What I’ve learned and how I’ll be using this knowledge in my future classroom
Reflection
I’ve greatly enjoyed the process of learning American Sign Language. I have found this to be more of a challenge than I expected, as it requires a commitment to learning and practicing. The format of having a weekly reflection helped to keep me on track. I began by learning the alphabet, which was a good starting point because if you ever don’t know a sign, you are able to spell it out. With this new information, I was really excited to share it with my friends and family. I taught my family how to introduce themselves, which they really enjoyed. I also really liked having the chance to talk about sign language and practice with some of my friends who already had previous knowledge. Afterwards, I worked on learning simple signs. I chose specific ones to learn based on what I felt would be most useful in my classroom. Below are all of the signs that have stuck in my brain.
- My name is
- School
- Learn
- Focus in
- Pay attention
- Bathroom
- Water
- Eat
- Where
- How
- What
- Go to
- Come here
- Father
- Mother
- I
- You
- What is your name
- Where do you live
- Nurse
- Clean
- Lunch
- Done
- Hello
- Help
- Thank you
- Yes
- No
Usage in the classroom
One of the favourite reflections that I did was the one about games. I found this very interesting and something that can easily be incorporated into my classroom. I plan on using the toilet/water and yes/no signs in the classroom so that I can excuse students without interrupting my teaching. In addition to that, I would like to make sure that every student knows how to sign their own name, it’s a useful skill. Lastly, I aim to use as many signs as possible while teaching french to maximize comprehension. I also plan on having the ASL alphabet poster in my classroom for students to freely use as a reference.
Conclusion
I will do my very best to continue to practice and dive deeper into this language. While learning this new skill, it’s made me realize how important it is to know, and how much of an impact it could make on a student.