Picture Yourself Signing ASL, Level 1

Picture Yourself Learning American Sign Language, Level 1 Janna M. Sweenie and David W. Boles

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© 2008 Course Technology, a part of Cengage Learning ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution, information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2007941711 ISBN-13: 978-1-59863-516-4 ISBN-10: 1-59863-516-6 eISBN-10: 1-59863-664-2 Course Technology 25 Thomson Place Boston, MA 02210 USA Cengage Learning is a leading provider of customized learning solutions with office locations around the globe, including Singapore, the United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, and Japan. Locate your local office at: international.cengage.com/region Cengage Learning products are represented in Canada by Nelson Education, Ltd. For your lifelong learning solutions, visit courseptr.com Visit our corporate website at cengage.com

Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 11 10 09 08

We dedicate this book to you and to the thousands of other ASL students we have enjoyed teaching and tutoring in person and online over the last three decades. You are at the head of a long line of excellence in the teaching and learning dyad and we thank you for standing here with us. With your ongoing and active interest, American Sign Language lives beyond the Deaf Community and continues to survive as a beautiful visual language. We admire your need to know.

Acknowledgments

T

ogether, the authors wish to

acknowledge indubitable SuperAgent Matt Wagner of Fresh Books who helps carve our careers and care for our contracts. As well, this book would not be possible without the prescience of Kevin Harreld at Cengage Learning who knew the merits and the delights of the teaching in this textbook before word one was set on the page. Jenny Davidson deserves our greatest thanks for shepherding us from bit to byte to type and she was always kind and calm and thoughtful and helpful in every way as she willingly accepted that the buck stopped with her. The grand beauty of this book—the layout, the look, the feel, the unforgettable taste and smoky smell—was born in the talented hands of designer Shawn Morningstar who took our inspiration and made it better and more cogent and entirely accessible on the page. We love white space—and so does Shawn! Gordon Davidescu’s careful eye and tender mind helped clarify the teaching on the page. Finally, we appreciate the dedicated effort of Brandon Penticuff. He worked hard beyond the call of duty to make the DVD—not just workable—but an aesthetic experience for viewing. The word may last forever; but the moving image entertains the eye right now.

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Janna M. Sweenie would like to thank her mom, Janet Sweenie, for her free spirit and her good soul and for sharing it all with her while growing up. Janna thanks her husband, David W. Boles, for making this book possible and for inventing the whole “Pick and Say Rubric” way of teaching American Sign Language that makes its debut in this book. Janna also wants to thank Jack The Cat—the best, funniest, furry, boy in the whole world over the last 14 years—for keeping her company while drawing, writing, and typing and taking pictures. Working on the book was consuming and exhausting, but Jack made sure the process was made easier with his paws pouncing on the keyboard and his artful running all over the desk chasing the mouse cursor on the computer screen. We couldn’t have done it without you, buddy!

David W. Boles has been married to the delicious Janna M. Sweenie for 19 years and without her love and insight and gentle teaching all those years ago when they first met, there would be no book for you now.

About the Authors

J

anna M. Sweenie—born Deaf in Council

Bluffs, Iowa, and raised in the Iowa School for the Deaf—has been teaching American Sign Language for over thirty years. For the past 16 years she has been teaching at least four ASL courses per year at New York University. Other ASL teaching credits include CUNY-LaGuardia, Montclair State University, The College of New Rochelle, Catholic Charities of Brooklyn, and the Hotel Macklowe. Her first book, Hand Jive: American Sign Language for Real Life was written with David W. Boles and published by Barnes and Noble—New York. Janna is a rehabilitation counselor for the Deaf for the State of New York in Queens. She is thrilled to be part of the yearly Interpreting for the Theatre workshop at Juilliard where interpreters from around the United States are taught how to interpret Broadway musicals. You may visit Janna online at http://HardcoreASL.com and write to her here: [email protected]

avid W. Boles has been teaching for over 16 years. He has taught American Sign Language at New York University; Public Health at University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey; English and Literary Criticism at Fordham University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Saint Peter’s College, and the College of New Rochelle; Drama and Speech at Rutgers University, NJIT, and Columbia University in the City of New York. Current books for Cengage Learning include Picture Yourself Learning Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and Google Apps Administrator Guide as well as the forthcoming book, Picture Yourself Learning Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac. He is the co-author of Hand Jive with Janna M. Sweenie. Other books include Windows 95 Communication and Online Secrets for IDG and select GIS book content for Glencoe/McGraw-Hill publishing. You may visit him online at http://BolesBooks.com and email him here: [email protected]

D

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Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Chapter 1

American Sign Language Is a Visual Language . . . . . 1 Why You Bought This Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Whole-Body Signing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Lesson of the Melting Snowman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Look Beyond the Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Setting Expectations and Avoiding Disappointment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Reading over Seeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Faces Have Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Bravery in Interaction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 We Teach a Different Way of Wondering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 No Alphabets Allowed! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 No Numbers, Either! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Signs of the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Chapter 2

Deaf Culture Norms, Memes, and Standards. . . . . . . 9 How Who Hears What. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Hearing People Take Their Hearing for Granted . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The Deaf Hear with Their Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Interpreting the Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Reading Lips and Body Language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Comprehending Facial Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Embedded Deaf Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Creating Attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Tap That Shoulder! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Flashing Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Overhearing and Over-Eyeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Let There Be Lights!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Sloppy Signing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Multiple Disability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 How to Read Sign Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

