1. Intensive First Year American Sign Language (ASL 134) class Summer Quarter
Instructor: Kristi Winter, MA
University of Washington
Dept. of Linguistics
ASL Program

2. Agenda: Wednesday: Thursday: Monday, June 27th Today: Tomorrow (Tues):
Syllabus & Course schedule
Intro to ASL, ASL Facts & History (Deaf Awareness Quiz)
Visual Gesture Communication (VGC)
Getting to know Signing Naturally Units 1-6 Student Workbook
Tomorrow (Tues):
Review VGC
Signing Naturally (SN) Unit
Wednesday:
SN Unit
Thursday:
SN Unit
Sample Video Assignment due (See the Canvas for information on this assignment)
Monday, June 27th
Quiz #1 (ASL Facts & History, Unit 1 and Syllabus)

3. Safety and Emergency Procedures
Fire alarm
Go to the nearest exit
The elevators cannot be used during fire alarms
Power outage
We should stay in our seats to see if the outage is temporary, if not, we we need to be calm and carefully exit the building
Earthquake
Drop and cover your heads for protection
After the shaking stops, calmly evacuate the building
-UW Environmental Health and Safety

4. Syllabus & Course Schedule
See our class website at:

5. Q & A – Class Policies for Kristi’s ASL 101 class
What’s your policy for homework and on late assignments? Can I work with other students?
You are expected to complete assignments and come prepared. Your homework will be checked several times during the quarter, and if you have not completed the work, your participation point will be deducted one point for each missed homework assignment. I do not accept late assignments that are more than one day late. If it is one day late, you will get 20% deducted.
I encourage you to work with other students in group studies.

6. Q & A – Class Policies for Kristi’s ASL 101 class
What are quizzes and units tests?
You will have quizzes and tests based on your receptive skills, and knowledge of language and culture presented in the Signing Naturally workbook and lecture notes. The format of the quizzes and tests will be fill-in-blanks, T/F, Multiple Choice, Matching, and short answers.
Can I get extra credit? No
Will lectures be signed, voiced, or both?
The lectures will be voiced for today only, and during the rest of the quarter, the lectures will be signed.

7. Q & A – Class Policies for Kristi’s ASL 101 class
Will we have class on Monday, July 4th? No
What is the final exam like?
The comprehensive final exam will be a written exam based on language and culture notes presented in the Signing Naturally workbook, journal activities and lecture notes. The format of the final exam will be fill-in-blanks, T/F, Multiple Choice, Matching, and short answers.

8. What is ASL?
“American Sign Language is a natural language used by members of the North American Deaf community. It is a language that has developed naturally over time among a community of users. ASL exhibits all of the features of language.”
Valli, C., Lucas, C., Mulrooney, K. (2005) Linguistics of ASL. Gallaudet University Press. Washington, D.C (p. 13)

9. The Four ASL Myths Myth #1 - ASL is a signed version of English
Myth #2 - ASL is only capable of communicating concrete ideas
Myth #3 - ASL is an universal language
There are at least 200 sign languages existence in worldwide
Myth #5 - Hearing people invented ASL

10. Terms Residential School for the Deaf Hearing people or “Hearies”
Deaf vs. deaf

11. The Best Ways to Learn ASL
Tips for taking an ASL class
Don’t miss class
Arrive early
Watch the signers’ faces, not their hands
Don’t talk in class
Participate in class activities
Don’t worry about making mistakes
Always pay attention to your instructor
Let your instructor know immediately when you don’t understand
Don’t say you understand if you really don’t
Use the signs you learn from your instructor

12. The Best Ways to Learn ASL
Interacting with the Deaf Community:
Attend Deaf Events
Volunteer at a residential school, a school with a mainstream program, or for a Deaf/Blind community
Hire a Deaf tutor
Attend interpreted shows
Mentor with an Interpreter
Get involve with the UW ASL Club
Sign with Deaf friends
Attend Deaf and Deaf/Blind Events
Attend deaf/interpreting related workshops
Join RID – Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf
Attend a Silent Weekend

13. Top Reasons for Learning ASL
You can communicate through windows.
You can sign underwater.
You can sign with your mouth full.
You can use your hands to communicate.
Signing reduces noise pollution.
You can make friends with people.
Learning a new language opens doors.
ASL is a 3-D language.
ASL is beautiful.
ASL brings hearing & Deaf people together.

