GOSHEN, Ind. – Four years ago, Heather Zimmerman came to Goshen College from Guam to study American Sign Language. Now, she has graduated and is taking her passion for ASL to give back to her native island.

After two years of planning, Zimmerman, a 2011 graduate from Barrigada, Guam, who majored in ASL, along with her friend and colleague, Naomi Webster, a 2011 graduate from Bloomfield Hills, Mich., who majored in ASL, led Guam’s first-ever day camp for deaf children for a week during the summer.

“Deaf children in Guam often get isolated and are deprived of the same learning opportunities as hearing children,” said Zimmerman. That’s why she wanted to bring the same atmosphere of intentional learning and fun that she learned from working at several deaf camps in the United States to deaf children in Guam.

So Zimmerman and Webster combined forces and began planning Guam’s Own Deaf Children’s Day Camp. “We work really well together, because Heather has the big ideas, and I’m good with organizing things and figuring out how to make things work,” said Webster.

Zimmerman used her connections to help make their ideas become reality. The camp was held at Southern Christian Academy in Guam, where she previously attended. A member of a local church volunteered to shuttle the campers to and from the school every day. She compared it to the loaves and fish miracle when, a day before the camp started, a local church member volunteered to provide lunch for the campers every day.

They used yet another connection to get other staff members for the camp. Zimmerman’s parents run a nonprofit organization which provides residential recovery counseling for women with substance abuse issues. Several women from the organization signed up to help at the deaf camp in order to fulfill community service hours. Though the women weren’t fluent in ASL, they helped lead activities.

“Helping with the camp really helped the women see outside of themselves, and helped inspire them,” said Zimmerman.

Every day, five deaf children came to the camp, in addition to five to 10 curious hearing children. “Some kids would sneak out of the summer classes that were being held at the academy to join in the camp activities,” said Zimmerman, “but we told them they had to sign if they wanted to participate.”

Having both hearing and deaf children there made the activities more challenging, since they were planning on using only ASL to run the camp. But they figured out ways to include both deaf and hearing children by playing games, swimming, learning about deaf art and literature, and having time to socialize.

In the end, the camp was well received with many people eager to help out. “Awareness wasn’t our original goal; the focus shifted once we got the camp running, but we were able to handle it,” said Zimmerman. “Our goal was to inspire deaf children, but we ended up inspiring hearing people, too.”

Zimmerman and Webster have even bigger ideas for next summer. They want to expand the camp to be two weeks long and to increase the number of deaf participants. Until then, the two will continue to be involved in deaf culture. This fall, Zimmerman is beginning a two-year master’s program in international development at Gallaudet University (the world’s only university strictly designed for deaf and hard of hearing students in Washington, D.C.). Webster will be returning to Goshen in the fall to complete her final semester of ASL studies.

“It’s been a faith type of journey from my dream that started two years ago,” said Zimmerman. “God opened up the doors for us and provided many miracles.”

To learn more about Guam’s Own Deaf Children’s Day Camp, email dcdcguam@gmail.com.

– By Alysha Landis

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College Acting News Bureau Coordinator Alysha Bergey Landis at (574) 535-7762 or alyshabl@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.

New sign language program combines songs and playtime at Community School of the Arts

GOSHEN, Ind. – Beginning Jan. 28, Goshen College’s Community School of the Arts will offer a new music and sign language program called Sign & Sing for parents and their children ages six months to three years. This research-proven program is based on methods shown to speed language development in hearing children, ease frustration and enhance long-term learning abilities.

Jenny Campagna, a Kindermusik educator, is teaching the program created exclusively for Kindermusik by leading experts in sign language for hearing children called Signing Smart Inc. This new class combines songs and playful interaction to help children learn American Sign Language.

“Instinctively your baby reaches up when she wants to be held, and you instinctively pick her up and dance and sing to soothe her,” said Campagna. “Sign & Sing helps you see these moments happening every day in your life and gives you the language to improve that communication, and strengthen the bond between you and your child.”

The five-session class gives parents the tools to learn more than 50 American Sign Language signs for children ages 6 months to 3 years. Campagna will teach signs such as “help,” “change,” “bed,” “where” and “thank you.”

The class experience also includes a set of clip-on flashcards of American Sign Language that features photos of both a parent and a child making the signs. Also included is a booklet of activities for parents and their children to learn and play with at home, and a DVD glossary that features adults using sign language.

“One of the best ways to draw a child into learning sign language is through what they love: songs and play,” says Carol Penney, Kindermusik’s manager of curriculum development.

The class will be held on five consecutive Saturdays, beginning Jan. 28, and it will meet from 9:30 to 10:15 a.m. at the Goshen College Music Center. Cost for the class and materials is $85.

Kindermusik International is the world’s most respected publisher of music and early childhood education programs. Signing Smart Inc. is a nationally-recognized program for hearing infants and toddlers created by Michelle Anthony and Reyna Lindert, experts in language and child development.

For more information or to register for the class, contact Community School of the Arts by calling (574) 535-7361 or emailing csa@goshen.edu.

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.