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Table of Contents

A Brief Deaf History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Laurent Clerc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Alexander Graham Bad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Chapter 3

Understanding Facial Expression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 You and Your Beautiful Face. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Acting Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Danger in a Neutral Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Eyes Are Part of Your Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Be Deaf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Drowsy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Frightened . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Hyper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Negative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Neutral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Positive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Mouth-Pucker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Mouth-Slightly-Open . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Chapter 4

Commanding HandShapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 HandShaping Hints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 One. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Two. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Claw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 F . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Five. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Flat-B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Flat-O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 H . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 M. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 W . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Wrapping Up the Hands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 vii

Chapter 5

The Red Chapter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Time (Starters) Red . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 At Two O’Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Friday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 In Two Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 In Two Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 In Two Weeks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Last Month . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Last Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Last Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Later. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Long Ago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Monthly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Next Month . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Next Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Next Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Recent Monday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Saturday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Since Then . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Soon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Sunday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Thursday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Tomorrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Tuesday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Two Days Ago. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Wednesday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Weekly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Yearly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Yesterday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Going Green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Chapter 6

The Green Chapter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Nouns (Middles) Green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Baby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Bear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Boy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

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Table of Contents Cat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Dog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Dolphin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Elephant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Fish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Girl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Giraffe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 He . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Lion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Monkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Monster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Shark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 She . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Snake. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Snowman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Spider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Student . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 They . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Tiger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Turtle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Woman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Into the Wild Blue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Chapter 7

The Blue Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Actions (Ends) Blue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Clean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Complain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Cook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Cry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Died . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Drink-Alcohol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Eat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Fall-Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 ix

Hide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Lay-Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Marry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Melt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Paint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Pray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Rest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Retired. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Roller-Blade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Scream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Skip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Sleep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Surf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Swim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Walk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Wash-Laundry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Worry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Putting It Together. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Chapter 8

The Pick and Say Rubric. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Using the Rubric. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Chapter 5 Rubric: Time (Starters) Red . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Chapter 6 Rubric: Nouns (Middles) Green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Chapter 7 Rubric: Actions (Ends) Blue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Homework Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Chapter 9

Creating Complex Sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Reds First + Greens Next + Blues Finish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Homework Worksheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Chapter 10

Signing from Here on Up! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Keeping Your Face and Hands in Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 x

Introduction Picture Yourself Learning American Sign Language, Level 1 is the most unique textbook you will ever read in order to learn, comprehend, and unify your mastery of American Sign Language on the beginner level. By using our revolutionary “Pick and Say Rubric” found in Chapter 8, you will be able to create over 27,000 unique ASL sentences using only 90 words and 16 HandShapes. We take the Whole Body approach to teaching American Sign Language and that means your forehead, eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, chin, neck, and torso are employed in every sentence—along with your arms and hands— to convey context and meaning on a dynamic level. We will bleed American Sign Language into your heart and mind and embed it in your bones.

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You’ll start to know what’s up with ASL when you read this book!

1 American Sign Language Is a Visual Language Welcome to the fastest and easiest way

we know how to teach American Sign Language on the page and via video! In this book, we will give you over 90 specific vocabulary words, 8 Facial Expressions, and 16 HandShapes that you can then master and make into—get this—over 27,000 unique ASL sentences!

Why You Bought This Book We will show you ways you can focus not just on the signs you see flying before your eyes, but also on what else must go with it like Facial Expression, body position, and even the shape of your mouth and the curve of your eyebrows. Pay certain and special attention to the images you see on the forthcoming pages because they hold a plethora of clues on how to shape not only your hands and fingers but the rest of your body as well.

Whole-Body Signing We take the whole-body approach to teaching. We want you to have a great sense of achievement right from the start of your learning process. Many of our students fail to realize early on how important it is to take in the whole picture of the body. ASL isn’t just a hand or a look—it is a combination of relationships between hand, chin, and eye or shoulder, eye, and open hand. You aren’t just searching for a single recognizable sign, you are taking in the entire picture created by the body, and your mind and eye must work together in real time to blend meaning in between the spatial transitions of signs that create context for your meaning. ASL without appropriate Facial Expression means nothing! If, however, you can get your face in sync with your hands then you are actually creating more complex words and longer sentences. We’ll give you a graphic example.

2

Lesson of the Melting Snowman We’re going to show you a brief ASL sentence in three images where the entire meaning can be changed by modifying the Facial Expression only in the final image. The sentence in English— “Today, the snowman melted.”—is expressed as this sentence in ASL: “today + snowman + melt.” The following three images express that idea in “today” and “snowman” and melt.” The Facial Expression used in the final “melt” image means, “Gosh, I am so sad my snowman melted today, boo hoo!” Yes, all of that is “spoken” in the Facial Expression you see in the third image. Now we’re going to flip the meaning of the sentence “today + snowman + melt” merely by changing our Facial Expression to one that is happy, as seen in the second example of “melt” made with a happier face. In ASL, that second “melt” example means, “Oh, I’m so happy my snowman is gone, yay!” In English that Facial Expression changes the sentence to, “Finally, the snowman melted today!”

