Deaf ESL Students - Gallaudet University

By Francisca Rangel
19, octubre, 1.999
Istood with magic markers ready. It
was mid-morning, time to present a
lesson on bar graphs to my fourth
graders at Kendall Demonstration
Elementary School (KDES) on the
Gallaudet University campus in
Washington, D.C. I had already written
the date on the board in Spanish as is
my custom. I add the Spanish inscription
to the English first thing every
morning, partly to enrich the class and
partly in recognition of the one child
in my class from a Latino family.
Juanita* is from El Salvador. Her
mother died several years before and
her father recently remarried. She
seemed to be handling the situation
with the quiet acceptance that she
used to handle everything. Juanita was
learning with children her own age.
Her American Sign Language had
blossomed and her knowledge of
Spring 2000
English was growing, too.
Juanita’s eyes were among those
watching me avidly when the smell
wafted through our classroom. In the
next class, the teacher and students
had read Grace Maccarone’s Pizza
Party and were cooking as a follow-up
activity. The smell was rich, warm, and
welcoming.
Pizza.
“Is that for us?” one of the students
asked. All of them looked around
eagerly. Thoughts of bar graphs vanished.
“It’s not for us,” I explained. “It’s
for other students.”
Their reaction was instantaneous.
“It’s not fair!” they cried.
A few of my students inched toward
the classroom divider. Two tried to
peek underneath. Their classmates
clamored over to join them. Even
Juanita, usually among the most quiet
in the class, couldn’t resist that smell.
For an instant, I worried that decorum
might break down entirely.
And I had to empathize. My assistant,
Melissa Knouse, an intern from
Gallaudet University, and I looked at
each other. If the pizza was making us
ABOVE: The author, Francisca Rangel, with one of her students.
hungry, what effect must it be having
on our students?
“Pizza is a great snack,” I agreed.
The students shuffled about, displeasure
evident on their faces. A few
flashed me signs of discontent,
although not Juanita. She has many
American habits, but she is still
extremely polite and respectful in the
classroom—exactly as her parents
would want her to be.
“Let’s sit down.” I gestured to a
small table and the students clustered
around me. “What would be a good
question to use for our bar graph?”
“Snacks,” Chris responded.
He thought for a moment and then
formulated the question, “If we had a
chance for a snack in class, what would
it be?”
Perfect. I wrote Chris’s question
down on a sheet of paper.
“Ashley, what’s your favorite snack?”
I asked.
“Pizza,” said Ashley. She was not
pleased. But she was looking at me. So
were her classmates.
“French fries,” said Megan.
Each child signed a response and I
recorded it.
19