My hidden talent

Talent what makes us special. It is a unique skill that God gives us. Some have the talent to sing, some can dance, some mastered drawing, and others love cooking. That what makes them extraordinary.

How about you? What talent do you have? Are you the "jack of all trades, and master of none"?

Well, if you will ask me, what is my talent? I'd rather say "hidden talent". Yeah. It's hidden like a treasure. And until now I can't find it. 😂 At the age of 26, I still did not get the right way of singing. Dancing can be part of my talent, but I think... I need more practice for that. 🤭. Drawing... That's my Dad and brother's talent, let them perform it... I'm not copying someone's mastery. 🤭 And cooking, maybe this is the one. But sometimes it's too salty, sometimes it's tasteless. 🥴 How come that these talents didn't work well on me? 😅

Politely, it's okay. I still can manage my existence without it.

But wait, I'll share with you one of my so-called "capabilities". I will reveal it in this article so keep on reading if you're interested.

Do you know sign language?

It is the language for deaf people. They use it as their way of communication coz no voice can be heard in their mouth.

And proudly, I can say, I know how to communicate to deaf people with their language.

I was one of the volunteers in sign language. We help deaf people to learn their language.

Some of them don't have the right amount of money to pay for schooling. Schools for deaf people charge a massive amount of money. That's reasonable coz deaf people are not easy to teach. You need a lot more patience when educating them.

But as I observe, they are diligent when it comes to learning.

In our place, we're using FSL (Filipino Sign Language). Sign language has different types. There's an ASL (American Sign Language), CSL (Chinese Sign Language), LSF (French Sign Language), and many more. Every type has a different way of communicating.

FSL is more on natural signs. Deaf people, especially the deaf who's not educated, can understand natural signs rather than the actual sign that's been taught in school. But before that, we need to teach them the sign language alphabet.

To teach them with it, we need to at least memorize it. And let them copy the sample hands that are in the paper. We're giving them their copy, and let them review it before bedtime. We also give them an assignment, which is to memorize it before we came back. And you know what? Deaf people are really smart. They can memorize it if you told them to do so. Also, they need to memorize their name. They need to know how to spell it using the sign language alphabet. A lot of patience on this part, as deaf people got annoyed especially the kids, for repetitions. We also teach them to write their names, to draw a simple house, tree, sea, cloud, etc.

Little by little they can learn. Other people want also to learn sign language as it is so cool to see. People can communicate without talking. Some of my friends talk by just seeing each other's hands. Some can discuss and talk even they're in a distance. That's the advantage of sign language.

Sign language also requires a facial expression.

We need to learn how to have a happy face, a sad face, an angry face, and a thinking face. It needs to complement your sign. For example, you're telling us a story about happy moments. Of course, you need to reveal your happy face instead of the angry or sad face. That's the only way, deaf people can understand what your discussing. They also said that the more you're getting uglier or changing your facial expression, the better way that the deaf people will understand. So in sign language, we need to remove our shyness, just to help the deaf people and communicate to them well.

Sign language is hard to learn if you don't have the right motivation to do so. For me, love and pity come first on the list. It demands me to help deaf people. In that way, I studied hard just to help them. Just to teach them. And join the world of silence.

By the way, this is one of the deaf people I was teaching.

She's Joan. This deaf is so smart. She finishes high school that's why she knows a lot of signs.

We're using our time, one day in a week... Just to help them.

That's possible when Covid-19 is not yet existing. But now, it limits our way of helping. This pandemic affects a lot of activities. But it's okay, as long as we're still alive and healthy.

Tip: If you meet some deaf, make sure to communicate with them naturally. And let them feel that they're normal people like us. They also want to be independent, so let them do things that they can.

Btw, my grandma teaches sign language too. If you want to know her story, you can visit this link: https://read.cash/@Mayt/the-hairbrush-d90f9c4b

Thanks for reading. ❤