Oh my we had a packed house last Friday at my monthly ASL Meetup Group! Typically we have around 12-15 people. A handful are "regulars" and the rest are usually students looking for some practice or attendance points for a class.
July must have been a slow month for Deaf community events. Why? I had OVER 42 STUDENTS show up!! They were all needing class credit for the summer semester.
Usually the Meetups are small enough to sit in a circle, go around the room with introductions, and chat. Not this time. We took up most of Panera Bread's seating. There was no way for everyone to sit with a sightline of the attendees. What to do with 40+ students??
Thank Goodness for my friend T. She is a deafie who is wonderfully patient with baby signers. T was gracious enough to come help me with a few rounds of DINGO. This was the only thing I could think of to utilize the fragmented seating, practice some ASL, and give the students something to write about. I even had prizes for the winners.
Next month should be a smaller group - summer classes will be almost over. Even with that, there are already 12 people RSVP'd.
Deaf Coffee is tomorrow. We will see how many of the students are brave enough to come to a real Deaf Event...
