Our weekly American Sign Language classes are at the advanced beginner level. The classes are small but have a dynamic group of students from our various Friendship House communities. They are terrific at encouraging each other when struggling to remember how to spell or sign a word, and are especially motivated when one of our new resident friends joined the class. Marley is deaf and lights up when other members of our Friendship House community speak his language.

The class meets virtually on Tuesdays at 5:30 pm (central) and is led by Marsha James, a TV producer who works in Washington, DC, for Voice of America. She learned ASL at Gallaudet University - the nation’s pre-eminent university for the deaf and signing community.

Gallaudet’s story began in 1816 when Laurent Clerc and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet crossed the Atlantic from Paris, France, to the United States with a dream to open the country’s first school for deaf education. Then, in 1864, with the support of Congress and President Abraham Lincoln, they extended their vision by founding Gallaudet University. Gallaudet soon became a beacon for visual learning, visual language, social justice, and full rights for deaf and hard of hearing individuals.

For more information, contact Carolyn Naifeh.