American Sign Language Is a Visual Language

Chapter 1

The lesson of the Snowman example is this: you need to look at the bigger picture to get an immediate whole. That means you need to look at the signs, the Facial Expression, and the location of the hands to the face. We are going to teach you how ASL goes beyond the body to compel a whole new visual way of expressing ASL as a foreign language. Be sure to check out Chapter 1 of the DVD to see the two versions of our Snowman example signed for you so you can see in great detail the subtle, and large, differences in meaning.

Look Beyond the Language

Since we are looking beyond the body together, it is important that we set up some foul lines of expectation for you when you venture out into the Deaf population. For new signers, meeting new Deaf people can be an exciting, if erupting, experience. Now we’re going to warn you why.

3

Setting Expectations and Avoiding Disappointment You will learn ASL because you wish to communicate with Deaf people—not because you’re looking to be liked or “thanked” for kowtowing to the level of Deaf communication. We meet a lot of people with good intentions but bad expectations. You will not be hailed as the conquering ASL hero when you show off your signing skills in the Deaf community because that form of basic communication is wanted and, frankly, demanded by those who spin in those cultural zones.

Just don’t get bogged down in the terror of dealing with ASL signers in the Deaf community who may not understand you at all—and you might feel the same way.

Reading over Seeing

That learning awkwardness is part of the educational process. Get used to that idea and realize the only way to get over that hump is to blend in with the Deaf community at Deaf events. Do not start a friendship with a Deaf person just to learn how to sign and to use that Deaf person as your own, free, private tutor unless you explicitly reveal that selfishness to the Deaf person first. You will misunderstand a lot of what is signed to you, and you will be puzzled by it because you’ve been practicing and learning on a one-way street: speaking in ASL. It’s a whole other beast to listen, and practicing your receiving skills will take a lot of time and patience on your part. The DVD included with this book is a good start toward polishing up your eyes for reading signed information.

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American Sign Language Is a Visual Language

Chapter 1

Faces Have Words

Bravery in Interaction

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. Faces have words, and when we say “faces,” we mean Facial Expressions. You will get your fill of Facial Expression in Chapter 3, but we want to warn you straight up that every face has subtle changes, and every pair of lips is as different and unique as a fingerprint.

You will be anxious when you begin to practice your signing with real people in the live world. That’s okay because shy is good. Bravado, while impressive in the raw, cannot be supported or faked if you are not first confident in your basic ASL fluency. Be humble and open, and you will be much more welcomed into the heart of the Deaf community.

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We Teach a Different Way of Wondering

No Alphabets Allowed!

In our class with you here in this book, we will challenge you and press into you the ways of the Deaf world by asking you to think, ponder, and wonder on things that may have never before crossed your mind. We’re going to teach your whole body how to sign because you need to be able to resist the temptation that all signers sign the same way. You’ll meet some people who sign quickly, like a freight train, and others who are lazy or more laid back and Zen-like. You’ll need to bend to their style of signing because they will not change for you, and in that bending to their needs and wants, you will become a better signer.

We refuse to teach you the alphabet. Most ASL books begin with the ABCs; but we don’t find that an effective way to teach a language because you will rarely use the alphabet to spell something in ASL. You will, however, learn about HandShapes in Chapter 10 where we will show you how HandShapes are based on some letters of the alphabet, but you don’t use those HandShapes to spell words. You will use them to create meaning and divinity. More on that later.

No Numbers, Either! We also refuse to teach you numbers. Most ASL books also begin with the 123s, but that only delays your progress and gives you a false sense of signing sophistication. You will learn a few HandShapes that suggest numbers but not necessarily numerals.

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American Sign Language Is a Visual Language

Chapter 1

Signs of the Future his American Sign Language course is the start of a journey into learning a beautiful and

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historic language. In the next chapter, we’ll dip a bit into the memes, norms, and cultural standards of the Deaf Community. Understanding the hows and whys of Deaf thinking is an important cudgel to curry because it will help you smash through the disappointments ahead and help you see into the bright, glorious future of signing ASL like a native.

7

Don’t throw your hands up in despair when there’s Deaf history to read!

2 Deaf Culture Norms, Memes, and Standards n this chapter, we’ll take you inside the Deaf world for

I

an insider view on what it means and feels like to be in the Deaf minority in a majority Hearing world. Norms are ways of coping in a culture. Memes are ideas that are taught and shared between people. Standards are facts that are in irrefutable hard evidence. We will share some truths here that may seem harsh, unfair, or even discriminatory—yet we ask you to let this chapter wash over you without judging what you read until you are proficient in ASL. We ask you to make yourself a blank page and let the experiences in this book and on the DVD make an imprint on you that you will later ponder and evaluate when you are of clear mind and emotion.

How Who Hears What

Hearing People Take Their Hearing for Granted

he question of how one hears

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the world has crossed generations and centuries. Some used to think the Deaf were Dumb or Mutes because they could not hear or chose not to speak. Now we consider the Deaf to be of their own culture, but there are still some— particularly in the medical community—who believe Deaf people are broken and in need of “healing” through surgery and mechanical devices like the cochlear implant that places an electric coil in the cochlea—destroying the cochlea in the process, so the surgery is irreversible—in order to make a deaf person “Hearing.” If someone is born deaf, they are of the Deaf culture forever no matter what Hearing parents of a deaf child might wish for or ask a surgeon to fix. When we begin to accept that deafness is a culture and a lifestyle and not a disease, we will better be able to understand the wants and needs of each other.

