ASL and Spanish students from Randall, West Plains, Canyon, and Bushland competed in the second annual Festival de Lenguas (festival of languages) on Jan. 31. This was an event for students to show off their progress in becoming bilingual and learning a foreign language. Although taking a foreign language class is a graduation requirement, these students went the extra mile to show off what they have learned and become more involved in a culture that is not their own.

“I thought it was good!” ASL teacher Darla Meraz said. “I feel like this event encourages kids they can do great things with a new language, that this event shows kids how fun language can be with all of the stories and poetry and jokes, they get to see the language in a more fun and natural way instead of just language structure!”

Meraz said she is excited about the emergence of language competitions, due to there not being any UIL event dedicated to language.

“I feel that language is less stressed here in the U.S. than it is in other countries; it is only mandatory to take one language versus upwards of five in other countries,” Meraz said. “You also are only required to take 2 years of the language when that is nowhere near the amount of time to become fluent.”

The rankings are as follows:

ASL Beginning Poetry

• Caidence Carner with “Dandelions” – 3rd
• Maddison Irvin with “ASL and Tree are the Same” – 2nd

ASL Advanced Poetry

• Kaylie Kashuba with “To a Hearing Mother” – 2nd

ASL Story Telling

• Robert Barnett with “The Tunnel” – 2nd

ASL Jokes

• Michal Black with “The White Ape” – 1st

ASL Info Board

• Zoey Jones with “Language Deprivation” – 2nd
• Teagan Bull, Brynlee Ledford, Yesenia Guenther, and Aurora Maetas with “Murder or Self-Defense” – 1st

ASL Photography

• Willow Jordan with “Reverberate Pride” – 2nd

ASL 3D Art

• Kenzie Kaser and Xyian Crain with “All Tied Up” – 1st

Pinata Making

• Kiara Amador, Aubree Arzola, and Makynzee Brooks with “Casita” – 2nd

Spanish 2D Art

• Emily Rodriguez with “Orgullo de las Mexicanas” – 2nd
• Isaiah Rose with “La Belleza de la Vista” – 1st

Spanish Info Board

• Yeroslavi Lucio with “Flamenco” – Unplaced
• Kaylee Ramos with “Folklorico” – 2nd