ESPERO School Year Begins

07 Mar ESPERO School Year Begins

We kicked off our new school year for our deaf adults mid-February.  We currently have 20 students ranging from 1^st to 8^th grade.  We have already mentioned that we have two of our 8^th grade students working in teaching capacities.  We are also excited about other collaborators this year that include a deaf man from Tegucigalpa, who is a leader in the deaf association and will be teaching sign language grammar via Zoom to our students.  As most of you probably know, there are different languages for the deaf.  While the U.S. uses American Sign Language (ASL), Honduras uses LESHO, an acronym for Honduran sign language.  Since our students come to us without a developed language, they have picked up some ASL, some Mexican sign language and some LESHO.  Having a deaf man who is affiliated with the governing body of sign language in Honduras as our teacher will hopefully help our students leave behind their former ways of communicating and move towards a cohesive language that empowers them to communicate throughout the country.  We are also blessed to welcome Christy Owens, also from Tegucigalpa, as our English teacher via Zoom this year.  Christy has been in Honduras for over 20 years with an intense focus on sign language development throughout the country.  The development of our deaf school is a process that continues to evolve into what we hope will one day be exemplary and replicable in other parts of the country.