14. Top Reasons for Learning ASL
At a place where you are expected to be quiet, you can communicate without disturbing anyone.
It’s better than spelling things out when you want to communicate with little children around, who you don’t want to hear what you’re saying.
It’s awesome for communicating across a crowded room without shouting!

15. Survival Signs SLOW KNOW DON’T KNOW
HOMEWORK
READY
PRACTICE
FINGERSPELL
LATER
ALL DONE or FINISHED
COPY ME
QUESTION
more??
These are ASL signs that will help you communicate with your instructor and your classmates, during the first few weeks of course.
YES/NO
DON’T UNDERSTAND
AGAIN or REPEAT
FORGET
GOOD
SICK
MISSED
HELP
RESTROOM

16. Survival Signs
If you don’t understand or miss your partner’s signs or sentence, ask him/her to repeat. You are learning to communicate with one another. If you don’t understand what I said, raise your hand, and I will repeat or clarify what I said.

17. Video: “We are Deaf”

18. Question?

19. Getting to know Signing Naturally
Instructor: Kristi Winter
University of Washington
ASL 101 class

20. You’re taking an ASL class!

21. Things to know….. Eye contact The Sign Space Which hand do I use?
Dominant hand vs. non-dominant hand
Facial Expressions
Question-Maker Facial Expression
WH-Face Facial Expression

22. Things to know….. Precise Sign Production is important
SUMMER, UGLY, DRY
ASL is Not English
Fingerspelling
Space for using fingerspelling

23. All ASL Signs Have 5 Basic Parts (parameters)
Handshape
Movement
Location
Palm orientation
Non-manual signals (facial expression)
e.x., APPLE/ONION, UGLY/SUMMER/DRY
RED/CUTE, SHORT/TRAIN, SIT/CHAIR,
LATE/NOT YET

24. The Five Parameters of ASL Signs
Handshape
I/MY
I/D
D/F
E/O
Palm Orientation
CHILDREN/THING
MAYBE/BALANCE

25. The Five Parameters of ASL Signs
Location
SUMMER/UGLY/DRY
4. Movement
“I’m happy”/”I’m enjoy”
Non-manual signals/facial expressions
“I’m late”/”I haven’t”

26. Tips: Using ASL Dictionary
Don’t buy an ASL dictionary yet. Use what you have learned in class and master them first.
ASL dictionary doesn’t show sign movement, facial non-manual signs, and 3-D angles, not to mention that most dictionary author are non-native signers.
ASL dictionary may be good for help with remembering signs you already learned

27. Some Hints for Mastering ASL Skills
Pay close attention when I give examples of ASL structures for you, and copy me while I sign the structures.
Example:
If I sign, LIBRARY, WHERE?, you should not be signing “Where’s library?”
Use topic-comment structure often (e.g. BOOK, I WANT)
Use appropriate facial expressions
eyebrows raised for yes/no questions
eyebrows lowered for wh-questions
Think concept, concept, concept! English and ASL do not have a word-for-word correspondence. Make sure the signs you use say what you mean to say. For example, in English, “I see” means “I understand.” In ASL it means “I am seeing something.”

28. Questions?

29. An Introduction to ASL Deaf Awareness Quiz
Lance’s Intro to ASL PowerPoint slides

30. Deaf Awareness Quiz

31. Deaf Awareness Quiz
Instruction: pick the best answer (some will have more than one).

32. Deaf Awareness Quiz
What is American Sign Language (ASL)? (circle two answers)
a code similar to Braille
a shortened form of English
a language incorporating a lot of mime
a language capable of expressing any abstract idea
a language using picture-like images to express ideas and concepts
a language utilizing space and movement to convey meaning

33. Deaf Awareness Quiz Historically, ASL is related to:
British Sign Language
Swedish Sign Language
French Sign Language
German Sign Language

34. Deaf Awareness Quiz
American Sign Language is used by most Deaf people in which of the following countries?
(Circle all that apply)
Canada
United States
Mexico
Brazil

35. Deaf Awareness Quiz
4. What percent of Deaf people have Deaf parents? a. 10 percent b. 25 percent c. 50 percent d. 75 percent e. 90 percent

36. Deaf Awareness Quiz
American Sign Language and Deaf culture are transmitted to Deaf people from generation to generation primarily through:
family
Deaf adults in the community
residential Schools for the Deaf
sign language teachers

