Learning American Sign Language
Amy asks,
Are you learning alongside your children and just signing as you can, or are you the “expert” in the family? How are you teaching yourself?
Actually, Jane is the family expert. We are all learning together, but she’s ahead of me. My downfall is fingerspelling—I can spell words quickly, but I can’t read fingerspelling to save my life!
We have used (are using) a number of different resources. The Signing Time
I’ve heard there’s now a Signing Time show on PBS—anybody know if that’s correct?
Another video series we have learned from—and I get goosebumps over the fact that we actually went through this program long before Wonderboy was born, just because Jane and I both had an interest in learning ASL—is the Sign with Me
Last year Jane and I took a course online. Signing Online is geared for college students or older, but it worked out beautifully for us. Each lesson teaches conversational vocabulary through video clips. Again, we found the vocab extremely pertinent and functional: phrases like “What are you doing?” and “Of course!” really help you to converse in a natural manner. (There are a good many nouns, verbs, etc also.) It was a little pricey but we felt it was worth the expense. I think the full course is the equivalent of a semester at the university level.
However, there are some excellent free resources as well:
• ASL Pro and ASL Browser are free online American Sign Language dictionaries with video demonstrations of each sign.
• ASL University offers a free online tutorial with a combination of video clips and stills.
• I really have no excuse for my lousy fingerspelling skills—I could be honing them with this Fingerspelling Quiz.
• Finally, if your family has a deaf or hard of hearing member, you automatically qualify to use the Captioned Media Program’s free lending library of videos and DVDs—including a wide selection of ASL instructional materials. You can even view them via streaming video! Jane, Rose, Beanie, and I plan to begin a new series in the fall. (I just have to figure out which one.) CMP is funded by the Department of Education and has a library containing thousands of captioned movies, documentaries, and other resources. It’s an amazing program. Your tax dollars at work!
Related posts:
• Signing Time DVDs
• More about Signing Time
• Rilla Signs
• Unsolicited Signing Time Commercial
• Signing with Babies, My Favorite Topic
Christy says:
I have used the Signing Time DVDs and they are wonderful! I worked with a child who has Autism and he picked up on the signs right away. It was life changing for him. And I have used the ASL online dictionary. It is very helpful when you need to find a word quickly.
Christy 🙂
On June 6, 2006 at 10:08 pm
Amy says:
Thanks for answering my question, Lissa! I didn’t know about the Captioned Media Program – that is awesome! I’m going to look into it.
On June 7, 2006 at 5:03 am
Mary Beth Patnaude says:
Yes, PBS has “Signing Time”. It is on at 7:30 AM Saturdays on our station (in Maine, don’t know if it’s the same everywhere). I “TIVO” it every week. It has really helped my 2 year old expand his vocabulary before he started using a lot of words.
On June 7, 2006 at 9:44 am
Loni says:
I have really enjoyed reading your blog and all the wonderful information you give to homeschoolers. I’ve checked out many of your links and when I get through some more of my books that I need to finish reading, I will want to read yours as well. You write wonderfully on your blogs.
I just want to let you know too that I have chosen you for my “Thursdays Child” to meet a new homeschooling mom on my bog. I hope you don’t mind. The post will go up late Thursday morning. 🙂
Loni
Loni
On June 7, 2006 at 3:13 pm