My first sign language class
By Denise
@petatonicsca (7070)
Japan
June 21, 2020 10:04pm CST
My school started virtual summer school today. I studied sign language and worked some with Deaf people, so I volunteered to teach a sign language class to grades 3-5 kids who wanted to learn. I had seven students, six girls and one boy!
For some reason, Google Meets was not working at all well for the first five minutes, so we wasted our time trying to get it to work. I finally switched browsers (I was using Google Chrome, which is supposed to be best for Meets, and had to go to Firefox) and it worked fine for the rest of the class.
They practiced the alphabet and we learned how to sign:
How are you?
I am fine, sick, happy, sad, tired, excited
I like apples, strawberries, vegetables, friends
My name is
I am a student, teacher, Japanese, Korean, American, learning, studying sign language
It was really fun once we got everything to work!
Have you learned any sign language? They are different in different countries, just like languages. I am teaching American Sign Language, which is used in the US and Canada. I would like to learn Japanese sign language too!
8 people like this
10 responses
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
22 Jun 20
American sign language and fingerspelling was developed from the French sign language. So they are related. Japanese relies heavily on kanji. I don't know anything about Russian but I know British sign language is not at all like American sign language.
2 people like this
@rebelann (117237)
• El Paso, Texas
22 Jun 20
I don't know why I thought it was a universal means of communication @petatonicsca
Here in the US, before the Europeans destroyed the natives, they used sign language to communicate with one another even though they all spoke different languages. There are tales of traders who would travel from the tip of South America to the top of North America. Of course before 1492 these traders would travel for years from tribe to tribe.
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
23 Jun 20
@rebelann Yes, the Native Americans had universal signs. I actually tried to learn some of them when I was a Girl Scout. That was before videos so I had to try to learn them from a book with arrows pointing how you moved your hands.
1 person likes this
@eileenleyva (27555)
• Philippines
22 Jun 20
I would like to learn sign language, too.
Quite a feat you have there.
2 people like this
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
22 Jun 20
I wish you could join the class, but for fun you can look up
? What is the ASL sign for? Search ASL Dictionary above. What does the ASL sign mean? Check ASL-English Reverse Dictionary. ASL Word of the Day Sign language videos visible in HTML5-based browsers. Equivalent to English: achieve ASL and Deaf Culture ASL tu
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
22 Jun 20
I had to look it up, but FSL (Filipino Sign Language) has been heavily influenced by ASL (American Sign Language) but is a different language.
1 person likes this
@eileenleyva (27555)
• Philippines
24 Jun 20
@petatonicsca Having trouble getting that link. Don't know why.
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
22 Jun 20
Yes, and it helps them to know that hearing people care.
It's also useful for communicating with your own kids when across the room, if they know it.
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
22 Jun 20
Well, I found out that every summer school class that happened today had some kind of technical problem. One of them only had 20 minutes of a 45-minute class when it was working. I got my full time in, anyway.
1 person likes this
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
22 Jun 20
You and @eileenleyva should get together. I imagine there are resources online for Filipino Sign Language or you can use the site I posted. It's really fun and helps in many ways.
@GardenGerty (169477)
• United States
22 Jun 20
I have worked with/studied what is known as SEE Sign. It used to be called "signing exact English" . The difference between it and ASL is that it is literal, and ASL is conceptual. So, if I sign in SEE I add gestures to my signs that indicate "ing" or past tense or "er".
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
22 Jun 20
A few is better than none (or as my friend used to say when we were traveling in Tokyo, "I know just enough to be dangerous.")
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Jun 20
Our sign language is called Auslan. Every evening when we have the update on the virus, someone stands next to the premier and signs what he is saying. I find it quite fascinating.
