Wrapping up the ASL learning experience!!
Through this semester, my learning project was supposed to be learning ASL. Now, as you can probably tell from the ten posts in 3 days, that did not go smoothly.
The semester got away from me while I was dealing with some personal things, and it effected my learning project a lot. While I did end up learning a bit of ASL, I knew it would not be possible for me to learn a semesters worth of ASL in the time I had left. I instead tried to focus on the resources themselves and see which ones I could find that are helpful, and which are not.
I started the project with a Youtube video, and that resource was really helpful! This Youtube video is awesome for learning because the speaker uses a clear, direct voice and repeats the actions multiple times.
Would I recommend it? Yea!! 9/10
The next week I used a resource from Google called Sign Langauge ABC’s.
This time, I went from a bit too complicated for starting out, to something more along my speed.
This resource used a calculator-style method to teach, and it was actually really helpful!! I would recommend this to anyone wanting to learn the ASL alphabet fairly quickly.
After that week, I dropped the ball and was dealing with things. I ended up watching Queer Eye one night and it happened to be an episode about a deaf coach in Louisiana! Watching this episode and seeing how into the movements and signing he would get was really amazing to watch. I know that sounds weird but the coaches body language acted as his tone of voice. If he was discussing something serious he would tighten up, but when he was passionate about something his entire body was involved, like a dance to communicate. It made me think about how ASL is more than just hand symbols.
After this I went back to Youtube, and used a different channel. This time I used the channel called Take Lessons. While the video was helpful and informative, it would probably be a one use resource. This is because The channel is not exclusive to ASL learning and has lessons for everything on it, ranging from guitar to Spanish to singing. I feel if a person is trying to teach themselves ASL via online resources, they would want one that focuses on solely ASL.
After this, I checked out two different apps from the app store. The first one I tried, PocketSign, was absolutely awesome. It was motivating, has rewards system in place, and challenges the user. The second app, called The ASL App, was way less fun. It had so many in app purchases that you could learn maybe 5 different things, then you would have to pay for everything else. PocketSign is the way to go when it comes to ASL apps.
From there, I went to TikTok, because when on one’s phone that’s where we all end up eventually. This resource, to me anyways, is not a good one for this. It is way too easy to get distracted by other things like cats and a guy rolling dice for sandwiches. There is also no censoring for the most part, so it makes curses more available for children.
Overall, PocketSign was the resource I was drawn to the most and is the one I would recommend if prompted. Queer Eye was also really fun to watch but that was going to be the truth regardless of ASL involvement. PocketSign wins the learning project! I have already deleted the other ASL app but I think I’ll be keeping PocketSign on my phone.
– Dallas
