School for Deaf and Blind chosen for national kickoff

From: Twin Falls Times-News - Twin Falls,ID,USA - Sep 23, 2006

By Times-News

GOODING — The Idaho School for the Deaf and the Blind has been selected to be one of nine host sites nationwide to be part of the Deaf Awareness Week kickoff of the Maya and Miguel “Give Me a Little Sign” TV episode.

The screening of the new show will be at 1:30 p.m. Monday in the ISDB large gym.

The release of the episode coincides with Deaf Awareness Week, which starts Sunday.

Characters and giveaways will be part of the program and refreshments will be served. The ISDB staff is planning to set up some ISDB centennial displays that will be available for view around the school.

Maya and Miguel are twin 10-year-olds in the popular animated PBS program of the same name.

In “Give Me A Little Sign,” the twins’ friend Tito befriends a new boy, Marco, who is deaf.

Marco starts to teach Tito some American Sign Language and they decide to do a project together for the school’s “Contraption Convention.”

But when Tito, a second language learner, makes some pronunciation mistakes in school, he decides he doesn’t want to do the project anymore (since it involves public speaking).

Only when he sees how Marco persists in getting across what he wants to say — even when people misunderstand him at first — does he realize the value of practice and determination, and decides to go ahead with the project.

© 2006, Lee Publications Inc.