65 students avail of Cebu City Public Library’s free sign language classes

A total of 65 students availed of the free sign language classes program of the Cebu City Public Library. /Screen grabbed from Cebu City Public Library Facebook page.

CEBU CITY, Philippines—From offering short courses on foreign languages, the Cebu City Public Library (CCPL) is now offering free sign language classes to at least 65 students.

Rosario Chua, CCPL’s head librarian, said that their Saturday classes started on July 6 and will continue until August 31.

They tapped Precy Alba, a Special Education (Sped) teacher from the Cebu Norman University (CNU), as their instructor.

Chua said that a total of 80 students availed of their free sign language classes when it opened on July 6. The number was later on reduced to only 65  after 15 of them opted to “stop” from already reporting to their Saturday classes citing conflict in their schedules.

Read more: Free sign language classes at the Cebu City Public Library

Their 65 students are divided into two groups with the first 30 reporting during the morning shift form 9 a.m. to 12 noon while the 35 others report during the afternoon shift from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

“Very good and happy sila. Daghan na silag na katon-an,” Chua told CDN Digital.

(As per students feedback, classes have been doing well and they are happy.  They have been learning a lot of things.)

Chua said that aside from enriching their learnings, students were also able to gain new acquaintances.

Library management, Chua said, thought of offering their special classes after Alba approached her to volunteer her free time to teach those who wanted to learn sign language.

Chua said that learning sign language is also a means to facilitate better understanding with those who are suffering from vision loss and the hearing impaired.

Read More: Cebu City public library offers free Japanese language classes

Earlier, the CCPL also accommodate those who wanted to learn Japanese and Korean languages for free. /dcb