Open Y36 Sign Language 101

[Ilija Olaf]

To say that Ilija was nervous was an understatement. It had taken a lot of convincing from Mhairi for Ilija to agree to take over the session she'd run last year for students who wanted to learn some sign language, and while the Hufflepuff could agree it might be helpful for some people, the idea of standing up in front of a lot of people was terrifying. A year ago he was hiding out in his room to save being around too many pairs of eyes, but he was trying to push his comfort zones and this was one that was a huge step for the sixth year. After spending most of the semester dreading the upcoming session, he was trying to push through it for his sisters sake, as well as his own, and those who wanted someone to teach them. Growing up with a deaf sister meant that he'd learnt sign language his whole life, making him a perfect candidate to do what he could for the other students.​

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The Hufflepuff had arrived very early to make preparations in the Abandoned Classroom, and did what he could to make the room as interesting as possible. Ilija wasn't the most creative of students, but he wanted little things around the room that the students could interactive with so they weren't all just staring at him the whole time. Out on the tables there were snacks, of course, and some sheets of paper with the basic vocabulary they'd be learning, but additionally there were also as many toys as he could possibly find in the weeks leading up to the session. The posters around the school had also asked that if anyone wanted to bring a personal item, then they would be able to go visit each student, translating what they had and why it was important, so that they had some vocabulary that was personal and unique to them to share with others. Ilija was trying his best not to stand too awkwardly as he waited in the room by himself, wandering around the tables to neaten things up as he waited.​

Below is a list of the students who have previously attended. Feel free to ask them for help in your roleplays!

Student	Attendance
Jacob Kingsley	1 year
Selene Le Fey	1 year
Jenna Jusantrea	1 year
Lysander Summers	1 year
Chloe Thompson	1 year
Ajaccio Skey	1 year
Majora Valentine	1 year
Mary Lou Prindeou	1 year

N.B: If you would like to, your student can bring a personal item of theirs and they will be able to learn how to talk about it!

 

[Mary Lou Layton]

Mary Lou had been to the sign language class last year and she'd enjoyed being able to understand a couple of things that Beau was saying, or that she could even greet him at all. She'd baked a cake for this special occasion, though it wasn't anything fancy and she wasn't sure it would even be big enough for her purposes, but as an unofficial club (she was pretty sure that was the case) she was willing to assume there would not be that many people. It wasn't even really a club, since for all she knew it had started only last year and only because there were a couple of deaf people in the school. Mary Lou thought it was a nice idea that they could do this though and as she arrived she smiled lightly at the new leader, a boy from her own house. She wasn't sure what year he was in, but she knew he was older than her, just by looking at him really. She looked around for somewhere to place her cake before settling on a table near her and walked over to the only other person in the room to point it out. "Hello, I'm Mary Lou," She said, spelling her name out best she could in the limited vocabulary she had. She had no idea if this boy was deaf as she'd never heard him speak that she could recall. "I've brought cake." She looked at her hands and tried to remember how to spell the words out, but knew she wasn't well versed enough to do so.​

 

[Wendall Layton]

Wendall hadn't come to the sign languages class last year and he sort of regretted it. He didn't talk to Beau that much although maybe he would if he could talk to him. After finding that it was being hosted again, the third year decided to attend and maybe pick up a bit on the basics. He was pretty sure he would know a bunch of people here too, and he was right because as soon as he walked into the room he spotted Mary Lou. He was bumping into the Hufflepuff quite a lot recently, which was nice because he was pretty sure he'd call her a friend at this point. They didn't have a lot in common, but they did get on with one another quite well. "Hi Mary Lou!" he waved at the second year, before glancing to the older boy. He didn't really know who he was, asides from the fact he was a Hufflepuff. Was he on the Quidditch team? "I'm Wendall. This is for sign language isn't it?" he asked them both, taking himself a seat at one of the empty desks. ​

 

[Chloe Thompson]

Chloë had thoroughly enjoyed learning about sign language last year, so when she had noticed the posters around school mention it again she hadn't hesitated to participate again. She loved communicating, talking to people and learning another way to do so was just really cool to her. Seeing as the poster had mentioned bringing something personal the gryffindor had stuffed a couple of things in her bag, thinking she could figure out what to use when she got there. She noticed a few people already in the room as she entered, smiling brightly as them as she did. "Hi guys!" Chloë gave them a happy wave, before dropping her bag down on one of the desks to get the weight of her shoulder. Perhaps having decided what she would take before she got there would have been a better idea because now she had just been dragging along things she wasn't going to use anyways.

