Moeller Should Consider Teaching American Sign Language

ASL alphabet

Roughly thirty-five states have recognized American Sign Language (ASL) as a modern language. Therefore, it is being taught in public schools and many colleges across the country. Moeller’s foreign language department currently offers French, German, Latin, and Spanish, but we could greatly benefit from adding ASL to the choices in future school years.

American Sign Language first got its start in 1814 over near Hartford, Connecticut by Dr. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. Gallaudet wanted to help his neighbor’s daughter who had gone deaf, so he went to Europe where a version of the language had previously been taught. Laurent Clerc helped to teach Gallaudet and would then return to America to establish the American School for the Deaf.

Roughly 10% of American’s are deaf or have some sort of hearing problem. Even though an estimated forty-one million Americans use Spanish and roughly a million speak German, nearly 500,000 people in the United States and Canada use ASL as their primary language. Although the main people who benefit from sign language are people who are deaf, many people who can still hear are fluent in the language. According to StartAsl.com, “American Sign Language is claimed to be the third most commonly used language in the US.”

Similar to how our language classes are set up now, adding this class would provide opportunities for students to learn about a culture that surrounds them everyday even if they do not realize it. By learning how these people communicate and experience day to day living, it can help in social aspects. Both Lakota East and West have begun teaching ASL as foreign language credits and students are becoming more interested in the language. A statement published by the schools reads, “taking collaboration to the next level and not only working together as colleagues, but also giving students a chance to work with others in this way is a great opportunity for our kids.” Teaching American Sign Language can benefit Moeller students for many scenarios. Many of us are already using basic signs to communicate messages whether we realize it or not. Baseball players use signs to tell a pitcher what pitch to throw, and even throwing your hand up when you’re trying to call for a cab is a small way in which sign language is being used.

Sign Language Interpreter Lindsay Rothschild- Cross interpreting a heavy metal concert

Picture by: ABC News

My cousin, Angie Arengo, is a sign language teacher in the State of Ohio and I had the chance to talk to her. She said, “Since sign language uses the movement of your body, it helps students to better understand the body language of others as well as interpreting different facial expressions.” Also, as many get older their hearing stars to diminish, by using sign language it could help communication when adults start to reach an elderly age.

With an addition like this there is going to be drawbacks that could result in this not happening. For instance, hiring an additional teacher comes with a lot of administrative responsibilities such as the interviewing process, the financial side of it, and finding classroom space and time for this course. Also, with Moeller already teaching four languages, it could pose a threat for one of the preexisting classes.  Besides the business side of things, there are minimal disadvantages to offering this new course.

There are many unforeseen scenarios in which sign language could greatly benefit somebody or even save their life. By teaching ASL at Moeller we would not only learning about a culture that we see almost every day, we would teaching a language that could be used in someone’s day to day life.