Long ago and far away there was a lonely little ten year old girl who met a new girl next door. Her name was Debbie, and she was deaf and couldn’t talk. I was over the moon to make a friend with someone so close, but there was one problem. I didn’t really know how to communicate with her. At first it was really hard. We had to write everything down and that was annoying for both of us. I was lucky though because she was patient, and she could also read lips. That made things a lot easier. After awhile, and with a lot of patience, Debbie managed to teach me the alphabet. I eventually did learn it, which was good because I had to spell out EVERYTHING. It was great that we liked each other, because it took a long time at first to get the point across… but we did figure it out… and got into all kinds of trouble together. When I was rotten and managed to get grounded, I would sit in the living room and talk to her out the window, or from some hidden location in the yard where I couldn’t be seen. It wasn’t so much fun when we fought though. I would yell at her, and she would simply turn her back on me so that she couldn’t see my lips…
My sign language skills became decent after awhile… enough that no one else knew what we were saying.. which was a lot of fun. Sadly though, when I was fourteen years old I moved away to another town. Debbie and I still saw each other once in a while, but it was never for very long because I lived in another community. Now it has been twenty-five years since I have been back to where I grew up. We talk on Facebook and we text, but it doesn’t require me to use my sign language skills and so I have lost most of it.
Fortunately for me, I do have a base to start with… I still remember how to do the alphabet! It’s something. Sign Language is a skill I have wanted to pick up again and I have been considering taking a course to become fluent. I feel it may help me as a teacher, so here goes… Welcome to my journey as I attempt to learn sign language online, I thought about learning how to clean my house instead… but maybe later.
First…. the basics.. Here is the alphabet. I still know how to do that, and I still remember the sign we used for my name. I have included a short video clip of the alphabet in sign language and the symbol that we used to say my name… “Robyn” I would say “Like and Subscribe” but I feel like sharp pointy objects are piercing my soul when I am taping myself, and so they will all be short and sweet… LOL
Doing the ASL alphabet
Later this week I will investigate some sources online and begin my learning journey.
From the website: Start ASL
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