Category: Free Inquiry

Before I wrap up my Free Inquiry posts with a reflection of learning over the semester, I wanted to share a post showing my progress. I have attached a youtube video, as you can see, to show what I focused on when learning ASL. I did not film every time I was practicing, but I had enough content to put together a bit of a montage. You will see that I am similar to a cat, as I love sitting on the floor and absorbing the sunny spots in my home.

Enjoy watching me learn!

I searched “ASL” on unsplash and this photograph popped up. It does not have anything to do with ASL, but it is stunning, so kudos to Piermario Eva.

Over the course of the last two and a bit months I did my best to contribute time to learn American Sign Language. Although that may seem like a good chunk of time to learn the beginnings of a new language, I felt like I struggled with the task when combined with other schooling, work, and making time for exercise and outside time. I have always wanted to learn ASL, thus I took this as a sign of an opportunity. I did my best; however, I definitely am not where I wanted to end up with my knowledge.

There are still positives to having this experience of learning. I have brought in a new language into snippets of my life; I also found out that there are others in my cohort that also know ASL, so at times, we are able to communicate little things to one another using sign.

The negatives of the experience can be categorized into two sectors. Number one is the issue of time. It was really difficult to dedicate practice time to learn aspects of a new language while also balancing all the factors in life. I knew that it was going to be difficult from the start, but I definitely bit off more than I could chew. Being in school, working, and still trying to be a functioning human being is difficult in itself sometimes, so it is just a balancing act. The second issue is exposure. Because I was doing this inquiry on my own, not in a class setting, I did not have anyone to communicate to, or practice with. No one in my household can sign, so I was left to practice on my own. A lot of learning a language is exposure. Having the ability to try and converse with others is a huge part of learning a language. I think that is what I would consider to be the biggest flop of this process.

Overall, I am really proud that I made the effort in trying to learn ASL because it is something that I have been so interested in doing for so long. I am sad that it did not go as planned, but I found some great resources in the mean time for trying to stay connected with the ASL community before I can make the time to take some in-person classes.

Learn How to Sign is a resource that has always helped me and will continuously help me throughout my learning. I really appreciate the speed of the content. I have included it in my final reflection because it is the one resource that I will continue to use.

This week I wanted to share one of my favourite families that pops up on my Instagram feed. I have been following Christina for probably a year or two and her content always brings a smile to my face. She has a son and a daughter. Her son is hearing, and her daughter is deaf, and has cochlear implants. Her content mainly consists of communicating with her children- sometimes without speech, only using ASL, and other times using both ASL and verbal language.

This video in particular is regarding her daughter’s communities that she is a part of. Christina points out that her daughter is a part of the Deaf community just as much as her other communities, and that she can show that she is proud to be within it by telling her teachers the next day.

Christina chooses to include comical content, but also videos that provide a lesson or a type of learning opportunity for her children and it is a really beautiful thing to watch.

You can find her Instagram profile here to check her out!

For my Free Inquiry post this week, I decided to approach the creation of content through an inclusive lens. I have attached a video of me providing an introduction of myself. I did not speak or mouth any of what I was saying because I wanted to speak purely through ASL- and ASL does not require verbal sounds. Having this approach, I understood that not everyone would be able to understand me, so I figured out how to put text into a video with no sound. I found this website: ClipChamp. You are able to sign up for free, no subscription. I used this to input text into my video, but you can also to all kinds of editing! I hope you enjoy my introduction. It was a lovely day outside, so I decided to film while also taking in some sunshine!

Some ducklings are their mama to bring a smile. Photo credit: Vivek Kumar

Let’s talk about babies and the use of ASL. For many years the ability to communicate with infants has relied on exaggerated expression- hand movements, big smiles, frowns, stomping etc. Meaning that it should be no surprise that when considering ASL (American Sign Language- the ability to communicate without speaking) to communicate with infants and young children, the positive results speak for themselves.

An article published by Michigan State says that you may begin using ASL with infants as young as 6 months. Between the ages of 6-9 months is when the introduction of signing is most beneficial because they will often copy their first sign in that time. Creating this line of communication allows their to be an unspoken line of communication between the baby and guardian- the baby is able to express their needs in a form the guardian can understand.

In order to develop this line of communication, the guardian has to exaggerate the motion and attach it to either an item, emotion, or activity. An example could be the signing of “more food?”. “More” looks like your hands in a closed crab claw like shape and motioning them towards each other and away from one another and “food” is taking one of the crab claw like hands and motioning it towards your mouth. By repeating these signs over and over when it comes time to eating, the infant is able to correlate the two together.

From communication through ASL with babies, there may be less tantrums, and more expression in thought from a very young age. There are numerous long-term benefits in using ASL, but I believe my favourite one is that it is great for teaching regulation to children. As a future teacher and parent, I really hope to utilize all of my experience in life to teach and allow children to exist in a space that I am present in without feeling overwhelmed. There are times when it can be really overwhelming to use your voice, or the space is too noisy, or a child has headphones on to block out the sound. I believe that sign language is a really great way to take that overwhelming sound and squash it by still being able to communicate one’s needs without speaking.

Below is a short video explaining how to integrate signing into everyday life with a baby.

WKAR VIDEO

This is the article I looked into published by Michigan State University:

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/baby_sign_language_a_helpful_communication_tool

For this week I chose to brush up on the basics. Getting caught up in learning new signs can be tricky when  the fundamentals are what allow you to move forward. Although I love learning new signs every week, I find it hard to keep up with new ones while also making sure that I still know the ones I have previously learned. 

Learning the ASL alphabet is a crucial part of understanding ASL. Any time that you are stumped on a word, and do not know how to sign it, means you have to resort to spelling it out. Fluent ASL speakers are able to sign the alphabet at “sonic speed”; meaning that they are also able to mentally spell out words extremely fast, as well. Brushing up on your alphabet, as well as spelling out words is similar to learning how to read and write again. 

Signing the alphabet is pattern based, similarly to spelling out the alphabet fairly quickly, signing is the same with practice. Signing the alphabet quickly does not help, however, when it comes to spelling out words, because your brain is used to the pattern of movements of the alphabet. 

So here’s to going over the basics!

This is a website that provides different length words to practice Finger Spelling.

https://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/fingerspelling/fingerspelling6.htm

This week I decided to look into other resources on top of the ones that I have mentioned in the past. I happened to come across one that was neatly organized, however one that I do not recommend for beginners. The website provides the signs that you will be going over and a video following suit. The video was extremely hard to follow because it was moving so quickly that by the time you were understanding one sign, they had already taught two others.

I wanted to document this on my blog because not all sites are going to be useful when it comes to learning something new. And hey, this sight might be great for down the road when I am able to go a lot faster with signing, but as of right now, it was very difficult to follow.

100 First Signs

Here is me struggling with keeping up with the video.

What am I signing?

Signing places. Home. Work. School. Store. Church. Come. Go. Car/ Drive. In. Out. With. *Repeat*

For my Free Inquiry project, I have decided to do my best in learning ASL and the world that it has created. ASL stands for American Sign Language and is a tool used across the globe to communicate without needing sound. ASL is one variation of Sign language, similar to how there are multiple variations of Spanish from different regions. I have always been very interested in learning ASL, as it is great to have multiple languages in your toolbox.

This week I decided to dive into the available resources for learning a new language from a beginner standpoint. Here is what I found!

Learn How to Sign is a Youtube channel that I have been following along with in my ASL journey. They do a really great job at breaking down the signs while allowing time for you to practice as you go. They have so many videos and my favourite part is integrating them into my day in a practical way.