Spanish, French, Latin, Mandarin: languages students can recognize and study at Jesuit. The school curriculum requires students take at least three years of one of these to broaden their cultural and intellectual horizons through the power of the spoken word. However, during their time at Jesuit, many students fail to recognize the importance of another language: sign language.
Jesuit’s Sign Language Club officially began last year, but two years ago a group of three seniors would attend the Dallas Academy of the Deaf for their Wednesday service site. They began to learn to sign on their own in order to facilitate communication during community service. Unfortunately, Jesuit was unable to continue that site last year, but the Sign Language Club arose to provide a great opportunity to students still eager to learn the language.
The club moderator, Mr. T.J. Howard, learned sign language during his senior year at Jesuit as well. At the Notre Dame School, his Wednesday site, he befriended a deaf student who taught him how to sign. After he graduated, he took a sign language class to further his knowledge. He explained his passion, saying “It’s a cool experience being able to speak someone else’s language and know about their culture. There is a lot that people don’t know about deaf culture.” He described how many fail to recognize the incredibly interesting aspects of their culture and the importance of learning any language, especially ASL (American Sign Language).
Tabor Jones ’16, a member of the club, expressed how “when [he] went on an immersion trip to Nicaragua with Mr. Howard it was really interesting to see how he was able to communicate with the deaf people despite the language barriers.” He specified that “It is different than spoken language, but achieves the same things.” He looks forward to learning more about the method of communication to change his world view. Similarly, Jeremy Lane ’16 explained that “it was really cool to see [Mr. Howard signing in Nicaragua] and [he] had never really been exposed to it before so [he] wanted to learn more about it.”
The club meets about once every week to learn new signs and practice. All grades and experience levels are welcome, from experienced signers to people with no prior knowledge. The only requirement for entry is an eagerness to learn. Interested students can contact Mr. Howard for more information.
