On December 5th, The ASL teacher, Mr. Distelrath, and his ASL students interpreted a children’s winter concert in the BCA. Mr. D filmed many videos of him signing each song and sent them to each person signing each song. Many students took it into their own to change some of the signs, some of the movements, and such, and students helped teach each other as well. Many people learned more signs and how to understand signs more from learning these songs because of the fast pace and repetitive practice. Mr. D was very proud of each student and received high praise from staff, students, and the audience.
ASL teacher Mr. Distalwrath has never considered interpreting for his students in his five years of teaching, which he does a lot outside of school. So when the opportunity presented itself to Mr. D, he took advantage, helped the students who were interested in participating and taught them how to sign each song. He was very excited that this concert went well and received very positive feedback, “I’m very happy with the result of the concert, and I got very good feedback from staff teachers and families, and I was very proud of every student and would definitely consider doing this type of thing again.” Mr. D worked very hard to teach students their songs, and with the help of ASL 4 students, the concert went very well, and every person did very well.
Senior Maddie Coss helped interpret for this concert and signed in two of the songs, “Into The Unknown” and “When I Grow Up.” Coss had a fun time practicing and participating in interpreting for the concert. “I definitely would do this again because I had a lot of fun, and it was really cool to see the deaf people in the audience and know they were looking at us and we were helping them.” There are never interpreters at these types of concerts, so this was new for our ASL class, and the deaf people in the audience watching their kids perform. Many of the deaf families that watched complimented some of the students and Mr. D. and were very appreciative.
Overall, the concert was a success and something Mr. D and the ASL department would like to continue doing. Many deaf families enjoyed their kid’s performance while watching the interpreters sign. Those families showed a lot of appreciation, and it was a really cool experience to see them look at the interpreters and understand all of the signs. Mr. D has done an outstanding job teaching all of the students in ASL and preparing them for the performance.
