Face To Face: American Sign Language

Taking American Sign Language this semester has taught me a wide variety of things. It has taught me about the deaf culture, signing, using facial expressions, and has enhanced my knowledge of ASL as well as the deaf culture. Overall, I am extremely grateful to have been able to experience a different culture, such as ASL, this semester.

The submitted final lesson plan for Session 5 contained many of the key elements of the best practices for developing effective online learning. Nonetheless, the development of the lesson plan integrated the learning discoveries based on the idea of applying it to a blended American Sign Language course. The lesson

Classifiers are handshapes we use in American sign language (ASL) to show the movement, placement, orientation, size, and shape of a noun. Since ASL is a rule-governed language when using classifiers you must first identify the noun, then you can use the classifier to show how the object moves or is placed in relationship to other objects (Aron). American sign language uses eight different kinds of classifiers for specific categories.

“What is sign language?” The book is written by Deborah Kent. The book commences with the narrative of Beanca, a girl who was born auditory impaired and uses American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate and then goes on to elucidate the history of ASL. Beanca Turner was inborn auditory impaired.

Thanks for pointing out that sign language is not universal. Sign language is just as diverse as spoken languages with its own regional dialects for different countries (NAD, n.d.). Wow! For some reason I thought deaf people spoke the same standard sign language. I’ve been enlightened. With that in mind, I see how easy it is for people and sometimes frontline medical professionals to assume that hearing impaired individuals use one language. I think it also speaks to my own cultural challenge. Since I do not have any hearing impaired individuals in my family or close friendships, I am not familiar with the way hearing impaired individuals communicate other than through sign language, which I assumed was universal. I think this is valuable because

The use of ASL is extremely important to the deaf community and to Deaf culture. Although fluency is always desired, the willingness to learn and communicate in ASL goes a long way in being accepted. A skilled signer who does not have the right attitude will be seen in a less appealing light than a struggling signer with a true heart for the deaf.

Introduction As part of daily life, we communicate and connect ourselves with certain communities. School, jobs, families, sports, extracurricular activities, and many other communities are just a few we come into contact with. Although these may seem to appear the same, there are specific types of communities such as a discourse community. A discourse community is a group of people involved in and communicating about a particular topic, issue, or in a particular field (Webcourses, N.d, Website) that has a share a common set of goals and attempt to achieve these goals (Swales, 1990). According to researcher and educator, John Swales, there are six characteristics that define whether or not a community is considered a discourse community. Following the criteria Swales states is necessary to be a discourse community, I did an in depth research on the American Sign Language community. Through my study, I was able to meet all six characteristics.

The school I did my observation at was Bloomfield Hills High school for the American Sign Language class. The reason I have been tasked with observing an American Sign Language class is because that is my goal as a future educator, to teach American Sign Language from K to 12. I also would like to be able to educate the deaf students from K to 12, but that’s for another program, Deaf Education master’s program, in the future. I had four classes to observe, from 9th grade to 12th grade students for ASL (American Sign Language) classes. They were mostly white, some African American, and smaller number of other races such as Middle Eastern and Asian. Many of the students had special needs, the most common one would have to be ADD and ADHD, a few were hearing impaired, and I had one who was autistic. The average number I had for each class about 18 to 20 students. Now to discuss about my meaningful experiences, strengths and weaknesses of both my cooperating teacher and myself, my professional goals, and finally my reaction to the field experience.

American Sign Language is the interesting, logical, and fun to learn. ASL is the fourth most-used languages in the United States. ASL is used for hearing people to get the messages across to Deaf people and Deaf community. Deaf people use American Sign Language to communicate with their friends, family or their loved one who is deaf. Now parents are teaching their babies to learn ASL. The American Sign Language gives children, their confidence, and self-esteem in their lives. Deaf Community vs. Hard of hearing is a different point of view, and their impact was to have opportunities to have new friendships, connection to other people in the hard-of-hearing community and to be able to talk with hard of hearing people easier.

American Sign Language In learning about the deaf culture I have taken on a new understanding about the people it includes. Through readings and the lessons, I have learned that being deaf has both its hardships and its blessings. The beauty of the language alone makes one want to learn all that he or she can about it. In this paper I will discuss the beauty of the language and the misconceptions the hearing world has about deafness.

Sometimes, I spend an entire day conversing with many people yet never vocalize a single word. Myers Briggs scores me as highly introverted, yet fails to account for the important connection I find with people in silence. American Sign Language has enabled me to explore a culture vastly different than my own and allows me to do so in a way that honors my appreciation for silence.

For people not able to attend sign language courses, there are many tools available to help them learn ASL on their own. Books and DVDs are great initial resources for anyone interested in learning sign language. Books that teach about ASL contain step-by-step photographs or illustrations

The strategy that I want to focus on is to reduce my dependence on English as I listen and communicate in American Sign Language. I chosen this strategy because I know that a habit is form my doing a behavior repeatedly after a consecutive number of days. Also by using this strategy, I will benefit to learn objects and everyday terms with the appropriate sign. Therefore, by not being distracted with writing notes and grammar or rules of this new language, I can focus on the actual way this language is communicated among people. By only listening and conversing in American Sign

It is a wonderful icebreaker in the hearing community plus it redirects the focus on why we are all there…to learn. I truly appreciate my instructor for knowing when to call attention to inappropriate talking in class. I see he also recognizes when the Deaf community’s etiquette is be disregarded. I also have more signing opportunities. My instructor can do no wrong seeing the curriculum that is being used is being communicated, but he also adds the regional styles that will allow us students to be more accurate in our signing here in Charlotte. It is crazy to see, but even from county-to-county signing differs. The areas I would like to change in the course would be to exercise more OSV structure while communicating and the five parameters of signing: handshape, movement, location, orientation and non-manual signals. The non-manual signals are most difficult seeing I struggle in just getting out the message

Hence, if a person takes any other online class they will not be afforded such interaction. Additionally, in order to partake in such a class one does not simply need to buy the typical classic course tools such as a textbook, pencil or pen and a notebook. Rather, this type of course also requires one to purchase or own a headset with a microphone or a webcam. The reason for this is because one uses it to communicate and further access the class’s various visual aids, see the teacher’s face, and observe the instructor’s body language.