#kiersey

“Yes?”

“Hi ma’am, my name is Sebastián Hernandez, I’m in your Monday/Wednesday/Friday 10AM class. I wanted to talk to you about some conflicts I might have with the class schedule.”

Here we go. A big shot freshman with one semester under his belt who thinks he’s got it all figured out. Probably about to ask if he can miss classes on Fridays.

“I try to accommodate where I can Mr. Hernandez, but only to a point. If you miss too many there’s very little I will be able to do for you to actually learn the material.”

“Well, I’m on the hockey team and so we have a lot of roadies on weekends…“

Jane’s already tuning out and shuffling papers around her desk. Of course. Another jock who wants to sail through her course to get the requirements out of the way. She’s heard it a thousand times. She knows how to deal with this though, and she’s about to give him some tough love about college classes (that YOU SCHEDULE YOURSELF stop signing up for classes that conflict with your sports jesus) when what he’s saying filters in and its – different from how this script usually goes.

“…and the schedule is usually pretty smart about not impacting classes, but there are a couple Friday sessions that I’d already have to be on the bus for, so I was wondering if there was any way we could out how I’m going to learn the material from those days. Like are there videos online or could I sit on a different section? I really want to do well in this class.”

This never happens. Not once in ten years at Kiersey has someone with class conflicts actually managed to make her think they might actually care about Sign Language. She can give him a chance. Just one though.

“Here’s what we’ll do Mr. Hernandez. There are 4 other sections of this class Monday/Wednesday/Friday, and 2 others Tuesday/Thursday. If your serious about this class you can attend one of those, and if none of those work, we’ll schedule something during my office hours. If I get the feeling you’re not serious and just trying to get your language requirement out of the way with an easy class, you’ll be disinvited from those options. I don’t tolerate slackers in my classes and am even less inclined to help them pass.”

“Thank you so much Professor! I am absolutely serious and I won’t let you down. I have another class soon, but I’ll email you before the end of the day to figure out what’ll work best with the hockey schedule. Thank you thank you thank you!” And then he’s gone in a blur of backpack and jacket swirling behind him.

She’ll have to wait and see, but it seems like this one might actually surprise her.

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It’s always interesting to see what signs people know when they walk into her 101 classes. Usually some of the alphabet and parts of one (1) song that they learned in elementary school choir. If she never has to see bad signing of “Winter Wonderland” or “Jingle Bells” again, it’ll be too soon. Once again, however, Sebastián has surprised her.

He kept his word and had a very polite email in her inbox when she went to check it at the end of that first day of classes, and luckily for him there’s a Tuesday/Thursday class that works perfectly for the few Fridays he’d normally miss. It’s the second day of this section so now it’s time to see where her students are with sign language, and make sure there aren’t any bad habits they have to unlearn first.

They go around the room and the students aren’t surprising with their small amounts of knowledge, it’s a beginner class after all, but Sebastián Hernandez knows more than the alphabet. Obviously concentrating on remembering the motions with his tongue sticking out, he’s busily signing “hockey,” “ice rink,” and “puck” which makes sense, she thinks, but then an incongruous “scarf” shows up.

Blushing sheepishly, he lowers his hands and says, “That’s all I can remember, is that okay?”

A little stunned, Jane says, “That’ll do just fine for starters.”

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Sebastián continues to be engaged and eager to learn throughout the rest of the semester. He dutifully attends the extra sessions when he has to miss for an away game, and even stops by her office hours once, fidgeting the whole time, to ask for extra help. He also informed her when the hockey season was over, and is her best student in his class. Sebastián is still shy in class, but when he does contribute its thoughtful and usually clarifies something for the other students. He’s clearly putting in the work, and probably watching youtube tutorials for basic vocabulary words – his repertoire is eclectic and usually doesn’t follow the syllabus. Why would he know the signs for “Rhode Island,” “Michigan,” and “Canada” when they haven’t started on geography yet? She hasn’t assigned them to learn animal or insect names yet, but he knows the sign for “cricket.” Perhaps most confusing are the signs for “stage,” “singing,” and “cast.” It’s just a weird conglomeration of words. She’d think he has another teacher, but no one would teach that scatterbrained with vocab or grammar.

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Beech? Why would Sebastián Hernandez, he of the hockey team and apparently an interest in drama, want to learn tree types outside of class?

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It isn’t until almost the end of the semester that she figures out what has Sebastián so motivated to learn. As she’s walking back to her car one afternoon, she spots him on the quad, sitting next to a much smaller boy with reddish blonde hair. The new boy looks familiar, but she can’t quite place him until she remembers going to see Dear Evan Hansen last month. He played the lead. Quinn Something that she can’t remember right now. Sebastián looks absolutely besotted, but that’s not what’s revealing about the situation. At least, not by itself. Because the smaller boy is chattering away and she can see his hearing aids from here. She sees Sebastián visibly steel himself before he taps the other boy on the shoulder and starts to sign to him. It’s slow, a little off, and just about the day he’s had, but he’s determined. His tongue is sticking out again. She shifts her eyes to Quinn and sees his face light up with pleasure and surprise. He starts signing at deaf speed at first, but slows himself down so Sebastián can understand at least the more basic vocabulary. Sebastián puts his hands down and kind of shrugs apologetically, like he’s embarrassed he doesn’t know more, and the other boy launches himself at Sebastián. It’s obvious Quinn is pleased and she looks away as they start kissing.

Jane shakes herself a little as she realizes she’s been standing still staring at the couple for several minutes in the middle of the sidewalk. She continues on to her car smiling to herself. She can’t wait for next semester when Sebastián is in ASL 201. Even with his hockey schedule, she now knows why Sebastián wants to learn so badly. She’s definitely going to keep him in mind when she’s looking for a TA next spring. And if nothing else, at least she’s solved the mystery of the weird vocabulary. Other than cricket. She’ll probably never figure that one out.

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