10

Hearing people take their hearing for granted because hearing things is so much a part of their day. It becomes a non-sacred notion, as they are used to subconsciously hearing and processing every little sound. When Hearing people head off to the mall, they don’t use their eyes to hear danger; they walk with their head slightly down and rely on their hearing to move sideways to avoid oncoming footsteps. The Hearing chat on their cellphones and use their pagers as they walk—eyes locked on a tiny screen as they dial and click—and their ears protect them from any threat or unsuspecting compromise hiding in plain sight. The Hearing hardly need to look forward when they walk because they assume their hearing will keep them safe—but we know hearing can be deceptive and ineffective at times.

Deaf Culture Norms, Memes, and Standards

The Deaf Hear with Their Eyes The Deaf hear with their eyes, but that doesn’t mean some Deaf don’t have a bit of traditional earhearing available. Some Deaf can sense a nearby truck honking or a shrilly ringing phone; but most Deaf people rely on seeing for hearing and, unlike Hearing people, the Deaf can both see and hear at the same time. Let us explain that.

Chapter 2

When the Deaf walk in the park or mall, they are always looking up and forward. The Deaf do not rely on their ears to hear because hearing with ears is unreliable or unavailable, so why bother? The Deaf look around everywhere. The Deaf see everything better because they are always scanning the horizon, below, above, and to each side, and that “mega-hearing-seeing-scanning” is done naturally.

11

Interpreting the Body ody interpreting is vital to becoming proficient in American Sign Language; and even though this book is only an entry-level look into learning ASL, we still want you to become aware of the physical world around you and to see things you may not have previously noticed before. You can practice this in real life by looking at what the breeze is blowing: a leaf on the street, a droopy flag on a pole, a woman’s silk scarf. Look for the small, indeterminable things most people miss in the rush of their daily lives. How many days in a row does your best friend wear the same shoes? When did your beloved last get a haircut? How many steps is it from your front door to the nearest corner? These small valuations of the everyday make your overall life richer because you are not only seeing, but also creating details in your life that will help you express the inward you outwardly in your ASL signing proficiency.

B

12

Reading Lips and Body Language

Deaf people are generally expected and, in some cases required, to read lips. Reading lips is not a natural happenstance for the Deaf. To become an expert lip reader, you really need to practice with a speech therapist. To understand spoken speech, it helps to hear it first to make relational contexts between lips and exhaled air mean something. Hearing people are good lip readers—not because they practice it—but because it is a natural extension of hearing a wide variety of spoken words. Deaf people, on the other hand, are expert readers of body language while most Hearing people are not, even though they think they are. The Deaf hone their body language expertise every day as they watch people and wonder which way they’ll move on the street, if someone’s anger is being expressed in aggravated muscle movements, or if someone is being open and friendly, offering help.

Deaf Culture Norms, Memes, and Standards

Comprehending Facial Expressions Facial Expressions, as we argued in the first chapter, are an unparalleled necessity when it comes to learning ASL. We will show you some specific examples of what you need to know as a beginning signer in the next chapter, but for now, let’s give you a wide-ranging—and perhaps even advanced— view of the importance of Facial Expression in sign language. When we discuss the idea of Facial Expression, we are not talking about looking mad or happy or neutral and non-threatening. Those are normal, universal, Facial Expressions that transverse all cultures and nationalities: a smile is understood the worldover. Our definition of Facial Expression is centered on the cultural norms of the Deaf community.

Chapter 2

For example, if you wanted to sign that California is far from New York, you would blow air through your mouth indicating a long distance when you sign the word “far.” When you blow air like that, your Facial Expression is very specific, identifiable as meaning “long away” to ASL signers. Now, blowing air in that context is a grammar rule in American Sign Language in the same way verbs follow nouns in written and spoken English grammar. Remember: ASL is not English! Some signers use PSE (Pidgin Signed English) where signs are provided in an English sentence structure; but ASL has a totally different grammar and word order and is actually more akin to French than English for reasons you will soon discern in this chapter.

13

Embedded Deaf Culture

It’s no secret that most Deaf children are born to Hearing parents and, like every other parent in the world, parents of Deaf children want their children to be like them. That means trying every method available to make them Hearing even if they are both into Deaf culture. That sort of well-meaning ostracism and rejection of Deaf culture is one that throbs and bleeds today even in the midst of a “successful” surgical cochlear implant. Many of the implanted deaf infants—some implant surgeries are done on deaf infants as young as two months old—grow up in the mainstreamed Hearing educational world but never quite fit in.

14

The implanted never really understand the world around them because they have been taught to discount their “deaf eyes” and rely on their “mechanical hearing” instead. They fall behind in language skills because they cannot effectively tune in the world around them with their ears, and they have no one in their lives who manually signs to give them American Sign Language as the natural first-born language. Implanting deaf children never really quite works out as one would hope. There are many examples of “successful” cochlear surgeries that result in the devastating loss of self-identification and cultural worth in these implanted infants. They grow into childhood and adulthood memeless and rudderless because they were never allowed by their Hearing parents to learn ASL. They weren’t born hearing, so they are never really accepted by the Hearing as one of them by birth, and they don’t fit into the Deaf community either.

Deaf Culture Norms, Memes, and Standards

Chapter 2

Creating Attention he Deaf community has lots of

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acceptable—and unacceptable!—ways of getting the attention of other Deaf people. As a Hearing person in the Deaf community, you will need to learn the means and memes of appropriate attention-getting and touching.

