ASL County Class

**Some signs are what we call, iconic. This means they resemble the “real” thing. However, most signs are arbitrary and do not have any reason or rhyme.**Grammar

• Gender signs and placements
• Female = lower portion of the face
• Male = higher portion of the face

Fingerspelling
• ABC
• Meet and mingle
o Hello
o My name M-O-N-I-C-A
o Your name what? NAME YOU?
 Facial grammar for (Wh) questions: eyebrows down
o Nice meet-you
o Meet All students
• Recognize when fingerspelling
o Do not bounce
o If a double letter, slide hand or slight bounce
o Hold arm comfortably and facing outward
o Do not move right or left. Stay in one place
o Pay attention to E, A,S,I, D,K,V,



My suggestions tend to follow a lot of the same rules that apply to teaching a child to read:
1. Practice, practice, practice...the more you work on reading other people's fingerspelling, the better you will get. Everyone's fingers are different so it is important to practice with many different partners in order to experience all the styles of hands. (Unfortunately not everyone has long easily read fingers!)
2. Don't get stuck on reading each letter as an individual letter. Instead think of it and the "shape" of the word. Watch for double letters and the beginning and ending letters. You should be able to fill in the rest with the contextual clues (much like you do with reading an unknown word in a sentence in a written passage).
3. Instead of saying each letter as you are seeing it, say each SOUND. (You are basically sounding it out.) This will help as you are trying to figure out the word. That way when you miss a letter here and there, by sounding it out you will be able to fill in the blanks.
Finger spelling, hands-down is one of the trickiest parts of the language. Don't get too frustrated. Take it slow at first. Don't be afraid to ask a deaf person to "spell it again please", they more than likely will be happy to repeat themselves.

Some of the abc’s are easier to see than others.
• Easier to identify so look for them…..B, C,D,F,H,I,J,K,L,R,U,V,W, X,Y, Z
• A bit more tricky…..a,e,g,m,n,o,p,q,s,t,

Number Memorization Help







1-5 in or out palm (PI,PO)
6-9 PO
10 shake thumb
11,12 flick off of thumb (PI)
13-15 Wave back PI
16-19 10+6, 10+7, 10+8, 10+9
20 L thumb to index PO
21 L wiggle thumb PI
22 2 2
23 L + wiggle middle finger PO
24 L+4 PO
25 L+ wiggle all three finger PO
26,27,28,29 L+6,7,8,9
30-90 Number +0 PO
22,33,44etc 2 2, 3 3, 4 4, etc
100 1C
hundreds C

Relationship signs

o Family ("F" circle)
o Parents
o Grandmother
o Grandfather
o Aunt (circular)
o Uncle (circular)
o Cousin
o Husband
o Wife
o Daughter
o Son
o Children
o Nephew (shake back and forth)
o Niece (shake back and forth)
o Marry, marriage
o Separated, separate
o Divorce (2 signs, marry no more)
o Back-together, reconciled (lexicon: fingerspelled words that become like signs themselves)

o Friend
o Good-friend
o Go-steady, go together, dating
o Boyfriend (used for intimate relationships only)
o Girlfriend (used for intimate relationships only)
o Roommate (here's the church, here's the people...)
o Grow-up-together
o Partner (share person)
o Relative (“R” friends)
o Step or bonus
o ½
o Great (spell it)
o 2 moms 2 dads (parents)
o Foster (sign comes from the sign HOME use "F")
o Twins (placed on the chin for all genders)
o Grandson
o Granddaughter
o Godmother (etc)
o Fiancé ("F" circle land on ring finger)
o Guardian (legal care person)
o In-laws

child care (baby care) CHILD CARE YOU NEED?
license (L tap together) WORK LICENSE HAVE YOU?
create (from your mind 4 handshapes) CREATE WHAT YOU?
culture WHAT CULTURE YOU FROM?
environment ENVIRONMENT MUST CLEAN
fill out form PAPER FILL OUT CAN YOU?
birth certificate YOUR BIRTH CERTIFICATE HAVE YOU?
fire alarm FIRE ALARM NEED?
coffee COFFEE YOU WANT?
work YOU WORK WHERE? YOU LIKE?
elevator ELEVATOR I MUST WAIT
walk WALK ACCOMPANY-ME?
college COLLEGE FINISH YOU?
finish YOUR COFFEE YOU FINISH?
money YOU HAVE MONEY?
earn/wage YOU EARN HOW-MUCH?
benefits YOUR WORK HAVE BENEFITS?
insurance (health) hEALTH INSURANCE YOU NEED?
vacation VACATION GO-TO WHERE?
christmas
holiday/celebrate\
like
staff
flower

ASL Classes Second Term
Week #1: Time orientations
ASL is always in present time unless you use a tense indicator to change the tense. Tense indicators are placed at the beginnning of the sentences in most situations except for will.

Use your body to deomonstrate time.

past
last
before
present
now
today
yesterday
tomorrow
future
recently
just
later
after awhile
will
morning
noon
afternoon
night
day
week
month
year

Week #2

Directional Verbs
These verbs can change directions to convey meaning. If you pull the sign towards your body it means to help-me, pay-me etc. If you move the sign away from your body it means to pay-you, help-you etc. If you sweep the sign across it means all of you.

Give
Pay
Show
Tell
Ask
Help
Look-at
Send