Children attending Forest Hills Elementary School in Florence, Alabama, have been learning sign language a few words at a time as a part of physical education classes for the last 10 years, The Times Daily in northwest Alabama reports.One child, who just graduated from the school, estimates he's learned a few hundred words through the years: "Every day, we learned two words and spent the rest of the time reviewing past words. It was fun and it's really a good skill to have."
Sign language as part of the warm-up for the PE class began when the school had a deaf student more than 10 years ago, but then it became part of the regular activity of the class.
"The teacher leads it with the new words for the day and then the kids take turns leading the review words, through the warm-up," said Forest Hills Principal Ann Gipson. "The words are posted around the gym and these kids are really getting a pretty good foundation, and it's the beginning of a skill that will last them a lifetime."
Forest Hills is unique in its attempt to incorporate sign language into the school day. Other Shoals schools don't offer sign language classes to the general student population, which the Times Daily notes is ironic because nearby Tuscumbia, Alabama, is a tourist destination for those who want to visit the birthplace of the world's most celebrated deaf-blind person, Helen Keller.
