Learning American Sign Language can be difficult without the correct tools.
ASL teacher Cynthia Harp does an outstanding job with helping students understand and learn how ASL can help them throughout life.
“I taught in the community for awhile, and just decided to take a step up and teach high schoolers,” Harp said.
Overcoming challenges are Harp’s specialties. She prefers to take a step back and analyze the situation before jumping in too soon.
“I worked as an interpreter for many years, and sometimes I still get the opportunity to go and sign for either small or large crowd,” Harp said.
Harp said when teaching ASL, students tend to struggle with being able to sign certain things, so her solution is to stretch the hand and finger muscles to become more comfortable and flexible.
“Every day before I start class, I always tell my students to warm up by stretching, so that way when we sign their hand and finger muscles will be loose,” Harp said.
Harp has taught for 30 years.
“Ten years from now I see myself still working at Vista Ridge and just living life,” Harp said.