By Chris Cunningham
Shirley Sieczkowski, a sign language instructor at Lane Community College since 1994, remembers well the day her first grade teacher misinterpreted her efforts to communicate.
Sieczkowski, who is not deaf but was born to parents who are, was confident she knew the answer to the teacher's question and raised her hand on two separate occasions.
On the third attempt, she raised her hand, and pounded on the desk with her other hand, an action that she soon learned "wasn't acceptable in the hearing world," she says.
Her teacher—who did not understand that the pounding gesture was a perfectly acceptable way to say, "I want your attention," in American Sign Language— had the young Sieczkowski sit in the corner as punishment.
ASL, one of several types of sign languages used in the U.S. and around the world, was Sieczkowski's first language, while English was her second. "Deafness usually is not hereditary," explains Sieczkowski, who was born in Coquille, OR, where she lived next door to her grandparents. They taught her spoken English, but she says, "My mother knew I was signing when I was eight months old."
She began interpreting for her parents in public when she was five years old. It was never a chore, she says. "I loved having deaf parents," especially because passersby praised her for being able to translate for adults.
While real-world learning comprises the bulk of her education, Sieczkowski completed two summers of "formal interpreting" classes at Western Oregon University in the '90s.
From 1992 until 2011, she worked as an interpreter for 4J School District. She also has served as an interpreter in hospitals and churches, and for Lane County Mental Health and even the Very Little Theater.
"It can be difficult to find a qualified interpreter," she says.
Sieczkowski developed her own curriculum for her sign language classes at Lane, which are offered through the college's Continuing Education program.
She begins by teaching two terms of sign vocabulary so that students can begin using the language immediately, even before they learn grammar and syntax.
"If you start simple first, students can be more successful," she says. "People can get overwhelmed."
In addition to private tutoring, Sieczkowski has taught infant sign languages classes at McKenzie Willamette Hospital, and customized ASL classes for medical, and police and fire department personnel.
Given her upbringing, Sieczkowski feels she is able to provide students with a different perspective of the language for the Deaf. "I have a "Deaf heart," she explains, meaning that she is able to interpret what the Deaf speaker is
implying.
"I give the students the gut stuff," she says, that is, the emotional underpinnings of the language, displayed both through facial expressions and hand signs. For example, she says Deaf people say "please" and "thank you" through facial expressions, instead of using signage.
Teaching visual language in an auditory world is deeply satisfying, she says. "Giving my time to something meaningful, that's what keeps me going."