I never thought it would be quite so hard to choose something new to learn, but decision making is something I am trying to get better at so it does make sense that it would be difficult. There are so many things that I want to learn but have never started because they have just never been a priority, so with this opportunity to do it for a class I thought, "wow now I can get marked on something I choose to learn." It took a while to decide what I wanted to do but learning ASL is something I have started and quit (too quickly) multiple times over the last 5 years.
What originally started my interest in learning ASL was when I was working at the pool as a lifeguard and we had a family who had a deaf daughter come in all the time over the summer. At first, it just fascinated me to watch people communicate only through their hands and then I started to feel sad that I couldn't communicate with her when she was coming into the pool everyday. I learned "hello" and "how are you" at that point but didn't get much further than that. As I was deciding what project to do, a couple came into my work who were both deaf and we used a pencil and paper to communicate with them while they were there. At that point, I decided that this is what I want to learn.
I started by downloading 2 apps, "The ASL App" and "Sign School: Learn ASL", which both have a "word of the day" and the alphabet easily accessible (for free).
Over the last couple days I have been trying out the word of the day, and have also learned my husband and I's name through the alphabet.
Over the course of this project, my main goal is to learn conversational ASL. Ideally over time I would like to learn it more in depth as I hope to use it as a tool in the classroom - and science terms may take some time to learn - but either way I think it will definitely be an asset to know in the classroom.
My plan is to start with the basics, like alphabet and numbers. I will use these two apps to help with that, along with youtube videos. Once I have the basics down, I would like to learn basic questions and answers, such as "how are you", "do you need help", "what is your name". After that, I plan to start learning more words and the grammar associated with that (as I know there are some different rules with sign language).
After using these apps for a couple days I have found that there are some things that I like and don't like about each. Starting with the ASL app, the videos of signs that go along with the words tend to be quite fast with no way to slow them down which makes it tricky to understand the exact movements. However, I do like with this app that you can search words and phrases to see the signs that go along with them. With The Sign School, I like that you can slow the videos down, as well as see pictures at the bottom of each video that show what each hand is supposed to look like. What I don't like (so far) is that the daily words are not very relevant to beginners - for example, grease, rude, and soup. You also can't search as easily as the other app. It comes in the form of a "dictionary", which just has preloaded phrases and terms to flip through.
Overall, I'm excited to continue learning and share my journey with you all!
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