DSIS senior devotes hours to the deaf
Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo Plainfield Elementary School students Teo and Nik spend some time with volunteer Rachel Leland trying to master the signs as well as the written version of language. Said Leland, "When these kids are writing sentences, they m
ASL - Amazing student Leland: DSIS senior devotes many hours to Plainfield Elementary's deaf
By Anne Ternus-Bellamy | Enterprise staff writer
On one of those dark, wet, blustery days last week, a small group of fifth- and sixth-grade boys at Plainfield Elementary School in Woodland were grouped around a table for a lesson on Alaska and Hawaii.
With rain lashing the windows and lunchtime fast approaching, the boys were growing increasingly fidgety and distracted - nothing unusual for boys of a certain age.
Less typical, though, was the lesson. This is Yolo County's program for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, so these boys needed to master both the written English and the American Sign Language for everything from glacier to tramway, mainland to iceberg.
It's a challenge, said classroom volunteer Rachel Leland.
'Many people assume that sign language is just like English, but with signs instead of voices,' the 18-year-old senior at Davis School for Independent Study said. 'But that's just not true.'
For example, she said, instead of signing the phrase 'take a plane somewhere,' students would simply make the sign for a plane moving.
'That's what I like about sign language,' Leland said. 'You say what you actually mean.'
'When I heard about the program [at Plainfield] I got really excited about working with deaf children,' she said. 'I called them and asked if I could volunteer, and they said, 'Yes, we could use the help.' '
'I go there three days a week, and I get credit for it through DSIS,' she said. 'But I would do it even if I wasn't getting credit.'
This article originally appeared in the Davis Enterprise on January 26, 2010. The complete story is available to subscribers at http://www.davisenterprise.com.
