Ball High Teacher Katie Lewis teaches American Sign Language to 80 students. American Sign language (ASL) when it started off was not a loved language. It was rather hated by most people because the Deaf were different. They couldn’t hear.
Laurent Clerc was not only a missionary but one of the people who helped bring ASL to life. He came to America in 1816 with the knowledge of French Sign Language (FSL). When Clerc saw the gestures people were using in America, he thought that they needed their own language, so he combined the gestures people were making and FSL and came out with what we know today as American Sign Language.
Ms. Katie Lewis said that she learned the language as a freshman at Michigan State University because she needed foreign language credit. It was not until later that she fell in love with sign. She said that sign language wasn’t her major but was one of her minors. Katie didn’t have any Deaf relatives, but rather a Deaf friend. She added that “Once you learn the language and the culture, you begin to meet plenty of Deaf individuals.”
Lewis spent ten years after college as a sign language interpreter where she interpreted for schools, homes and even the Boston Red Sox. After that experience, Ms. Lewis began assisting a teacher in Boston and they asked her if she’d take over after that teacher retired. She said yes and ever since she has taught ASL in Boston, Dallas and now our very own Galveston.
Today, Ball High provides an ASL I and it is one of the best classes to learn a language. We play exciting culture games as well as fun vocabulary reviews, but that’s not all, the students taking the class also get to learn interesting history and Deaf culture that you’ll be able to recognize within the Deaf community. Next year, ASL 2 and ASL 2 Honors will be offered to those who have taken the prerequisite and want to learn more.
