Davie High is one of a handful of high schools in the state where American Sign Language can be taken to satisfy a foreign language requirement toward earning a diploma. The class can also be used as an elective.
Teri Morgan, who teaches ASL I and ASL II, said a few high schools in the Cary and Charlotte areas are the only other places ASL is taught as a foreign language.
ASL is an approved language by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. More than 150 U.S. universities accept ASL, including the UNC Charlotte, UNC Greensboro, UNC Wilmington and Gardner-Webb.
American Sign Language is a complete, complex language that uses signs made by moving the hands combined with facial expressions and body postures. It is the primary language of many North Americans who are deaf and is one of several communication options used by people who are deaf.
While student teacher Kiely McGuire reviews vocabulary with the ASL I class, Morgan calls each student, one at a time, to her desk, for one-on-one work.
The student must sign different things to Morgan. Each starts with the Pledge of Allegiance. She mixes up the rest of the requests: ABCs, Mississippi, Bananas, 867.
Students are usually there to meet a foreign language requirement. But some have a more personal reason for learning ASL.
Sophomore McKenzie Folk wanted to learn ASL so she could better communicate with one of her sister’s friends. “She took the class before me and now we can talk with Eric,” she said.
Levi Boger, also a sophomore, has an aunt who is deaf.
“I really wanted to be able to talk to her,” he said. “I started out slow, but it is going better than it used to.”
