Illinois Fifth Graders Skipped Recess to Learn Sign Language for Deaf Friend

Rhemy Elsey is a fifth grader in Peoria who's been deaf since birth. He goes to a regular school and has a harder time making friends.

He has an interpreter who goes to school with him, and helps him communicate with his teachers and other students. A bunch of his classmates recently decided to do something pretty awesome. They started a club where once a month, they skip recess to learn sign language.

Rhemy's interpreter, Tammy Arvin, teaches them and says they've already learned enough to have basic conversations with him. "The students are just having fun," she said. "They don't necessarily realize they're learning ... about deaf culture by participating in this club. It really gives them a perspective on this other culture within the U.S. that they previously weren't aware [of], so they're benefiting ginormously just in terms of learning about diversity and having a broader perspective on the world around them."

But the biggest difference she's seen is in Rhemy, who's "gained confidence with his classmates and with expressing himself, and it's made it easier for the other students to approach him."

Read more at ABC News.