A typical day at ESD

A typical day at the Evangelical School for the Deaf starts at 8:00 AM with the raising of the United States and Puerto Rican flags. The pledge of allegiance is done in sign language. As you can see white shirts or blouses and navy blue pants or skirts are the order of the day. You may also notice that the ages of the students range from 4 years old up to 16 years old, and are pretty evenly boys and girls.

The group then moves to the chapel for a brief worship service. This service usually consists of 2-3 praise songs, prayer time, and messages. Some Fridays a local pastor, Mr. Mota, comes and gives a sermon in sign language. The students take turns assisting in leading the songs and prayer time, and leading the service rotates amoung the staff members. I learned early on in my first visit that all staff and visitors/workers are strongly encouraged to attend morning chapel and participate in signing the songs with the students.

Students divide up and go to their classrooms according to ages. The students learn the same subjects as the public schools, including reading, writing, and arithmatic. The teacher to student ratio is 3 or 4 students to one teacher.



The students and staff eat together in the dinning room area. Meals are prepared by staff, and in some cases, meals are prepared by members of local churches as a missionary project for the church. I've found that these deaf children, like so many hearing children, don't like to eat their vegatables.

After lunch there is a time for the students to stretch their legs and run off some energy. This photo is of my good friend Jillisa who is involved in a wheel chair race with one of the students.

In the afternoon the students practice for the bell choir. It's believed that this is the only deaf bell choir in the world. It's quite amazing to hear the music that these students make and they can't hear it themselves.

The day ends at 3:30 PM when the students are collected by their parents.