37. Deaf Awareness Quiz
The role of facial expressions, head movements, and eye gaze in American Sign Language is primarily through:
grammatical
stylistic
emotive
attention getting

38. Deaf Awareness Quiz
While watching another person sign, it is appropriate to focus on the signer’s:
hands
chest area
face

39. Deaf Awareness Quiz
Among ASL signers, fingerspelling is mainly used in what ways? (circle all that apply)
interchangeably with any sign
to specify brand names
as an artistic form of signing
to give names of people and places

40. Deaf Awareness Quiz
ASL makes use of the space in front of a signer’s body to: (circle all that apply)
indicate sentence types
convey distance
contrast two people, places, things, or ideas
express time concepts

41. Deaf Awareness Quiz
To get the attention of a Deaf person who is looking the other way, you should:
yell as loud as you can
tap him/her on the shoulder
wave in his/her face
go around and stand in front of the person

42. Deaf Awareness Quiz
If your path is blocked by two signers conversing with each other, you should:
wait until they stop talking before you pass through
bend down very low in order to avoid passing through their signing space
go ahead and walk through
find another path

43. Deaf Awareness Quiz
Which of the following are considered rude by Deaf people? (circle two answers)
touching a person to get attention
looking at a signed conversation without indicating you know Sign Language
describing a distinctive feature of a person to identify him/her
talking without signing in the presence of Deaf people

44. Deaf Awareness Quiz
In general, the least effective communication strategy between Deaf and hearing people is:
speech and lipreading
using sign language
writing back and forth
using interpreters

45. Deaf Awareness Quiz
14. Which of the following are valued in the Deaf Community? (circle all that apply) a. for Deaf people to govern their own affairs b. being kept informed about the community and its members c. restoration of hearing loss d. group cohesiveness e. individualism

46. Deaf Awareness Quiz
Other than the word “deaf,” a culturally appropriate way to identify Deaf people would be to say they are:
deaf and dumb
deaf mutes
hearing impaired
all of the above
none of the above

47. Deaf Awareness Quiz
Historically, Deaf people have faced discrimination in the following areas:
job hiring and promotion
obtaining a driver’s license without restrictions
getting fair insurance rates
getting decent housing
obtaining access to public services, information, and entertainment

48. Deaf Awareness Quiz
Some of the issues the National Association of the Deaf has fought for are: (circle all that apply)
using sign language in the classroom
maintaining a high proportion of Deaf teachers at the elementary and secondary levels
the right of Deaf people to adopt children
giving double tax exemption to Deaf people

49. Deaf Awareness Quiz
What was the purpose of the protest rally at Gallaudet University in March 1988?
to improve interpreting services
to give priority to Sign Language research
to assure that Deaf people be placed in top level decision-making positions
to mainstream more hearing students at the University

50. Introduction to Visual-Gestural Communication

51. What is Gesture?
“A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication made with a part of the body, used instead of, or in combination with, verbal communication”

53. What is Gesture? Used in face-to-face interaction
Etymology – from Medieval Latin – gestura (a mode of action)
60% of all our communication is nonverbal
Edward T. Hall, cultural anthropologist

54. What is Gesture? What is the difference between pantomime and gesture?
Gesticulate
Give examples of how hearing people use gestures, when they tend to use gestures and why.

56. Goals for Learning Visual Gestural Communication
Develop skills in communicating without words
Develop basic skills in transferring from gestures to ASL signs
Become more comfortable in using gestures to communicate
Eastman, G (1980) Visual Gestural Communication as a Sign Language Base. Gallaudet University, Washington, DC.

57. Goals for Learning Visual Gestural Communication
In studying ASL, it is very important to study the visual gestural communication first before learning ASL. It helps you understand and communicate better with deaf people.
Eastman, G (1980) Visual Gestural Communication as a Sign Language Base. Gallaudet University, Washington, DC.

58. Are Signs Universal? SMELL (Taiwan) YES (India) COME HERE (Asia)
Door knob (French)
Woman, female (Middle East)
Obscene gestures, often different than same.
What gestures are possibly universal? Actions / Objects gestures most likely.
Apparently, gestures have much less differences compared with signed and spoken languages around the world.
What are the advantages of learning gestures?