Tap That Shoulder!

Hearing people are not used to being touched and tapped. Oftentimes, if you tap a Hearing person on the shoulder to get their attention they will leap out of their skin in fear! In the Deaf world, that sort of touching and tapping is vital to the standards of Deaf communication. In the Hearing world, you yell someone’s name to get their attention. Or when you are in a conversation with Hearing people, someone can sense their involvement in the conversation by the energy and vocalizing you are directing their way.

Deaf people need to see you first before you start communicating with them. The Deaf see first and understand second. If, however, a Deaf person is watching TV or reading a magazine, you need to get their attention through touch, by tapping— LIGHTLY!—on their shoulder. What if one person is standing and the other is sitting? The standing person will bend down and tap on the sitter’s shoulder. The sitter can get the attention of the stander by tapping on their thigh or by waving in a large, unmistakable arc. DO NOT TAP ON ANYONE’S HEAD! It’s funny that many Hearing people assume that “tapping” means a few pokes on someone’s head with an index finger. Not so! A really effective tap is of medium force using the middle three fingers to enforce the annunciation. If you are sitting in a chair and not on the floor, you can get the standee’s attention by tapping on their forearm. Height and body type vary, so use your good sense to tap in an appropriate and civil place.

Flashing Lights Flashing is not the revelation of private parts beneath a trench coat! Flashing, in the Deaf community, means to use an electronic device—usually some sort of strobe light—to get the attention of another person. Flashers are used to indicate ringing phones, someone knocking at the door, or a baby crying in another room. You can also flash the lights on and off to get the attention of a Deaf crowd. There’s no better way to quiet a rowdy room than momentarily turning off the lights, as you may remember from your elementary school days.

15

Overhearing and Over-Eyeing

If you want privacy in a crowded room, you either need to “whisper” by signing discreetly, or you need to leave the room to find a private space in which to speak with your friends. There is nothing ruder you can do to a Deaf person than use a vocal whisper in front of them and later excuse that bad behavior by saying, “If she was Hearing, she couldn’t have heard me anyway!” You don’t know that for sure. You don’t know what Hearing people do and do not hear, and to whisper with a Deaf person in the room means you are being inconsiderate and rather cruel.

Let There Be Lights! One thing you need to get used to in the Deaf community is that you will be watched and analyzed. Every move you make will be recorded in the eyes of everyone in the room. It is strange to feel stared at all the time, but that’s the way of the ASL world. Do not expect privacy in your conversation. If you’re signing out in the open, everyone in the room has the cultural right to listen in with their eyes to see what you’re saying. As one of our Deaf friends puts it—“Eyes + for + for”—which translates into rough English as “Eyes are for watching!” This is akin to Hearing people overhearing conversations on the train and in the office. “Over-eyeing” is the same sort of issue in the Deaf community. The Hearing may be more discreet in their overhearing, while the Deaf are much more obvious in “over-eyeing.”

16

The Deaf need light—lots of light—in order to see each other and communicate. Conversations in dark rooms just don’t happen with the Deaf. They need to see HandShapes, and Facial Expressions, and each other in clear view for total communication. Sometimes at a candlelit restaurant, more light is needed, and the Deaf need to ask for more light or extra candles! Lamps are important to light rooms in the home. In addition, flowers and other centerpieces are generally frowned upon in Deaf homes because they impede the ability to see each other. Most Deaf families converge in the kitchen— usually the most well-lighted room in the house— to carry on common conversation.

Deaf Culture Norms, Memes, and Standards

Chapter 2

Sloppy Signing tend to be even more patient and willing to carry on a conversation with an ASL newbie—so don’t run from the disabled. Welcome them into your conversation instead!

How to Read Sign Language

A

nother thing to keep in mind

is that American Sign Language is not meant to be perfect, beautiful, and precise in everyday use. You will meet sloppy signers who don’t finish words or fully explain a thought—just as you meet those sorts of disconnected people in the Hearing world. If you don’t understand something, ask for it to be repeated. It’s okay to tell someone the conversation has “flown over your head” and that you need to go back a bit and start over. Don’t fake understanding when you do not. Do not nod your head yes or no unless you fully understand what question you are answering! There is no greater offense in the Deaf community than to pretend to understand when you do not.

Multiple Disability You will meet people who sign with only one hand—due to a disability or just plain laziness—and you’ll have to learn how to converse with them by only getting half of the picture or conversation. Most impaired signers are aware of their extended disability and the awkwardness it creates, and they

We’ve said this before, and we’re going to say it again and again in this book in as many ways as we can to make sure the concept bleeds in your bones: you learn American Sign Language by watching the entire picture of the body in motion. That includes hands, torso, eyes, face, chin, and head. Sometimes the arms may swoop and move and guttural sounds are made, and you won’t know where to look or listen or feel. You’ll just have to get used to letting the experience wash over you again and again until you become comfortable seeing the big picture in the close-up signing experience. Remember, signing also includes emotion. An angry person will sign faster and with more muscular emphasis than one who is quiet and joyful. 17

A Brief Deaf History

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet

Y

ou can’t have an American

Sign Language book and program without touching on at least three historic, common touchstones of the Deaf experience in America. We’re going to take a quick look at the radical changes of three men in antiquity—Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, Laurent Clerc, and Alexander Graham Bell—and the watershed changes they made in the history of Deaf culture.

