[EDLING:2349] Ohio: Common 'foreign' language not taught in school

[Francis M Hult]

Via lgpolicy...

> Common 'foreign' language not taught in school
> 
> 21 hours ago
> By PETER GREER
> 
> greer at crescent-news.com
> 
> HICKSVILLE -- Schoolteachers have introduced students to a number of
> foreign languages over the years, but one local woman wants to introduce a
> very common "foreign" language that has never been taught in the school at
> all. And she's not demonstrating it in the classroom, either. Rather, it's
> being "taught" at football and basketball home games, which bring in a
> much larger audience than an isolated classroom of 25 or so students.
> After English, Spanish and Russian, says Susan Gonwick, the most common
> language used in America is sign language.
> 
> Gonwick says that sign language is a necessity since "everybody has the
> right to communicate." Sign language is used to communicate with the
> hearing-impaired, using one's hands to convey words and letters of the
> alphabet. The language has been used for centuries and, like Braille, was
> brought to America from France. The 1978 Hicksville High School graduate,
> who spent a decade living in Washington state, graduated two years ago
> from Spokane Falls Community College, Spokane, to become a sign language
> interpreter. Studying sign language "was something I really wanted to do
> (but) I was never in a position to do it until five years or so ago."
> 
> As it turned out, sign language turned out to be very common in the
> Spokane school where her children attended. "My oldest and youngest girls
> each had deaf girls in their classrooms ... fellow students," Gonwick
> says. "All the kids in the classes learned sign language." Knowledge of
> sign language on the West Coast apparently didn't stop at the school,
> either. "I initially thought I would interpret for deaf children,"
> Gonwick notes, "but there were too many interpreters there. That's what
> brought me back here." Returning to Hicksville a year ago last October,
> Gonwick is now employed by Defiance County Job and Family Services, where
> she uses her skills. But the job was not enough to satisfy her desire to
> help the deaf.
> 
> Today, Gonwick is a common sight at local home games, where she signs the
> lyrics to "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the national anthem is sung before
> the games get underway. "I asked (to do that) last year, but for whatever
> reason (high school athletic director David Blue) didn't get in touch with
> me right away. I didn't know Dave that well, and I didn't want to just
> storm in and ask." Prior to the start of the home football season in fall
> 2006, Gonwick asked Blue again and was instantly accepted. "I started at
> the home football games and it carried into basketball," she says.
> 
> The hearing-impaired who attend the games (Gonwick knows of attendees from
> Hicksville, Defiance and Paulding) no doubt appreciate Gonwick's efforts,
> but she says she is glad for the opportunity to keep practicing. "It's a
> way to keep my hands moving," she says. "You have to use it or lose it."
> Another benefit of signing, she says, is that provides an opportunity for
> mother-daughter bonding. "I was at a game," she says, "and Halie (her
> oldest daughter, now 15 1/2) was there, and I said, 'Hey, Halie, you want
> to sign with me?' We do it together, it's kind of neat."
> 
> Halie has followed in her mom's footsteps in other ways. While in Spokane,
> Gonwick taught Bible school songs. Today, she says, Halie signs at the
> children's Masses at the Catholic church. For the future, Gonwick hopes to
> teach sign language classes and would like to see it offered in area
> schools as a foreign language. "It's the fourth-most commonly used
> language in the U.S.," she laments, "but they don't offer it in the high
> schools."
> 
> http://www.crescent-news.com/news/article/1592161
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