Summer Blog#3: ABC STORIES

CULTURAL INFORMATION: ABC AND NUMBER STORIES

A treasured part of the heritage of the Deaf Community is their language, ASL. It is, as with any culture, an important part of their identity. One of the fun and special traditions enjoyed and shared by the Deaf Community is signing stories using Number or Alphabet hand shapes. In these stories, various hand shapes do not stand for the numbers and letters themselves, but are used as signs or gestures to convey concepts. They are signed in alphabetical or numerical order, and used in amazing ways to sign or act out a story.


I want you to watch these ABC stories that I have chosen for you. The first story that I have selected shows how each letter is used to develop the story and you can see on the screen the letter as the signer uses it. Keep in mind these handshapes represent things, not the letters! The other two clips you must follow on your own. On Monday I am going to ask you to create your own ABC story! Story telling is a huge part of the culture and I wish to expose you to the many ways story telling is used. This will also allow you to learn how to better incorporate body langauge, mime, and facial expressions into your signing which are all important in your development of learning ASL. Not only that, you will be able to participate in a special fun tradition shared by Deaf people.

After you have viewed the videoclips, I want you to discuss these amazing stories with your ASL sisters and brothers (classmates). What did you think of them? What was easy for you to understand? Difficult? What fascinated you? What was inspiring? What can you compare this to in English?

Now think about traditions in your own families (think about your hertiage, culture, religon etc.)that are important to you and why. Also, what traditions are important to the American Culture? Compare and Contrast this to ABC stories in Deaf Culture.
Enjoy!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj1MQhXfVJg&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Iv8a299bQE&feature=PlayList&p=91196F2C6E7FD521&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZl9k3h0Glo&feature=related

Summer Blog #2: TV Programs For Children

Take a moment and think about all the programs you watched as a child. Weren't they great!? Ahh those were the days. Don't we have fond memories of the days of Cookie Monster shoving cookies into his mouth, counting with the Count, and of course who could forget Elmo's pet fish Dorthy and singing little jingles to the tune of "Jingle Bells"? Or wasn't it fun to figure out all the clues in our handy dandy notebooks? And Barney, who could every forget that lovable, yet somewhat annoying dinosaur that taught us to play nice and always share through great songs and dance! Okay, come back to the present! I want you to specifically, think about all the programs that were educational based (Sesame Street, Magic School Bus, Blue's Clues, Liberty Kids, Between the Lions, Arthur, Wishbone, Clifford, Barney, just to name a few!) How did they teach you? What did they teach you? Why did you enjoy them? Why did you (or still do!) want character pj's?

Now how many programs do you know about that were created specifically for Deaf children? Think of any? I have selected two shows that I would like you to watch. The first one is "Signing Time" that can be found on PBS in the mornings and is very popular program. The second one is called, "DeafPlanet" this can be found on the web at http://www.deafplanet.com/en/deafplanet/
Please blog about how beneficial you found these programs to be for Deaf children. What did you find beneficial, entertaining, fun, educational, and cultural? Which one do you think is best suited for Deaf children and why? What audience did these programs have in mind? I have included what I would like you to watch below but feel free to explore the DeafPlanet Website and view Signing Time on PBS for more information. Feel Free to share ANY thoughts, comments and questions with your fellow students other than what I asked you to discuss.

I would like you to watch "Caterpillar Dreams" on Signing Time at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGF3iC0o_1s
I would like you to watch "What Goes Up" on DeafPlanet at
http://www.deafplanet.com/en/deafplanet/
To get to this show you must click Shows and then select "What Goes Up"
Posted by Monica at 8:34 AM 40 comments

Summer Blog # 1: Enable

Deaf people and sign language are sometimes displayed by the media. For this blog posting, I want you to view how the media portrays Deaf people. I have selected three commercials. These commercials all use sign language as their primary communication method. I want you to watch there commercials and think about what message they are sending about Deaf Culture and Deaf people. Do you feel these commercials show the strengths of Deaf people and their language? Who were these commercials for? Did they reach both the hearing world and deaf world? Which commercial do you think portrayed the best image of Deaf people and their culture? Which do you think portrayed the worst? Support your responses. Watch the Pepsi commercial "Bob's House", the Chinese Pantene Commercial and the Thailand Toothpaste commercial (located on the YouTube links to the right). For the Thailand Commercial view:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeAhnagJdcA
and for the Chinese Pantene Commercial view:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opOQlA0LVqo which of these commercials do you feel are based on Deaf folklore. In Deaf folklore being deaf allows the person to triumph or succeed. As a result of their deafness they are able to overcome an obstacle. How does this commercial portray that being Deaf allows triumph rather than defeat?

