Have you ever been in a crowded place with someone across the room that you are trying to communicate with? Maybe doing silly hand signals or mouthing the words real slow in hopes that they can figure out what you are saying and you have a stupid expression on your face because you have no idea what they are saying? Maybe it is just me, but this seems to happen a lot to me. I have always wanted to be able to speak to my children without shouting over noise or making hand jesters that only gets me confused looks. Sometimes though, I want to be able to give a command - like "enough" - that my children know, but that I am not expressing to all those around us.
Who will I sign too then? Mainly my daughter; Tia has been practicing her sign from kindergarten. She is naturally gifted at it and able to retain a lot of it, even though she is not using it much anymore. Sign got introduced to her because of some students in her class that had hearing difficulties and the teachers throughout the years have always seemed to incorporate sign to varying degrees throughout the years. I think that this is a good skill for her to have and I am afraid she will loose it if she does not have anyone to sign to. The college in our city offers two sign classes on a regular basis and right now I am watching for the spring/summer courses to come out to see if they are offering the beginners course over the summer, as that is when I have the most time to schedule something for me.
Have a great day,
Christine
I studied ASL for 3 years in college and LOVED it. It's a lot of work and the language structure is complex, but it has done wonders with helping my babies communicate sooner. Now, when I am on the phone or in church, I can speak simple commands to my children without being heard by others. It is wonderful! It is a beautiful language with a fascinating culture behind it. Go for it! Be sure you take American Sign Language, rather than Signed English...you might as well learn the language that could potentially help you communicate with a Deaf person, if you're going to learn.
ReplyDeleteThat's odd, b/c I had always heard that SEE (Signed Exact English) was the better one to go with. Now I am confused!
ReplyDeleteYou are all thinking too small... imagine what you could sign to people in traffic, or crowded shopping malls! The possibilities are endless.... Now I want to learn too!! I could use it when annoying people ask me for money or cigarettes while I am walking to work, instead of pretending I don't speak English.
ReplyDeleteI totally think you should take a class Chris!
My daughter watches the Signing Times videos. They are geared towards young children (birth to age 5 or so) but I am learning SO Much from them! And my mom speaks ASL Fluently! Even my dad and mother in law are learning ASL too!
ReplyDeleteAlso- ASL is what deaf people in America speak, so I'd definitely recommend that.