To all my ASL participants, presenters and volunteers-
Thank you for your involvement in our American Sign
Language Day here at the MN Zoo. We had about 700 K-12 students in
attendance and twice as many schools presenting than in previous years. A
very successful day! Thank you to the student presenters who
worked hard (and it showed J), to
the ASL interpreters who volunteered their time to assist, and of course the
audience who came to enjoy and learn about the animals in an ASL immersed day.
I look forward to having you return next spring, Tuesday,
April 28, 2015.
Presentation Recognition! Our other language
days, like French, German and Spanish, we have a presentation recognition
program in place. We look for student group presentations that
excel in both language, knowledge of their subject matter, and creative
presentation skills. I wanted to implement this into the ASL Day as
well. At the last moment, I was able to find a ASL
volunteer who graciously accepted the challenge to visit each of the
presentations and recommend the top 3 who demonstrated great language skills,
signed freely (minimal use of notecards if any), knew their subject matter
well, and presented the information in a fun educational way. She
took this job very seriously and was very focused on seeing everyone. In
the end, she mentioned there were many who fit this criteria but her top 2
choices this year were:
Leafy Sea Dragon Station—Woodbury High School
Sea star Station—Woodbury High School
Raccoon Station—Southwest High School, got an
Honorary Mention as she felt they ranked up there as well.
I am looking forward to continuing this tradition in the
future. It would be easier to enlist a few more ASL volunteers to assist
as trying to view 32-64 presentations can be a lot for one person. If you
know of anyone who would be interested, please have them contact me.
Ideally they should not be attending the day with a school group and use ASL as
their 1st language.
Feedback: This day continues to evolve
and improve because of the feedback I receive from the participants. If
you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know. You can email
me directly or when you receive a Thank you email from our
education department there should be a link to a post field trip evaluation
survey. Feel free to make comments in that.
Thanks again for a wonderful event. We look forward to
next year.
Gina Goralski
School Program Coordinator, Minnesota Zoo13000 Zoo Blvd, Apple Valley, MN 55124
o: 952-431-9260 / f: 952-997-4838
gina.goralski@state.mn.us
www.mnzoo.org
Twitter: MNZoo / Facebook: MNZoo
“To connect people, animals, and the natural world”
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