18

Reverend Gallaudet is considered the father of modern American Sign Language in the United States. He was a Hearing person who wanted to teach young Deaf children a language. Before Gallaudet, Deaf children were considered animalistic and unteachable. Gallaudet understood it is language that humanizes us, and it is the right of every Deaf person to have a language they can use to communicate their wants and needs in everyday life. Gallaudet visited Europe to learn how to teach Deaf students, and it was while he was overseas that he met Laurent Clerc at the National Royal Institute for the Deaf in Paris.

Deaf Culture Norms, Memes, and Standards

Chapter 2

Laurent Clerc Laurent Clerc was a young Deaf man who agreed, in 1816 at age 30, to travel back to America and teach Gallaudet French Sign Language in exchange for English lessons. Clerc was deafened when, at the age of one, he fell into an open hearth and the right side of his face was badly burned by fire. That accident is believed to have also caused the loss of his sense of smell. Clerc was schooled at the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb in Paris. He graduated and became an instructor at the institution before he met Gallaudet. Clerc’s sign name—the identifying hand gesture that uniquely indicates him—is made with the first and second finger lightly touching downward twice on the right side of the face. An interesting side note is that if you move your hand horizontal and lightly slide sideways, your first and second finger on your cheek twice, you are signing “ice cream.”

Alexander Graham Bad Okay, we know Alexander Graham Bell’s name isn’t “Alexander Graham Bad”—but we’re trying to make a point here. Even if you invent the telephone in 1876, that doesn’t mean you are an expert in the communication needs of the Deaf—even if you marry a deaf woman! Alexander Graham Bell was fluent in sign language, but he did not believe Deaf people should use sign language. He felt sign language was a crutch that distanced the Deaf from the mainstream population and that, in order for the Deaf to be accepted by society, they needed to use their voices to be heard, never their hands. There are a lot of people who support Bell’s theory of deafness, and that’s fine—we just prefer to evaluate every Deaf person’s needs on an individual basis instead of lumping them into a single pool of cultural behavior. Our experience in the Deaf community also suggests Bell’s attitude about the Deaf and Deaf education was awfully harsh and unbending— even in light of the evidence that the Deaf, using sign language, do better in class and not worse.

Bell was an oralist, meaning that voice was more important than anything in the education of Deaf people. He wanted only Hearing teachers instructing Deaf students. Deaf instructors did not belong in the classroom, he reasoned, because there would be too much temptation to manually communicate in the student’s birth language: American Sign Language. Alexander Graham Bell claimed the only way to stop Deaf children from using their native sign language instead of their voices was to tie their hands behind their backs. Hence, “Alexander Graham Bad.”

In this chapter, we took a wide and deep look at Deaf culture memes, norms, and standards, and we discovered methods for communicating with the Deaf. In the next chapter, we’ll begin a more formal instruction of American Sign Language, Level 1, as we begin to teach you explicit Facial Expressions that you will use throughout the rest of this book. 19

Don’t let your face “melt” with boredom—get on the American Sign Language “Yay Team!” bandwagon!

3 Understanding Facial Expression ver the next five chapters, you will be immersed in the proper Facial Expressions, HandShapes, and vocabulary for proper American Sign Language expression. In this chapter, you will learn how to make your face express a wide variety of emotions to help provide context, syntax, and even grammar when it comes to signing whole-body ASL.

O

You and Your Beautiful Face

Y

our face is beautiful. You use that

beautiful visage to meet the world and interact with the totems of your life. Few people realize the value and vital importance of the face in the expression of American Sign Language. Facial Expression—which you will learn in this chapter—sets the tone of your emotions and frames the context of your sentences. Don’t forget that your Facial Expressions can change from word to word and moment to moment—you don’t need to use a single Facial Expression for an entire sentence.

Acting Out When Hearing people are enraged, they raise their voice, clench their fists, and their faces turn red and bulging with veins. When Hearing people share good news, their voices can turn warm and happy. The tone of the Hearing voice in expressing words also applies to ASL. Your Facial Expression sets the “vocal” tone for your sentences. You may only be signing a few words, but when those signs blend with your face, you can create a whole bunch of different meanings and concepts. Following is a quick ASL sentence example. We’re giving it to you in text only to meet you on the terms you currently employ in the regular expression of your non-ASL life:

yesterday + she + marry You can change the meaning of that sentence merely by modifying your Facial Expression: Positive, Negative, or Neutral—we’ll teach you all three of those expressions in a moment.

22

If a mother is talking about her daughter getting married, she would use a happy, positive, Facial Expression to convey that emotion. If, however, you are a former boyfriend and you sign that sentence, you would likely use a negative Facial Expression if you are still, in fact, in love with her and do not approve of her marrying another man.

Danger in a Neutral Face Now a third example is actually tricksier to handle than the previous two: the Neutral Facial Expression. Neutral is tricksy because you are not “voting emotion” on your sentence: You are signing the same sentence, but your face is neither happy nor sad, alive nor dead. People in the Deaf community will not let that sentence go—they will demand more information because, by your Neutral Facial Expression, you are actually inviting follow-up questioning because you are being indifferent. You will be asked if you are dating anyone else now. You will be asked if you attended the wedding. You will be drilled on your feelings about the wedding. You’ll probably get 10 more questions from the rest of your group because your face did not demonstrate any tone.

