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Keith Cagle, left, a professor at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, N.C., and Kelly King, a senior, have a conversation using sign language in Cagle’s American Sign Language class, May 3, 2002. Foreign language classrooms across the country are growing increasingly silent. Instead of tackling French, German, or other commonly taught languages, students are learning to speak with their hands. (AP Photo/Alan Marler)