With all the ASL apps in my arsenal I’ve compiled a list of great resources for ASL beginners, and another list of not-so-great resources. This week, I decided to explore one of the original apps I downloaded; Pocket Sign.
Pocket Sign
Pocket Sign is a beginner ASL learning app with many lessons and resources to help with your learning. The resources include the ‘Study’ tab, where there are flashcards of all the signs you’ve learned through your lessons, a tab labelled ‘Sign Words’ to go to for a quick review and a ‘Sign Sentences’ tab where the app pieces together signs you’ve learned to start practicing conversations, and a ‘Camera Sign Practice’ where you use your camera to show the sign you’re demonstrating and the app corrects you.
The app also includes a quick reference tab for the alphabet, as well as your daily lessons and a dictionary. This week, I used the dictionary to begin learning conversational ASL, where I would search a full sentence and the app would break up each word and have a demonstrator show you each sign slowly. I loved this feature because it made my introduction to sentences very easy to navigate. Now that I have the basics, I figured I could slowly begin incorporating some of the harder signs into my daily life.
The only major con about this app is that you only have a two week free trial. Since I explored this app around a month ago, I was limited on what lessons I could try out. However, you are not limited on the dictionary, so even though this app is not completely free for an adequate learning style, I’ve decided to keep this app due to its usefulness in sentence structure.
So… What’s Going On?
Using Pocket Sign’s dictionary, I was able to look up full sentences and followed the demonstrators videos on how to speak full ASL sentences. For this week’s video, I wasn’t exactly sure on what to show. Sure, I could have just done an in-depth review of the app – which I did anyway – but I wanted to include something that I learned. I decided to do this by sharing a very small part of my life with you all.
Over the February reading week, I got my first ever surgery! For the past few years, I’ve been on a journey to transform my smile. I was born missing quite a few adult and baby teeth, which lead to my canine on the right side of my mouth to grow in beside my front teeth. This caused my smile to be lopsided and my mouth to be misshapen. For two years I wore braces and then my orthodontist re-positioned my canine to where it’s supposed to be, all for the purpose of my surgery.
I got dental implant surgery. What happened was , my surgical dentist went in and screwed a post a few centimeters long into my upper jaw bone, then attached an abutment (a small post that connects to the implant and hangs under my gum) which will eventually, after a few months of healing, hold the crown/my fake tooth so I can have my dream smile. In my following video, I explain a bit of my predicament, and showcase Pocket Sign and my learning for this week.
Thanks for joining me this week on my ASL learning journey!
Great post!! It’s great that you’re finding ways to incorporate full sentences into your learning. Pocket Sign sounds like a really helpful tool despite the trial limitations. Also, thank you for sharing your personal journey with your dental surgery. It is amazing to hear how everything is coming together for you. Can’t wait to see more of your ASL progress!
Thank you! It’s been a struggle to try to get motivation so incorporating ASL into my personal life has made it easier to keep trying!
Looks like you found a great resources for helping to learn ASL! It is great that you were able to access elements of the paid version on the trial period, because they seam to be useful tools! Also, I hope the healing process from your dental surgery is going well!
Thank you! Yes, despite the trial I was able to experience the app quite well!