusual animals are just spelled out using the ASL alphabet.

Second–grade teacher Heidi Nigg was particularly impressed with the middle school students. “One of your students shared that he used his knowledge of sign language to communicate with a young deaf boy he sat next to on a plane. This student said he really felt good being able to have a conversation with him.”