At San Benito High School, students in the American Sign Language (ASL) class are able to apply in public what they are learning in class by meeting and talking to deaf people in the community on their own time, either during the middle of the week or on weekends.
Every month, ASL Club plans to go to one deaf event together. However, there are about two or three events every week and students may go whenever they want to. ASL teacher Jennifer Mott requires her students to go to at least one event a semester, with the exception of ASL 1.
Different people have different reasons for going to deaf events. Mott said it is good for students to be able to practice the language they are learning, but that’s not the only benefit. “But even more importantly than that, we talk a lot about deaf culture and about the deaf community,” she said. “But until you’ve really experienced what that means and you’ve met deaf people, you see how friendly they are, you see their jokes, and you see how much fun they have at these events, I don’t think you can really understand what that community feels like.”
Rufus Blair, a deaf teacher at San Jose City College, said he enjoys going to deaf chats, such as the one he went to on Nov. 6. He said he likes to not only hang out with his friends, but also to be able to meet students who are trying to learn ASL. Blair will help students when they are even a little confused with the current conversation, even if he has to repeat what he’s said five times.
ASL student Savannah Swygert, a junior at SBHS, who attended the event, and she said it was “such a great experience,” even though she said when she was extremely nervous when she first arrived. “It’s such a great experience that you can’t really describe, you just need to go and experience it for yourself,” said Swygert, shortly after being able to talk to someone who was not only deaf, but also blind using a technique she learned in ASL class. “I loved going to the deaf event and I plan on going to more.”
The ASL Club meets every Friday in Mott’s classroom, Room 394.