59. Non-Verbal Communication

60. How Will You Gesture These..
Water
Food
Home
Train
Airplane
Hotel
Bathroom
To Eat
Hungry
Drink
Dumb
Smart
Confusing
I know
I don’t understand
I don’t care
Nice to meet you

61. What do these Italian gestures mean?

62. “Eye Tag” Activity Instructions: You stand in groups of 4-6 students.
The teacher will choose a student to begin the activity in your group.
The chosen student is “it” and must wink at anyone in the group. It is called “tagging”.
The “tagged” person will then look for another person to wink at (tag).
Continue in this manner to improve your communication using your eyes only.

63. Observations on the activity?
Communication patterns?
Standing and facing each other: communication is expected.
Eye contact before communicating.
Repeat clearly and bigger if message is not received. Attention getting gestures if necessary.
Facial signals that shows you are listening or receiving the message.
Visual nature of language requires the use of your face and body.

64. VGC Homework #1
List at least ten gesture signs you know. (Different than the ones we discussed in class today)
Give each gesture sign English word(s) so that you will remember them.
Bring the list to class tomorrow. You will share your list with your group.
Then turn the list to me at the end of activity.

65. Happy Gesturing!

66. References:
Eastman, G. (1989) From Mime to Sign. T.J. Publishers, Inc. Silver Spring, MD.
Eastman, G. (1989) From Mime to Sign. TJ. Publishers, Inc. Silver Spring, MD.
Pictures from Microsoft Clip Arts
Pictures from Google Images

67. ASL Manual Alphabet

68. ASL Manual Alphabet

69. ASL Manual Alphabet

70. ASL Manual Alphabet

71. ASL Manual Alphabet

72. ASL Manual Alphabet

73. ASL Manual Alphabet

74. ASL Manual Alphabet

75. ASL Manual Alphabet

76. ASL Manual Alphabet

77. ASL Manual Alphabet

78. ASL Manual Alphabet

79. ASL Manual Alphabet

80. ASL Manual Alphabet

81. ASL Manual Alphabet

82. ASL Manual Alphabet

83. ASL Manual Alphabet

84. ASL Manual Alphabet

85. ASL Manual Alphabet

86. ASL Manual Alphabet

87. ASL Manual Alphabet

88. ASL Manual Alphabet

89. ASL Manual Alphabet

90. ASL Manual Alphabet

91. ASL Manual Alphabet

92. ASL Manual Alphabet

93. Things to know… Fingerspelling is used for: Names Names of places
Titles of book and movies
If you don’t know a sign, don’t fingerspell words and sentences. If you are doing this, it’s like saying H…O…W…A…R…E…Y…O…U

94. ASL Manual Alphabet Practice
CAM
BEV
JON
LIZ
(QU)AN
DAN
PEG
ROD
JIM
PUB
RAY
JEN
POE
KIP
LOU
VAL
DEB
MOE
WIL
GUY
HAL
KEN
ZOE
KIM
JUD
FAY
LES
DOT
TIM
BUD
MAE
REX
DOC
GIL
YUL
You can find ABC handshapes in
Signing Naturally Units 1-6, pp

95. Mirror Game
Pair off. One partner initiates movement. The other copies.

96. Learning Everyone’s Name
ASL signs:
WHO
WHERE

97. (point to your name on the board) A & B: (shake hands)
Signer A: Ask for name
Signer B: Give name
(point to your name on the board)
A & B: (shake hands)
M 2
1:1, p. 5

98.
M 3
1:2, p. 9

99.
M 4
1:2, p. 11

100. A E I O S T N M
M 5
1:3, p. 13

101. Homework:
Practice fingerspelling your first and last name until you become comfortable spelling quickly and clearly. Watch the video for examples of fingerspelling.
Visual Gestural Communication Homework – due tomorrow
List at least ten gesture signs you know. (Different than the ones we discussed in class today)
Give each gesture sign English word(s) so that you will remember them.
Bring it to class tomorrow. You will share your list with your group.
Then turn the list to me at the end of activity.
Homework assignment 1.1 due Wednesday (pg. 5) (written)

102. Sources:
Smith, C., Lentz, E. & Mikos, K. (1988)Signing Naturally Student Workbook Level 1. DawnSignPress. San Diego, CA
Smith, C., Lentz, E., Mikos, K. (2008) Signing Naturally Units 1-6. Dawn Sign Press. San Diego, CA.
Zinza, Jason E. (2006) Master ASL! Sign Media, Inc. Burtonsville, MD.
Eastman, G. (1989) From Mime to Sign. T.J. Publishers, Inc. Silver Spring, MD.
Pictures from Microsoft Clip Arts