Examples of body language are commonplace.  Think about every time the third-base coach signals to a hitter or when Matt Stafford calls an audible at the line of scrimmage — and that’s just sports.

Things get a little more interesting when one takes this concept beyond signals and learns a full language. That’s the aim of the Social Signing Society at Oakland University.

Members of the new club learn  American Sign Language every Friday in the Oakland Center.

While it makes sense to learn how to sign if a person knows someone that is hearing-impaired, said the group’s president, freshman Alissa Bandalene, there are many situations in which gestural communication can be useful.

“We use hand gestures a lot when we are speaking,” said Bandalene, a chemistry major. “When we are trying to get someone’s attention, in work places that it is hard to communicate in, particularly medical fields.”

It might be easy to assume it’s difficult to acclimate to something like sign language because we are so used to speaking.  Bandalene said this isn’t necessarily true.

“Even if you think in English, it is easy to cross over into ASL,” said Bandalene.  “We use gestures when talking in English and ASL gives actual meaning to the gestures.”

The students use a variety of themed activities to help each other get new signs down.  They are working on food signals with the goal of ordering a meal at a restaurant with the help of a translator later in the semester.

Like any language, ASL can be hard to learn with our immersing oneself in the vocabulary and culture.  In order to help with this aspect, members attended a Deaf Day event at a local mall.

“It was really interesting for all of us because that was the first time for most where we have been in a crowded mall and it was dead silent,” said studio art major junior Jordan Philka, the group’s secretary. “Our experience there was enjoyable because all of the people there were very nice and appreciative of us taking in pieces of their culture and not judging us because we are part of the hearing community.”

The group’s near-term plans include hosting a free “silent lunch.”  Judy Vardon, who has been deaf since the age of two, will also come speak to the students during the winter semester in sign language about her family’s experience being the subject of an episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition.

Information on the meeting times and locations can be found on the group’s Facebook page.Search “Social Signing Society.”