Sign Language 101 – Use Your Face Too!

I started off this week’s ASL learning by starting with some intro videos from the Sign Language 101 website about how to hold your hand, reading sign language and facial expressions. I learnt that your facial expressions and body language can be very important when signing because it can change the meaning of what you are trying to say. It is also important to watch a person’s hands and face when trying to read sign language. 

I then watched more videos on the alphabet, numbers, colours, and commonly used words.In the video below, I show myself doing the signs of the commonly used words I remember from the website videos. 

I have decided to rate all the resources I use through this learning project based on this scale – Everything will be rated out of 10 – with 10 being amazing, awesome, and the best. Anything above like a 5 or 6 overall rating, means I would check it out if you were starting to use sign language. 

• Overall Rating – How I felt the website was overall. Was it helpful? Did I learn lots from the strategies they used? Did I like the videos and the speed they went in them? Etc.
• Information – Was it Informative? Did I learn what I thought I was going to? Was the information easy to understand? etc.
• Engagement – Was the information interesting and engaging? Did I enjoy watching the videos or did I get bored? Etc.
• Comments – a short explanation of what I liked and did not like.

My feelings on the Sign Langauge 101 Website 

• Information – 10/10
• Engagement – 5/10
• Comments – It provided some really good starting information on holding your hand and body language. It was easy to understand, and it showed different signs from different angles, so you could see exactly how to sign something properly. I wish they had made it more clear what they were signing as they introduced the video – They talked as the person was signing, but it wasn’t clear which signs meant what. I also didn’t like how, in the videos I watched, they asked a question and then didn’t answer it.  I don’t remember every sign from a video, as they threw so many at you in 1 short video. If they were even to break the video up a bit more – like categorize the signs it would help me learn and remember better. Overall, it was pretty good and was a great resource to get me started. 
• Overall Rating – 8/10