Arsenio Merced tells a story in American Sign Language to his classmates at Bronx Leadership Academy II in the South Bronx. For the first time, the school is offering ASL as a choice among foreign languages needed to meet graduation requirements.
Bronx Leadership Academy Options Signing For Other Languages
The classroom at Bronx Leadership Academy II was silent as Arsenio Merced, 17, stood in the front of the room and told a story. When he finished, his fellow students, instead of clapping, held up their hands and shook them around.
Merced, a junior, is taking American Sign Language at this public school in the South Bronx section of New York City. Starting this academic year, students at Bronx Leadership can select American Sign Language to fulfill their language requirement instead of more traditional, spoken languages.
“Most of the students are here because they had trouble in other languages,” said David Buie, 29, the school’s sign language instructor. “They seem to be doing a lot better here than they did in Spanish or French.”
For the last two years, Buie has been teaching ASL as an elective, or what the school calls a club, at Bronx Leadership. Students who join the club learn basic vocabulary, and Buie teaches them a popular song of their choosing. Last year the students learned “Irreplaceable” by Beyonce, performing the song for the whole school at the end of the semester.
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