Those experiences have led Goshen College to name a new location and new language for the 37-year-old Study-Service Term (SST) program by sending the first group that has American Sign Language (ASL) as its primary language into which students will be immersed. The one-of-a-kind program to Jamaica will take place in the summer of 2007.

Yoder and Director of International Education Tom Meyers believe that this is the first full semester academic ASL study abroad program in the country. They are not aware of any other colleges with such an offering which incorporates both study and service abroad, though some schools do offer several week mission trips with ASL as the primary language.

“We have a tradition of offering SST programs in all the languages we teach here. We now offer ASL, so it is a natural extension of that philosophy,” Meyers said. “Our students will learn about Jamaican culture, but also Jamaican Deaf culture.” Jamaica is a Caribbean island with a rich culture of music, art and cuisine, influenced by its history and blend of ethnic traditions. Jamaica also hosted SST units in the 1970s.

Jamaica was primarily chosen as the location because of contacts Yoder and his wife Sheila, also an assistant professor of American Sign Language Interpreting at Goshen College, made with Maranatha School for the Deaf, a ministry of Virginia Mennonite Board of Missions. The Yoders will be the first unit leaders in 2007.

Like other Goshen College study abroad locations, Jamaica has Third World realities; despite the large tourist industry, most Jamaicans are fairly poor. The country has a 15.9 percent unemployment rate. In addition the country appears to have an unusually large population of Deaf people. According to the Jamaica Association for the Deaf over 300 children are diagnosed each year with a mild to moderate hearing loss. “From this we can assume the incidence of deafness is higher than in the United States,” Sheila said.  Although many developing countries have no schools for Deaf children to attend, Jamaica does have an infrastructure of deaf schools. Sheila said that there are more than eight schools for the Deaf, most started by mission groups, in a country slightly smaller in size than Connecticut.

Starting an SST program in Jamaica “says something about Goshen College’s commitment to validating ASL as a language of equal value to other spoken languages,” Sheila Yoder said. She believes this international education option will appeal to not only ASL Interpreting majors, but other students as well, especially those interested in minoring in ASL.

English is the primary spoken language in Jamaica, but the Deaf community signs with a Jamaican Sign Language which is different from, but is heavily influenced by ASL. Jamaica was colonized first by the Spanish in the 1400s, later by the British and gained independence in 1962.

“We feel like it is a very good place for [students learning ASL] to go to understand how indigenous sign language evolves, but also how it is influenced by outside cultures imposed on a minority group,” Sheila Yoder said. “It will also help them develop their signing skills as they will be using ASL and to understand how school plays a central role in the passing on of Deaf culture.”

The Jamaica unit will be organized like all SST locations, including requiring students to have studied a second language for at least two semesters – in this case ASL. The unit will be based in the capital of Kingston. All students will work in deaf schools throughout the country as the service component of the study abroad program, though this will occur during the first part of their semester abroad rather than in the last half as with most SST units.

The Jamaican schools offer Deaf students a unique community, as most Deaf children are born to hearing parents who do not fully understand or are not a part of the Deaf community. Myron said, “We expect much of the learning to come from living with families of the culture, in this case at schools for the Deaf which often become the ‘family’ to Deaf people. This will certainly provide a significant opportunity for Goshen College students to understand the minority status of Deaf people and the role of education in a developing country.”

After living at the school for six weeks, the students will return to Kingston to live with host families, engage in deeper study of ASL and learn about Jamaican Deaf culture. The Jamaica Association for the Deaf will assist with the education component of the program when the students are back in Kingston.

Although ASL classes have been available at Goshen College for nearly two decades, a four-year degree in American Sign Language Interpreting began in 2002, and the college now offers both a major and minor. This program offers students the opportunity to appreciate the language, culture, contributions and history of the Deaf community in the United States. The four-year degree program is designed to prepare graduates for a professional interpreting career and to use their skills in service to the community and the church. Upon completion of the bachelor’s degree, students will have taken the written portion of the National Registry of Interpreters for Deaf evaluation and have a sound base on which to build their interpreting skills. Goshen is one of only three ASL/English programs in the state of Indiana and it is the only Mennonite college to offer a four-year degree in ASL/English Interpreting. For more information about Goshen College’s ASL Interpreting major, visit http://www.goshen.edu/asl.

Since the first SST units went to Costa Rica, Jamaica and Guadeloupe in 1968 and began one of the country’s most unique international education programs, more than 6,500 students and 230 faculty leaders have traveled to 20 countries; the college currently organizes SST units to study and serve in China, Dominican Republic, Germany, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Senegal and Peru. The program’s uncommon combination of cultural education and service-learning remains a core part of the general education program, and has earned citations for excellence from U.S.News & World Report, Peterson’s Study Abroad and Smart Parents Guide to College, the John Templeton Foundation and American Council on Education.

For more information about Goshen’s SST program, as well as photos, journals and videos from past groups, visit http://www.goshen.edu/sst/.

Goshen College, established in 1894, is a four-year residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit http://www.goshen.edu.

Editors: For more information, contact News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.