UNION TOWNSHIP -- In Gwendolyn Trujillo's foreign language class, no one is allowed to speak.
Ms. Trujillo teaches American Sign Language (ASL) at Lakota West High School, one of only a handful of school districts in Ohio to offer ASL as a foreign language.
But the interest is growing. Ohio became one of a dozen states to support ASL as a foreign language after it passed a law in 1990 that required public universities to accept foreign language credits from ASL classes.
Now, instead of only deaf children learning to use sign language, hearing students are packing classrooms.
The Lakota Local School District began offering ASL five years ago to a small group of students. More than 170 children in both district high schools now are enrolled in ASL classes.
And more programs like Ms. Trujillo's are springing up around Cincinnati. The programs open career doors for hearing students while helping to close the gap between the hearing and deaf worlds. "With this, hearing students can become interpreters or teachers," Ms. Trujillo said through a sign language interpreter. "And deaf children can be more included with events and exposed to the hearing world. They won't be so closed off and isolated."
ASL is not the signing of English words, said Dr. Sherman Wilcox, an associate professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of New Mexico, one of the first schools in the country to offer a bachelor's degree in sign language interpreting.
"English and ASL are as distinct as English and Chinese," he said.
Interest and research in ASL as a foreign language has been gaining ground over the past 10 to 15 years, Dr. Sherman said. As it does, ASL classes in colleges around the country have moved from communicative disorder programs into linguistic and foreign language fields, he said.
What many hearing people still do not realize is that ASL has its own vocabulary and sentence structure, he said.
"To say "I stared at the computer a long time' is one word in ASL," he said. "It is highly complex."
Aside from Lakota, other area schools to offer ASL foreign language classes include Finneytown and Loveland senior high schools. Sycamore High School began its program this year with 38 students. Already, there are 115 signed up for next school year.
The Cincinnati Public School District does not teach ASL as a foreign language. But students at Hughes Center's High School for the Teaching Professions can study ASL if they have completed three years of another foreign language.
For Ms. Trujillo, who lost her hearing from spinal meningitis at the age of 6, an ASL class means more than gestures and vocabulary.
It's about the culture of deaf people, too.
For instance, her 85 students learn the hard way that it is rude to speak in the presence of a deaf person. Those who use their voice in class have points taken off their grade.
Also, they learn appropriate forms of touching to get a person's attention.
Steady eye contact, considered impolite or too forward in some cultures, is essential when communicating with the hands.
Though the approach to teaching ASL is similar in some ways to Spanish or French, students do not need to travel far to use it.
Few enrolling in the classes have deaf relatives, educators say. But once they begin to learn the language, students are surprised at the number of deaf people they encounter and are thrilled to use their skills on the street or through a job.
Valerie Siekman, 18, a Lakota West senior and a student of Ms. Trujillo's, said she brought a deaf 8-year-old boy to a local spring break camp this year.
Without Ms. Siekman, the boy's mother would not let him attend the camp because she could not afford an interpreter.
After graduation, Ms. Siekman plans to attend the Cincinnati State Technical and Community College's two-year ASL interpreter program.
Later she wants to combine those skills with a degree in elementary education to teach deaf students.
Level playing field
Others say they'll incorporate ASL into such jobs as a flight attendant or nurse.
"Not many people know sign language," said Mary Reagan, 16, a Lakota West junior and a student in Ms. Trujillo's class. "When you use it, people say, "Wow, that was cool.' "
Officials at St. Rita School for the Deaf in Evendale are just as excited by the ASL programs at Cincinnati area schools.
"For (deaf people), it levels the playing field and helps them feel they are equal all the time," spokeswoman Jodi Weiser said. She also wants to see ASL recognized for what it is -- a separate language.
For Ms. Trujillo -- who holds master's degrees in both education and social work and sits on a statewide commission working for the disabled -- respect for the deaf is long overdue.
"Hearing people need to realize deaf people can do anything hearing people can do -- except hear."
