Saturday, March 24, 2012

Media of the Week - We're Going to be Friends

Pin It I love Sign Language.

I love the beauty of motion utilized as it carries a message to those who cannot physically hear the words.

Sign Language is visual language.

Because I love it, I teach basic Sign to my class…of course, the amount of ASL I teach seems to decrease as the years go on—being little to no time in the day for those items not covered in the core curriculum.

However, it's a great tool to let a student know - across a crowded gymnasium - that if they don't stop whatever it is they're currently doing, they will have to die...they laugh when I first teach them this, but they know when I say it that Mr. Z means business, and they'd better knock it off.

It's also a wonderful way to tell a student thank you, or express other simple messages to an individual student across a silent room, where only those who happen to look up can 'hear' it.

And of course, this is the way they let me know that they have to use the bathroom during a lesson...

Recently, a parent of one of my students sent me an email with the link to a video she’d found online.

I love it; therefore, I share it with you today.

I hope you enjoy it, too.

BTW, if you want to get just a 'taste' of what deafness is like and trying to understand others, watch the video first with your audio set on mute.



P.S. I'm glad we're friends...

13 comments:

mamahasspoken said...

Yep, core curriculum is doing that to everyone :o(

Kalei's Best Friend said...

Thanks, I needed this especially after what has been in the news!. :-)

Carolyn said...

One of my students is fluent in ASL because his parents are both deaf. He was helping me sign to another student. It was awesome.

Gerb said...

Love, love, love.

Mindy said...

That video was awesome! I love the song and it's message. It's one that everyone - child or adult - needs to hear.

You are right that it is such a powerful language perhaps because it conveys so many things so succinctly and silently and yet so gracefully...

I've used ASL a little with some of classes, but I wish I had kept up on it better myself. I need to get myself back in the practice of using it more again.

Trevor Holms Petersen said...

Very cool. Im entering ASL 103 next week and I can't believe I didn't learn sign sooner when I had the chance! I love it and love the video.
BTW I could pick up about 1/2 of the sign!

Linn said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mindee@ourfrontdoor said...

I. Loved. That.

Thanks for sharing.

Tracy P. said...

Aw, could that be any sweeter?? Love it! Great post. I am so sorry there isn't more time for real life in class anymore. But I know how good passionate teachers are at slipping it in here and there anyway. Your students are so blessed!

I also had a student one year whose parents were both deaf. She was one of the most verbally articulate students I ever had--just beautiful to listen to. It made me so sad that her parents couldn't hear her sweet voice. But I also knew that they understood her beauty in ways I never could. Good stuff, Teach. Hope you have a great week!

Karen M. Peterson said...

I took a year of ASL in college. I wish I'd stuck with it because it really is a beautiful language.

And that's a really cool video.

Rachel said...

Still cracks me up thinking about Henny Penny trying to sign to her dentist that she needed to go to the bathroom and his confusion. Classic.

Anonymous said...

Thanks. It is a wonderful song. I've always wished to learn sign language. But never find time or had excuses that I will never use it in real world. But you gave me some great ideas why to use it. Next time i see the add for sign language course, I'll definetelly join in.

Rachel said...

Awww - you posted this just for me, right? Because I don't need to "get a taste of what deafness is like", since the Mute button is always on for me.

Oh, and I bet you're kinda twitching that I started that last sentence with "because", aren't you?

And isn't it better when I start sentences with "and"? Oops.

Thanks for posting this - always love to see someone challenging the notion that deaf people couldn't enjoy music - this is terrific!

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