More than 600 hearing students are enrolled in classes in the American Sign Language interpreter training department.

On average, 90 students use the lab a weekly, lab technician David Solis said.

The department began offering classes and opened the lab this semester in the basement of Nail, a recently remodeled space they share with the mortuary science, allied health and computer information systems departments.

The lab is equipped with five televisions with videocassette recorders to watch videos related to lessons students are learning in class, Filippone said Tuesday in an interview conducted through staff interpreter Stephanie Sween.

Solis said there are 26 part-time staff interpreters and one full-time staff interpreter employed by the college.

“If we need an interpreter for the drama department, the staff interpreters do it,” he said.

In one video, the left half of the screen shows the signer signing the word spelled out at the bottom of the screen.

On the right half, the signer is shown at a different angle.

The lab also has eight computers, five with videos students can watch when the televisions are in use.

To contact the lab by phone, people need to use TeleTYpewriter, a telecommunication device for the deaf.

Dial 711 and a relay operator will answer the phone.

Give the operator the number (210)733-2056, and the operator will act as an interpreter for the deaf person on the receiving end of the call.

The deaf person will type the response, and the operator will read the response to the caller.

The operator will type the caller’s words for the deaf person to read on the TTY device.

The lab recently acquired a video conferencing unit, which students can use to make calls using sign language through streaming video seen by the operator.

Students can get additional practice by joining a club on campus.

The Connection Club consists of interpreter students and deaf support specialists both hearing and deaf.

Professor Julie Razuri and Filippone are the advisers.

The Connection Club sponsors events such as ASL Storytellers at Borders Bookstore at the Quarry Market in which interpreter training students volunteer to tell stories in American Sign Language.

The next ASL story will be at 2 p.m. Feb. 5 and will have a Valentine’s Day theme.

For more information on the Connection Club, call Razuri’s office at 785-6096. It is a non-TTY line.

The resource lab is open 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday.

Beginning tomorrow, the lab will be open from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays.

By Vanessa Castañeda
http://www.theranger.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/01/26/43d957b85825d