Feel Free to add any comments and questions that you wish. This blog is designed to be used for a class discussion. All comments, opinions, thoughts, ideas, and questions are welcome. Be sure to read all students postings and to comment on those as well. You must respond to at least 2 students.

Monica

Hmmmm.. What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdhXmLtBLQY

Hearing Dogs

I know that most of you know what a Seeing Eye Dog is but have you ever thought about a Hearing Dog? Hearing Dogs are becoming increasingly popular. They are trained to do several things for their owners such as alerting them when their name is called, the phone rings, someone is at the door, their children are crying, a person is near, their alarm clock goes off, the fire alarm is blaring, and several other important messages. Hearing Dogs can greatly enhance a Deaf person's life and make them feel more secure in a hearing world.

Please watch on youtube the Sam Simon Foundation (part 1)

Have you ever thought of Deaf people using Hearing Dogs? Have you ever seen one working? What do you think?

No Blog this week

Hello Everyone,

There is no blog discussion this week. Please just focus on your tasks at hand.

Good luck,

Monica

Creating Storybooks for Deaf and Hearing Children

It is story time! It is so important that children are read too. Reading, is everything. Reading books to children at home, equips children for their education and opens up the entire world for them. However, many parents with deaf and hard of hearing children do not read to their child. They do not know how.

Shared Reading was created by Gallaudet University to instill parents with the tools to read to their children. This program has been successful in giving parents the tools they need to share the joy of reading with their family.

Why should parents use Shared Reading?

Deaf children read, on the average, at the fourth-grade-level when they graduate from high school.

We know that early booksharing experiences contribute to higher reading ability in school.

Many parents do not know how to share books with their young deaf and hard of hearing children.

If parents can learn how to share books, the reading ability of deaf and hard of hearing children should improve.

You are going to write, create a book and read to children in a different way! ASL!

Not only will you have the opportunity to create a wonderful book, you will translate it and sign it in ASL so it is accessible to both Deaf and Hearing children.

Here are some great ideas for helping you develop your story. Be sure your story has a valuable lesson.

1-Apple pie, pumpkin pie, cherry pie, too!
2-Grandma has diabetes
3-The biggest bubble
4-Debbie's big day
5-Mommy's birthday present surprise
6-There's a skeleton in my closet
7-Where does the sun sleep?
8-I feel happy, I feel sad
9-My upside down day
10-Lemons in the coffee?(crazy things in odd places)
11-My own little garden
12-Jessica goes to kindergarden
13-Painting is fun
14-She sews satin on the sofa eating a sandwich(consonant connotations)
15-lets make a collage
16-Danny goes to the pet store
17-Swimming lessons are fun
18-A puppet show for the neighborhood
19-No girls allowed
20-Hide and seek
21-My baby brother
22-Twinkie and her magic flute
23-Laugh, laugh, laugh
24-My sleepy time book
25-The day I was a super hero!
26-Clown for a day
27-Bubbles, bubbles everywhere
28-Mudpies and grass salad
29-Kristen's lemonade stand
30-The boy who loved candy bars
31-Ouch, my leg hurts!
32-My little friend
33-Miss Molly comes to visit
34-Keep Out!
35-Muffie's new bed
36-Fluffy, scratchy, sticky(different feelings or textures)
37-Baby's outing
38-Anna's loves dots
39-My cousin Ryan
40-The secret of Steeple Hill
41-364 days until Christmas
42-My key collection
43-My bike is gone!
44-Gone fishing
45-My day at the office with dad
46-There's a cow in my bedroom!
47-Shhh! Everyone's sleeping.
48-Chickenpox? Oh no!
49-A visit to the doctor
50-Megan and Katie, best friends

Use your imagination. Soon your thoughts and ideas will be flowing freely. Start creating your book now, don't procrastinate. Happy writing!

What are you writing about? How will you incorporate ASL grammar into your story?

Need help? Ask students here!