 

[Jenna Jusantrea -Maxwell]

Jenna rolled eyes when she her Mary voice here. She didn't like her and she didn't know why that. But she walked next and see Chloe. -Hey! Can i be with you?- She hoped that Chloe don't mind and she can ignore that Mary.

@Chloe Thompson

 

[Skylar Anderson]

Skylar had seen posters around the school saying there was some sort of sign language club available, so she was curious and decided to go, besides, who knew when sign language could come in useful? Entering the class she was relieved she wouldn't be the only one, and waved to the others and quickly introduced herself. "Hey guys, I'm Skylar!" she said with a grin. It seemed most of the people already knew one another so not wanting to be rude and barge into their conversations, she kinda just awkwardly hovered near the group, playing with the old dog collar which had belonged to her dog Storm. She'd brought with her, since the poster had said to bring something personal to them so they could learn some vocab to do with it.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander had found sign language quite challenging, but he'd still enjoyed the lessons from the previous year. It had been so long now that he'd practically forgotten most of what he'd learned, aside from his own name and perhaps a couple of the basics, so he was glad for a refresher. The posters around the school had specified bringing an important object too, but Sander wasn't able to decide which of his treasures were the most important, so instead he'd brought along Fuzzfeathers. He was his best friend, and he wanted to be able to know how to talk about him or introduce him. "Hi Ilija!" Lysander said, waving at the older boy as he entered the room. He was going to miss Mhairi, but it was cool that Ilija was still continuing her lessons. He grinned at Jenna and Chloë as he passed them, before nudging Wendall's shoulder to get his attention, plonking himself into a seat next to his other best friend. Fuzzfeathers was always going to be his number one, but Wendall was a close second.​

 

[Ajaccio Skey]

Ajaccio had heard about the next sign language class, he'd been practicing and learning it on and off since speaking to Beau and the first class of it, but since he knew Mhairi had graduated he had figured that they would end there unless Beau took the classes. but it seemed he was wrong on that front, they were back up and running and as Ajax stepped into the abandoned classroom for it, he recognised the boy at the front as both on the hufflepuff team but also as the sibling to Mhairi, so that was why he was likely taking this class. The ravenclaw gave the older boy a quick smile before looking around the room, he spotted Star and lysander sitting with a younger girl, and the Chloe sitting with someone from their year..jenna or something. He wasn't too sure who to sit with, but he went to the Chloe and the other girl and sat with them, "hey guys," He gave them both a smile, "I think my brother's coming, you don't mind if he sits with us?". Ajaccio placed his old journal on the table in front of them, it was his item of importance.​

@Chloe Thompson @Jenna Jusantrea ​

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia had known it would be a little easier to communicate with beau on his level. She knew that her faster pace of speaking was a little frustrating and she knew she was the worst for remembering that he needed to see her lips before he could understand her. But, it wouldn't matter, she'd learn some sign language and she would end up always thinking of that and remembering to do it, over forgetting entirely. She walked into the abandoned classroom, where she had not yet returned to study, and was a little surprised at who was running it. Immediately she glared at the older boy, but she needed to learn so she just found herself a spot in the room to sit and listen, but she kept a heavy glare at the person at the front and would whenever he met her gaze.​

 

[Lumio Skey]

