As board games are laid out and food is set, students at Warhill and Lafayette High School prepare for an evening of conversation— in silence.
“Silent dinners are very popular in deaf culture,” said Jennifer Swinson, the American Sign Language teacher at Lafayette. “So we wanted to offer that to our students, to give them an experience more than just what is being taught in the classroom.”
Swinson, who won teacher of the year at LHS this year, has taught ASL at Lafayette for four years now, but when she first arrived she said she was frustrated to see students taking the course just as an easy “A.” To change this culture, Swinson began to instill in her students the seriousness of the language.
One of the first things she did was start monthly silent dinners along with the help of Rashanda Peters, who also taught ASL at Warhill High School at the time.
“I absolutely love it and so do my students,” Swinson said. “I get to see my students embrace the language and culture and they’re always excited to tell me how they are able to communicate with a deaf person.”
Swinson said there are also silent dinners in Newport News but she didn’t want her students and members of the community to have to drive that far. Now, they can meet at the Williamsburg Premium Outlets food court, where 50 students regularly come to interact with members of the deaf community.
However, that community isn’t necessarily large in Williamsburg, Swinson said. That’s why it is all the more important.
“There are only a few deaf individuals in the area, so they don’t get to have that conversation on a daily basis,” she said. “This gives the students an experience but also brings the small community together.”
Swinson has been working within the deaf community in Hampton Roads since she began teaching 14 years ago. When she was in college, she met a friend who was “hard-of-hearing” and had encouraged her to learn ASL. After taking a few classes, Swinson said she fell in love and decided to make the language part of her life.
After graduating, Swinson became an teacher for deaf students in Newport News. She taught students from kindergarten to high school in a variety of curriculum courses, but she said the hardest was teaching the younger students.
“When I get them in kindergarten, they’re struggling because half of them come from hearing parents who have just tried everything to get their child to use their voice,” she said. “Some of them don’t even know their own name.”
Swinson said the experience also helped prepare her to share the importance of the language with students when she came to Warhill.
Before a law was passed in 2011, ASL wasn’t recognized as a second language in Virginia. But now, the language is getting more recognition and interest. Swinson said she conveys to her students that ASL is just as complex and important as any other foreign language because it has varying grammar and sentence structures.
When students take ASL with Swinson, the only thing they aren’t doing is writing. Instead, they’re making videos and presenting to the class entirely in sign language. All of this activity helps prepare them for what really matters— interacting with the deaf community.
“There’s such a cultural push to be more aware,” Swinson said. “My students love feeling empowered that they know a language that they can share within the community.”
Silent dinners are free and open to the public. The last silent dinner of the year will be in May from 4 to 6 p.m. An exact date is not yet set.
