Inside Gallaudet
New students explore ASL and Gallaudet for the first time
 Photo: Rhea Kennedy |
| New Signer Program participants Asha Rajashekhar (left) and Andreas Hvidtfeldt pose for a picture in the computer lab. |
 Photo: Rhea Kennedy |
| Students in the New Signers Program tackle an amusing ASL exercise. |
The month-long program for students with little or no previous knowledge of ASL includes sign classes, conversational sessions, the Personal Discovery program, and rehearsals for a skit night in the final week. Participants also attend academic advising sessions and workshops on transition. Special events like ASL Fest, a trip to Ocean City, Md., and participation in a program called Inner Quest round out the experience.
While the students all qualify as new signers, their backgrounds vary. Roslyn Delgado transferred to Gallaudet from a university in London and had never studied ASL. Andreas Hvidtfeldt, from Denmark, grew up in a signing deaf family and attended a deaf high school.
While she knew no ASL at the beginning of NSP, Delgado said the interaction with other students and the individual attention in classes have helped her improve. “The teacher’s style is very personal,” she said. Hvidtfeldt said the Gallaudet experience has been a way to satisfy his fascination with new faces: “The most interesting part is seeing different signing styles and students with different backgrounds,” he said.
At the beginning of NSP, students were divided into several groups according to familiarity with ASL. This placed them in daily ASL classes that would best fit their needs. For Asha Rajashekhar, who grew up in Germany using German Sign Language, the challenge came with the new significance of familiar gestures. “Many of the signs are the same, but the meanings are different,” she observed, “and it was hard to get used to the fingerspelling.”
For many parts of the program, the whole group comes together. According to Andrew Brinks, assistant professor in the Department of Physical Education and Recreation and the NSP co-coordinator, this is crucial. “Interacting is very important,” he said, noting that there is time for both structured learning exercises and informal socializing.
Discovering Gallaudet is also a bonus, Brinks added. Many of the students feel more valued on the cozy Gallaudet campus. At larger schools, they may have gotten lost in the shuffle or were hesitant to jump into the fray. “They feel that people really care about them here,” said Brinks.
Posted: 9 Aug 2007
