I Saw the Sign

Let's talk a little bit about one of my favorite classes at school. 

It's my 2nd ESO, which is the 2nd year of obligatory schooling, so the kids are about 13-14 years old. Let me just say, I love kids this age. They don't care about messing up, they want to be involved, and they're so dang funny.

However, what makes this class different than all my other ones is that there are 3 deaf kids in it. One has a hearing aid, so he can hear, but the other 2 are completely deaf. They have a special teacher, Eki, that comes in and translates for the teacher so that they can follow along.

But what really blows my mind is that these two kids are in no way ostracized or left out of class. In fact, most of the other kids have actually learned sign language in order to communicate with their classmates (fun fact: did you know that Spanish sign language is totally different than American sign language?). The regular teacher also knows a fair amount of sign language, which is impressive, because she only has that class 3 times a week.

It makes sense. At most secondary schools in Spain, it's the kids that stay in one classroom while the teachers move from class to class throughout the day. If these kids want to communicate with their deaf classmates, they have to learn sign language. And it's funny, because when they talk to me, they're almost always doing the signs, out of habit. 

I've always had a little fascination with the deaf culture (my mother will remember my obsession with Heather Whitestone, the first deaf Miss America), so to be in this class is a really cool experience for me. Every time I see this class, I learn a new sign, and they get such a kick out of watching me try to sign. I want to be able to talk to the deaf kids as well, so I need to learn a little bit just to make sure they know I care about them too.

My mom always said she thought I should be a teacher for deaf kids. 

Well, I guess now I kind of am.

So now I'm improving my Spanish, picking up some useful Basque phrases, and trying to learn Spanish sign language.

And here I thought I would only be speaking in Spanish.

Originally published 1.26.11