Santa uses sign language to communicate with children at Dolphin Mall
MIAMI - It's no surprise that Santa Claus knows a lot of different languages.
After all, he does travel the world delivering gifts to children from all different cultures.
Here in South Florida, Santa is well-versed in English, maybe Spanish and even Creole. On Thursday, he used yet another language to spread holiday cheer to local children.
The Santa at Dolphin Mall doesn't just use his hands to build toys, he's also certified in ASL, American Sign Language.
"I think it's really cool that I'm able to like, you know, communicate with Santa directly," explained a student named Heather.
Marlene Llanes, an ASL teacher at Palm Springs Elementary School was there, too.
"This event is very important to these students because they see students who are just like them and they're able to communicate with Santa in Sign Language," Llanes told us.
On Thursday, Miami-Dade County Public School students who are deaf or hard of hearing got a chance to communicate with Santa Claus in their unique way, sharing their wish lists for the holiday season.
"I feel like it's a little bit sad that when I was a lot younger that I couldn't communicate with Santa before when I was younger," Heather recalled. "So now I'm excited, I'm happy that I can directly communicate with him using the same language."
According to the Florida Coordinating Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, school districts across the state serve more than 50,000 children who have hearing loss with specialized programs.
Twelve Miami-Dade schools participated in the event at Dolphin Mall and Dave & Busters.
"This event itself allows them to socialize with other students who are deaf or hard of hearing from other schools and programs. Our students in M-DCPS attend their traditional home school or a home school that has a program. M-DCPS is a very inclusive school system so we believe in having our students with their peers at their traditional sites," said Angie Torres, the Assistant Superintendent with the Office of Exceptional Student Education for Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
For ASL teachers and students, it's a way to spread holiday cheer as well as awareness.
"This really does raise deaf awareness and it needs to go out in the community. Everyone should know, parents of deaf students, deaf family members, aunts, uncles, cousins, they should all be here participating in Signing Santa," Llanes told CBS News Miami.
Perhaps you've noticed more stories and videos like these, of hearing people signing.
It turns out, American Sign Language is the fastest-growing language offered at colleges nationwide.
