On Tuesday October 6, the American Sign Language Club hosted a weekly meeting in classroom F111. The gathering began with sign in, and the announcement of upcoming events and trips that the club will be attending, such as “Signing and Singing”, where members will sign along at a Stockton a Capella performance, and “Paint a Pot”, where students will travel to a pottery store owned by a deaf woman to witness sign language as a part of everyday life.

Next, the agenda for the meeting and the vocabulary from the previous week was reviewed with the group. Students reviewed practiced the signs for greetings, colors, numbers, questions, and the alphabet. Then, to further study and memorize the signs, students played an activity. The members divided themselves into four smaller groups where they practiced signing various statements and questions in order to get to know the other members of the club, and to perfect the hand motions. Members practiced asking each other about their clothing, what their name is, where they live, and what they like.

To reflect upon the activity, students then returned to their seats and members took turns to inform the club, through sign language, about something new that they learned about other members of the group. At the close of the gathering, members viewed a video of two girls signing along to the song “Free Falling” by John Mayer. This video demonstrated the versatility of American Sign Language and its power to convey emotion. The video also served as a preview for students interested in taking part in the club’s upcoming “Singing and Signing” event.