Lumio had expressed an interest in going along to the sign language class to Ajax and had been unsurprised to learn that he had gone the year before and so could join him, he had brought along something that mattered to him and was keen to just get to learning about sign language, it wasn't something he knew he needed to know, but Lumio thought it would be neat and probably pretty useful too. It was just be something good that he knew how to do. He stepped into the room and felt a little overwhelmed in the first instance, he spotted a few of the people he knew to be Ajax's friends and a girl from his year. He walked over to his brother and took a seat next to him, "Hey I'm Lumio," he greeted the two girls his brother had been sitting with. He recognised one, she was on the quidditch team, if he remembered correctly and in his house, the other girl he didn't know at all. ​

 

[Padme Hume]

Padme had avoided the sign language lessons in the last years he had wanted to go along, but had found out it was Ilija's sister who'd been running it so she'd decided against, in this semester she had figured that it was somene else, and not the olaf family, so when she walked into the room and spotted Ilija she froze up. She couldn't help it. She just stared at him for a moment before forcing a small smile, definitely just trying to be polite towards him and then found herself a spot in the room, where to her surprise sat Leia, "hey," she greeted the other girl quietly, trying to not draw too much attention to herself. ​

 

[Ilija Olaf]

Ilija turned to see the first girl entering the room, already impressed when she started to sign her name in greeting. "Thank you @Mary Lou Prindeou " he said, surprised and a little overwhelmed to have already been gifted from the first student he met. "That's very kind of you," he looked up to see another boy enter, and the Hufflepuff hoped that he was going to be able to keep up with everyone's names as they came in. The sixth year placed the cake down so that it was offered to everyone here, before three more girls entered the room. He could see that the students had definitely brought some things with them, "Hey," he shot them the bravest smile he could muster, before Lysander joined them too. He didn't really know the Gryffindor much beyond meeting him here last year, although he'd heard from Mhairi that he'd helped her in the gardens too. After some more brief welcomes, he was pleased to see that the students were talking amongst themselves. He was sure it would have been painful if he had to entertain them all before they started the session too. "We'll just wait to see if anyone else turns up," he said, moving to the front somewhat reluctantly, but trying to ignore the feeling in his stomach. As the door opened again he spotted Leia, instantly looking away from the Slytherin to avoid the feelings of guilt coming back. At least it wasn't Padme. He thought he was safe until however Padme did enter the room, and immediately Ilija thought he just wasn't cut out for hosting this. He turned away, cheeks flushing red given their history and that they hadn't spoken since they broke up, and it took everything for him to try and ignore her. ​

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"Okay, um, can everyone sit in a circle with your items please. If you didn't bring one it's fine, you can either take one of the things from the table or wait until we've been through everyone and we will move on to some more vocabulary." he said, doing his best to talk clearly despite the nerves stuck in his throat and tried to usher them all to sit where they could face each other. It had been a stroke of genius if he may say so to get the students talking so that it wasn't all on him. "My name is Ilija, if you don't already know me. I'm a sixth year Hufflepuff and I have a sister Mhairi, who started this last year. Mhairi was born deaf so I've grown up using sign language for as long as I can remember. Hopefully this will help you a bit too," It was like a second language in their home. "Who would like to start? If you want to tell us about yourself and what you've brought with you, I will do my best to show you can you sign about it?" he sounded a little doubtful about his own plan, but he hoped it would work.​

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Out of Character:

If anyone else wants to join, you're more than welcome to slip in

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[Skylar Anderson]

Skylar was pleased to see more students arriving, since it meant all the more chance to meet new friends and people, but at the same time she felt pretty awkward and outcast, standing by herself near the edge of the class, so she was glad when they finally got to sit in a circle formation, where the leader of the group, Ilija, welcomed them and explained what would be happening. Eager to make a better first impression on the group, Skylar volunteered herself to start, and began talking.

"Uh, hey everyone, I'm Skylar and I'm a first year Gryffindor and I'm here since it seemed like a really cool thing to learn and could potentially help me communicate better with people if I ever need to! Oh and also you all seem like really cool people, so I'm looking forward to getting to know you all better!" she said with a grin, before realising she hadn't yet talked about the item she'd brought with her. "Oh yeah, and I've brought my dog Storm's old collar with me, she's a Labrador and the sweetest girl in the world!" knowing she was probably gushing a bit too much about her dog, she tried to tone it down, but it was hard, animals were some of her favourite things in the world, and she loved her dog so much! "Storm came into our family when my brother and I turned 7, so she hasn't been with us for too long, but I love her to bits anyway." she finished with a smile.