Understanding Facial Expression Now a toneless face is fine if that is your intention, but for many beginning students of American Sign Language, a lack of Facial Expression—the Neutral face—is unintentional because they forget to attach Facial Expression to the sentence. It is always best to show how you feel in your face as you sign because others will read your face and feel more comfortable that they are totally understanding instead of having to guess at your meaning and emotional intent.

Eyes Are Part of Your Face Don’t forget your eyes! Facial Expression includes directional eye movement. Many of our students just sort of stare dully ahead as they sign, unaware they are boring their listeners as much as their listeners are boring them. Eye contact does not mean you have to stare at a person, but it does mean you need to look at the person you are talking to and asking questions of so others don’t have to wonder who you’re asking or talking to when you sign. When you’re talking to a group of Deaf people, try to make eye contact with everyone in the group if you are having a general, shared, conversation. Remember, Hearing people use vocal tone, inflection, and nuance to help add “directionality” to their sentences as they speak; oftentimes, don’t ever really look at the other person they’re talking to because of that assumed communication meme. However, “talking to no one in particular” won’t get you very far in the Deaf Community as a firsttime signer.

Chapter 3

Be Deaf The best advice we can give you as you begin to learn appropriate Facial Expression is to feel free to be as Deaf-like as possible. We’re taught from an early age to have a neutral, friendly face at all times. But we are giving you explicit permission to make as many faces as you can to try to get your point across. Deaf-Speech is a term we use to indicate the way the Deaf form English words for use in American Sign Language. Deaf Speech means your mouth will take positions of a Deaf person speaking. You will not mouth the vocabulary words with your lips—you will form your lips into a DeafSpeech position based on the Facial Expression you are creating. You may be uncomfortable pretending to be Deaf as you learn ASL, but that’s part of the process of learning any new foreign language—and American Sign Language is definitely a foreign language, with its roots hooked into French grammar (as you remember Laurent Clerc from the last chapter). ASL does not have any English taste to it. English cannot match pure ASL, and it is unnatural to try to squeeze in English sentence structure while using ASL signs. However, a lot of ASL programs work that way—they teach PSE (Pidgin Signed English) and not pure, hardcore ASL. There is no such thing as having Facial Expression with your mouth closed. Are you ready to learn some Facial Expression and the mouth norms that go along with each of them? Let’s dig in right now. All of the sentence examples we provide can be learned and signed in the forthcoming chapters!

23

Drowsy e begin our learning with the

W

Drowsy Facial Expression: tilt your head, droop your eyes, open your mouth, and look numb and zoned out. Drowsy shows the person you are talking to how you feel about cleaning the toilet or if you are tired or worn out. You can use this Facial Expression to also indicate drunkenness or stumbling around in the street. If you drank too much over the weekend, Drowsy is the Facial Expression to use to tell everyone you went way overboard.

24

You can sign

recent-Monday + I + drink-alcohol while making a Drowsy Facial Expression as you sign and “drink tons of beer.”

Understanding Facial Expression

Chapter 3

Frightened

T

he Frightened Facial Expression

is perfect for telling scary Halloween stories: open your mouth a bit, hunch your shoulders forward, raise your eyebrows, and tilt your head forward a little as your eyes widen. You can also use Frightened to tell a story that isn’t positivebased and your audience will be enthralled.

Here’s an example you might use:

tomorrow + monster + scream You’re so scared of seeing the monster tomorrow that you’re screaming today!

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Hyper yper can be a confusing Facial

H

Expression: tense your shoulders, pucker your mouth, open your eyes, and raise your eyebrows—and a little brow sweat wouldn’t hurt, too! Imagine you are a newspaper boy and you deliver newspapers to your neighbor’s houses; but when you turn one particular corner every morning, a big dog that hides under the porch waits for you to get close enough to toss your paper so he can attack you by surprise! Now, you don’t mind the daily attack because the dog is on a leash and your foot is barely out of reach of his open, fanged, jaws—but when you try to collect your monthly fee for newspaper delivery, you need protection from getting bitten.

26

You might tell the dog’s owner:

monthly + dog + hide With the Hyper Facial Expression in action, there will be no doubt of your concerned seriousness. You could even add the Frightened Facial Expression in order to more fully convey your horror of ringing the doorbell to collect with a dog chomping on your leg for breakfast.

Understanding Facial Expression

Chapter 3

Negative

W

e’re taught from an early

age to smile and be happy, and while that’s fine when things are going well, the Negative Facial Expression is a necessary tool to communicate distress and displeasure. Curl the ends of your mouth downward, furrow your brow, wrinkle your nose, make your eyes like slits, and think negative to be negative:

yesterday + baby + fall-down You are not happy your baby slipped and fell, and you let the world know that face with your Negative Facial Expression.

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Neutral kay, we’ve been warning you

O

against a neutral Facial Expression—but it’s really more of a non-committal Facial Expression that bothers us the most because it is disinterested and lazy. A truly on-purpose and definitive Neutral Facial Expression can be invoked at many places and times for special effect. Your gaze is sharp, but your face is generally relaxed—remove the wrinkles, soften your skin, be intent but not dreary. Most of the Neutral Facial Expressions belong to words that are emotionless, like the days of the week or time periods.

