MY FIRST WEEK:

I decided to start by learning the alphabet. The alphabet is important when learning any language, especially sign language. If you don’t know the sign for something, you can just spell it out with letters. This makes learning the alphabet one of the most important steps in learning ASL. After getting that pretty much memorized (I still forget a few every once and a while), I decided to move to the question words. This is also important because if you know the question words, you will be able to ask basic questions about things by pointing to them. So for example, if I didn’t know what something was, I would ask what and then point to it. Next was the basic words that are used in everyday. After getting the hang of those I went to basic phrases. Now I obviously didn’t learn every basic phrase, but this is just the start. Something I never realized about ASL was how important facial expressions and body movements are. For example, when asking questions, it is important to lean in and scrunch your eyebrows to indicate a question.

This week I decided to use YouTube to start my basics. I feel like YouTube is the base source for when you are learning a new skill. I found a few videos and channels that were really good, but also some that gave me misinformation. So it is really important to check with other videos and websites to make sure you are learning the correct signs. YouTube is a great resource that gave me tons and tons of videos to watch and learn from. I myself posted a video of my learning on YouTube. I want to try to learn from different sources each week or at least bounce between a few each week to see which one fits the best. I find one thing that is missing with the YouTube learning is that there is a lot of videos for learning the signs but not for practicing and quizzing yourself. Most of the videos that quiz you have more than the basics and I got a little confused, but I might not have found the right video yet, and those will be useful for later on when I have a broader knowledge of ASL.

I have decided to do my learning project on ASL, which is a visual language that employs gestures and expressions to communicate. My interest in ASL actually came from Tik Tok. I saw a girl making mini sign language lessons, and I thought how interesting it would be to be able to learn it. I have been wanting to take the time and learn ASL for a few months now, but never got around to it. I thought this project would be the perfect opportunity for me to learn. Also, I feel that ASL is a very useful skill to have, considering I could potentially be teaching people who use sign language. English is my first language, but I actually also took French throughout all of high school. I know a little of what it is like to learn another language, but leaning ASL will be a little different.

I have decided to do my learning project on ASL, which is a visual language that employs gestures and expressions to communicate. My interest in ASL actually came from Tik Tok. I saw a girl making mini sign language lessons, and I thought how interesting it would be to be able to learn it. I have been wanting to take the time and learn ASL for a few months now, but never got around to it. I thought this project would be the perfect opportunity for me to learn. Also, I feel that ASL is a very useful skill to have, considering I could potentially be teaching people who use sign language. English is my first language, but I actually also took French throughout all of high school. I know a little of what it is like to learn another language, but leaning ASL will be a little different.

My base for sign language is not super strong. I know how to spell my name, and how to sign a few words, but I am unsure if I am even signing them correctly. This knowledge mainly comes from performing Christmas concerts at my school. We would sing while wearing black clothes and white gloves. We would then turn on black lights and sign certain words from the songs, such as Christmas, all, hear, me, you, and other very simple words. I have never tried to put the words together to make sentences.

My Plan:

I have been looking for resources and it turns out there is so many! For one, YouTube is going to be my best friend on this project. There are so many people teaching sign language from that platform. I want to also be able to explore other resources aside from YouTube. For one, I have found a few apps that teach you ASL. I am compiling a list of resources and whenever I post about my progress I will be sure to include my resources so others can follow along on my journey. As well I will review which resources provide the best teaching and result.

I definitely want to start with the absolute basics: the alphabet, the numbers, and a few basic phrases such as “Hi, my name is Kara” and “how are you?” and other common phrases. Other possible topics include colours, sports, date, time, and directions. As a future math teacher I want to try to learn math phrases as well, like, add, subtract, multiply, divide, half, percent, etc.

GOAL:

My goal for this project is to be able to have basic conversations and possible be able to apply that to more complicated conversations. I also want to be able to express basic math concepts in sign language. There is so much I want to learn and trying to decide where to start is hard. My overall goal is to create a base knowledge of understanding of sign language. I think this plan will provide a good base to continue onto a more advanced knowledge of sign language.

Thanks for joining me on my journey learning ASL.

More on ASL right here! This site actually provides a few resources for learning ASL as well.