Club Sign Me Up

ABOUT Club Sign Me Up

 

Club Sign Me Up is an after-school, American Sign Language club designed for hearing kids, from elementary school through high school, to learn about Deaf culture and language. Filled with fun and innovative learning tools, the club promotes community building and language acquisition through weekly meetings. Your child can be bilingual through learning American Sign Language and be more welcoming and inclusive of the Deaf and hard of hearing, a cultural and linguistic minority in our community. 

 

We piloted our first Club Sign Me Up at Dan Mills Elementary School and immediately hit our maximum membership limit. In fact, we had so many students sign up that we had to split into two clubs! Club members came weekly, eager to learn new signs and to communicate with each other with voices off and hands up! From the beginning with the alphabet to some basic conversation, club members excelled through the pilot. Not only does this program increase American Sign Language acquisition and English-language competencies, but it also provides increased communication access for Deaf and hard of hearing students in your school and community. 

 

The club is designed to meet once a week for fourteen weeks each semester, but we are open to other venues such as congregations and libraries. The club must have a minimum of 10 members and a maximum of 15 members. Basic membership dues for the full school year are $225 plus any cost associated with having a faculty or staff member sponsor the club, if required. That typically adds about $25 to the cost for each student. Dues cover the cost of sending one of our trained instructors to lead the weekly meetings, deliver our curriculum, and the book used in class. We do not offer transportation.  If the total cost is $250 per year (due to school or PTO adding $25 cost), then you are paying only $8.75 per 45 to 60 minute club meeting, only $8.75 a week to give your child a second language. 

 

 

 

About Bridges for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

 

Bridges for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is nonprofit organization serving Middle Tennessee, southwest Tennessee, southern Kentucky, northern Alabama, and parts of Mississippi and Arkansas.  Our mission is to serve an empowered and united community in which the Deaf, deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing equally participate and are equally valued. We envision a world without barriers in which potential is unlimited and self-realization is possible. To learn more, please click on the button.