While most of us were required to take a foreign language of some kind in high school and/or college, few of us have really maintained whatever knowledge we learned. For whatever reason, I've always loved studying languages. I took Spanish in high school and college, and have tried to hold on to at least some of what I took in over the course of those years.

My niece also took courses in a secondary language, except she chose ASL, or American Sign Language. She got pretty good at it, too. I used to love visiting her and seeing her show us some of her knowledge. Not only is sign language beautiful to watch it is greatly needed.

The other day we were chatting, my niece and I, and she told me how much she wished she'd kept learning ASL and regretted what she feels like she'd forgotten. So, when I ran across a recurring ASL class here in East Texas, I was pretty excited.

The Tyler Public Library offers ASL classes on Saturdays. You can choose between the family class which starts at 10 a.m. or the adults only class which follows at 11:30 a.m. Taught by volunteer Tracy Walker, the classes are absolutely free and anyone is welcome to attend. Volunteer Tracy Walker will be teaching basic ASL at 10 a.m. and intermediate at 11:30 a.m. in the Makerspace. This is free and open to the public.

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