Ilija had said something about showing them how to sign some stuff about their personal item once they'd introduced themselves, so turning back towards him, she waited to see what her first word she'd learn in sign language would turn out to be, secretly hoping it would be dog or Storm.

 

[Selene Le Fey]

selene had seen the signs advertising the sign language class. she had attended last year and had actually found it useful as she had met beau a couple of weeks after and had used it to talk to him. ir at least tell him her name. and she was now taking extra classes with professor Chamberlin. so being able to understand sign language was a benifit. she had thought about what special item to bring. she didnt have anything that personal. at least not somethign she wanted to share with a group of strangers. she was ust about to leave the dorm when there was a meow as asteria wound herself around her ankles. she picked up the cat and made her way to the classroom.
she joind the circle just as they were starting. she listened as the girl next to her introduced herslef and the dogs collar then it was her turn. "Hello I am Selene" she said spelling her name as she went. she had practiced the alphabet last night and managed to make sure she at least knew her name by heart. it was doing this and arithmance classes that she realised that her name was half e's "I'm a fifth year ravenclaw and i attended this workshop last year. I have brought ith me my cat Asteria who always seems to know when i need her" she said gesturing to the pale grey tabby who was asleep on her lap and spelling out the name as she said it. slightly slower than her own name as she had less practice. she ot the i and the e the wrong way around but hoped that no one would notice. it was harder to picture words in her head and break them into letters compared to just writing them down.

 

[Fenton Fuller]

Fenton was wondering the corridors as he noticed a sign language poster handing on the wall. The young boy's face lit up with a huge smile as he read over the flyer. Fenton had been trying to show people the beauty of sign language, a language he had used since birth. So far his results had been mixed with some people understanding and others not so much. The mixed results had started to weigh on Fenton, who until this moment was unsure if he would ever make a difference.

Fenton looked over the flyer excitedly before realizing that the meeting was occuring right at this moment. Bugger He thought as he began walking as fast as possible to the second floor corridor. Fenton frantically looked around seeing what seemed to be an unused classroom, but full of students. This has to be it Fenton thought as he walked quietly into the room. He did not want to disrupt anyone who was taking their turn. It seemed almost as if a show and tell was happening, but with lots of food. Wicked The young Gryffindor thought as he took a seat, looking around the room. An older student named Selene was speaking about herself and her adorable tabby, which was contently sleeping on her lap. Fenton smiled at the cat, still wishing he had bought one of his own.

Knowing Fenton would probably have to introduce himself soon, guessing from where he took a sit in the room. Fenton quickly looked through his bag for something to show, he really was not prepared for this, but he rarely was prepared. It was just who he was. Luckily, in his backpack, was a comic book from home, Thor. That would have to do Fenton thought placing the backpack near his side, and holding the comic book on his lap.

When it was Fenton's turn to introduce himself, he stood up so everyone could see him, placing the comic book on the chair. "Hello Everyone" Fenton began giving a wave at the students around him. "My name is Fenton." He began making sure to finger spell his name slowly. "Sorry I'm late" He added with a small smile continuing to sign as he normally would at home. "My mother is deaf and both my brother and I are hard of hearing, so sign is honestly my first language." Fenton explained not sure if he needed to give a background or not. Fenton leaned over to pick up the comic book in his sit, holding it with one hand to make sure he could continue to speak. "I brought a comic book" He said knowing it was a dorky habit, but Fenton could not help his love for muggle comics and superhero movies; they were magic in their own way. "It is about Superheros." He added not sure if he should explain more. Fenton decided against it as he took his seat about, putting the comic book back in his bag. It felt nice, even comfortable, to be able to sign again without any judgement or confusion. This after all seemed like the place.

Spoiler: Fingerspell Fenton