{"id":5908,"date":"2016-12-19T17:11:29","date_gmt":"2016-12-19T22:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=5908"},"modified":"2016-12-28T09:07:42","modified_gmt":"2016-12-28T14:07:42","slug":"winter-program-offers-authentic-learning-experience-asl-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/winter-program-offers-authentic-learning-experience-asl-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter program offers authentic learning experience for ASL students\u00a0 \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

For 30 years, Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters and teachers of students with hearing impairments have hosted a citywide holiday program for their students. On Dec. 15, students, staff and parents gathered for festive games, holiday stories and even an appearance by Santa, who used ASL to find out what is on students\u2019 wish lists.<\/p>\n

\"photo-1\"<\/p>\n

In recent years, Ocean Lakes High School (OLHS) ASL teacher Lynn Steinberg has incorporated the event as an instructional activity for students in her ASL III class, which is a world language course students may take for high school credit. While students communicate regularly in class with Steinberg, who is deaf, taking part in the holiday event provides them an opportunity to apply what they\u2019ve learned in authentic interactions with children and adults with hearing impairments.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you notice all of them signing? It\u2019s always been super positive,\u201d said Steinberg through OLHS interpreter Connie Miller. \u201cThey would like for this type of thing to occur more often. Once a year is quite enough because it really requires quite a bit of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo-2\"<\/p>\n

It may not have continued to occur without financial support from VBCPS employees after a local charitable organization stopped its funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were concerned that the party might not happen again,\u201d said Steinberg. \u201cSo all of the interpreters as well as the teachers of the deaf decided that we<\/em> would all donate and fund the party. Everybody is working and everybody is helping. It may seem like a very small thing but it requires a huge effort [and] we\u2019ve all worked in cooperation to make sure this happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly Coon, principal at Corporate Landing Elementary School, is pleased to see the event continue for students receiving interpreter services at her school as well as for former students who return for the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s great that our kids get to come and be with older students and to see the entire deaf and hearing impaired community and communicate with each other,\u201d Coon said. \u201cWhat I think is awesome is that some of the students are coming back. They\u2019ve graduated and they are coming back and seeing some of their former teachers. [Timothy] Nash is one of my parents now and I have his daughter in our kindergarten program. Mr. Nash was one of Ms. Bullock-Smith\u2019s students and has moved back into the area. He has a deaf daughter and she\u2019s with us. It\u2019s like a circle of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo-3\"<\/p>\n

Kindergartener Karrissa Nash was one of more than a dozen students who played carnival-type games created and led by OLHS ASL III students. Pin the hat on Santa. Marshmallow toss. Presents basketball. Snowball fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took [ASL] the first year just because everyone said it was so fun,\u201d said OLHS senior Sara Sanders in between marshmallow tosses. \u201cI\u2019m in my third year now and I want to do something with it. I want to be a teacher, either special education or 12th<\/sup> grade English.\u201d<\/p>\n

Samantha White also hopes to use her ASL skills in her future career as an orthodontist.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important because there are not a lot of doctors, dentists and professionals that know sign language, so I plan on continuing with it just so I can open up to that specific population so they have a place they can go to,\u201d White explained.<\/p>\n

\"photo-4\"<\/p>\n

She\u2019s already had an opportunity to use ASL to help someone in need. A road closure due to flooding caused by Hurricane Matthew caused confusion for a fellow driver.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all turning around and a lady behind me motioned for me to pull up next to her, so I did. Then she got out of her car, and I was kind of nervous because I didn\u2019t know who she was,\u201d White shared. \u201cI rolled down my window and she had a pen and paper, and she wrote that she was deaf and needed directions getting home. I started signing to her and her face just lit up because she wasn\u2019t expecting that. I helped her with directions on how to get home. It was just so cool putting what I knew into action and seeing the appreciation on her face just made my whole life!\u201d<\/p>\n

And made the ride home safer for White\u2019s new friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt opens your mind to different perspectives about other people,\u201d added White. \u201cBecause you can look at anybody and you don\u2019t know if they are deaf or hearing or not. Deafness isn\u2019t something you can see, so you learn to look at things differently and put yourself in other people\u2019s shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For 30 years, Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters and teachers of students with hearing impairments have hosted a citywide holiday program for their students. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":5909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[95,28],"class_list":["post-5908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-corporate-landing-elementary","tag-ocean-lakes-high"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5908"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5915,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5908\/revisions\/5915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}