The ASL Club meets twice a month and is run by ASL teacher Liz Zabawa. The ASL Club meets in room 247 and is open to all students who want to learn more ASL.
“The ASL Club is open to all students who want to learn sign language. The majority of the students in the club are in my class, but some aren’t a part of ASL class.”
ASL Club started in 2019, when Zabawa first started working at Johnson. When she wanted to start a club, it was because she wanted more people to learn about deaf culture and to be able to communicate with deaf students.
“I had ASL club the first and second years, and then it started back up in January,” Zabawa said. “I’ve wanted to have a club since I first started here. I had to ask the other ASL teachers, like at Lehman and Hays, ‘Have y’all run a club before? What do you do?’ I got feedback from them, so that’s why I wanted to start a club too.”
The main point of the club is to try to be more inclusive toward Johnson’s deaf students and form an environment where those students can talk to the wider community at Johnson.
“I just want people to know more about deaf culture, and I honestly want them to be able to talk to the students here on campus that are deaf,” Zabawa said. “I’m noticing that a lot of students are taking ASL, but they don’t talk to them. The ASL students don’t take the initiative to talk to any deaf students, and I know it’s probably because they’re scared.”
The ASL club, they have lots of fun games and activities that help you learn more ASL.
“We play games and we practice in the club with no voice,” Zabawa said. “With the games, there will be rotation to different games and they have to sign everything. I show them common idioms, popular phrases, and the most common sentences that you learn at the beginning,” said Zabawa

Some students joined the ASL club even though they finished there two years because they enjoy it and have fun.
” They like it these students are really interested in ASL they wanna learn it and some are gonna be joining ASL club next year even though there aren’t going to be in ASL cause they’re done with their two years but there still gonna be in the club”