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Here’s an example of a Neutral signed sentence:

tuesday + she + sleep That sentence is factual, bland, and emotionless. It’s not terribly interesting, but Neutral works as the Facial Expression. If you wanted to suggest her sleeping had an effect on her, you could add the Drowsy Facial Expression on the word “sleep,” suggesting she didn’t get enough rest and was still worn out and droopy.

Understanding Facial Expression

Chapter 3

Positive he Positive Facial Expression is

T

the opposite of the Negative Facial Expression, and most of the words you’ll connect with Positive are action words. Positive doesn’t have to mean happy—it can just mean eager or a good thing. You create it by lifting your shoulders a bit, opening your mouth into an almost-smile, raising your eyebrows, and letting your forehead wrinkle up as your eyes open wide. Remember, wrinkles are good in American Sign Language because they really help define the face and “draw the lines” of expression! Botox is not allowed in ASL signers!

today + me + swim That sentence has no real meaning or emotion without a Facial Expression, and if you choose Positive, you are saying you had a great time swimming today!

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Mouth-Pucker outh-Pucker does not mean

M

you are eating something sour! The Mouth-Pucker Facial Expression is not forming an English word—it is creating context with a Deaf-Speech mouth formation. You pucker your lips in a kiss, lower your shoulders, and your eyebrows slightly rise in anticipation. As you look at the person you are signing to, make sure you have good eye contact:

two-days-ago + boy + eat

30

Each word in that sentence gets the Mouth-Pucker Facial Expression treatment. On the DVD, you will notice when “two” and “ago” are signed, the mouth changes to shape the start of those two words— the “t” in “two” and the “a” in “ago”—to suggest Deaf-Speech pronunciation. These are not English mouthings, they are just brief breaks from the default Mouth-Pucker to give the sign more meaning and clued shape.

Understanding Facial Expression

Chapter 3

Mouth-Slightly-Open outh-Slightly-Open means it’s

M

time for some gossip! Mouth-Slightly-Open shares a lot of the same Facial Expression qualities of Mouth-Pucker, except your lips are relaxed and slightly open instead of being held tightly in the form of a circle. Mouth-Slightly-Open is the most commonly used Facial Expression because it can quickly suggest positive and negative connotations, and the relaxed mouth helps in the fast formation of Deaf-Speech memes.

long-ago + man + cry Mouth-Slightly-Open expresses some internal curiosity of your own, and that adds dimension to your wondering and storytelling as you discuss the crying man with your friends.

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Even a “surgeon’s hands” can “crush” their hands into HandShapes.

4 Commanding HandShapes he hands are the soul of American Sign

T

Language, and in this chapter, we will reveal the covenants of that spirit as we teach you the hows and whys of forming your hands into 16 specific HandShapes to create universal meaning with your fingers, palms, and wrists.

HandShaping Hints andShapes are generally based

H

on the alphabet and numbers. Earlier we told you we would not be teaching you the formal alphabet and numbers, and we’re standing by that even though you’ll be learning a few alphabetic and numeric HandShapes. In American Sign Language, numbers and letters are HandShapes, but not all HandShapes are numbers and letters— and that’s the big difference we want to teach you. The B HandShape is the letter B, but a Claw HandShape has no relationship to the traditional world of numbers and letters. That is the big difference we want to keep hammering into you with our A HandShape—which we can use to deliver an ASL pounding.

34

The most important thing to remember is to create these HandShapes crisply and with intent, for they provide the means of manual communication. You can make these HandShapes with either hand, and you should practice to become HandShape ambidextrous. If some of these HandShapes confuse you and seem to be without context, it’s because the context will be made clear in Chapters 5, 6, and 7, when we apply them to help create the 90 vocabulary words you will learn. We wanted to take this chapter to give you big images of the HandShapes with a larger overall view of how to properly construct them.

Commanding HandShapes

Chapter 4

One ne is the first HandShape to learn, and you may recognize it as the universal indicator of saying, “We’re number one!” It is also the perfect shape for picking your nose! HandShape One is most often used to point and indicate direction.

O

35

Two oes this HandShape look familiar? It’s the old hippy peace sign and also how Hearing

D

people indicate the number two. In American Sign Language, this Two HandShape is used to indicate the number two as well. We like to create the Two HandShape with the thumb touching the first knuckle of the fourth finger.

36

Commanding HandShapes

Chapter 4

A andShape A is made by closing your fingers into your palm to form a soft fist. Your thumb

H

is outside the fist and it rests on the outer edge of your closed index finger.

37

B is a HandShape that might look familiar as a salute hand except for the thumb

B

crossing over into the territory of the palm. For HandShape B, you must have that thumb on your palm or there will be confusion later when you try to sign a Flat-B HandShape.

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Commanding HandShapes

Chapter 4

Claw

W

e love the Claw HandShape most of all! This is a fun HandShape because you get to flex all your fingers into talons, as if you’re going to maul someone like a tiger! The key to making this HandShape really effective is to keep actively trying to spread your fingers as you sign it.

39

C

T

40

he C HandShape is similar to the Claw, but your fingers are together and bent to form the upper half of the letter C. Your thumb creates the bottom half of a C outline, and putting everything together creates the entire outline of the letter C.

Commanding HandShapes

Chapter 4

F andShape F might look like the universal sign for A-OK! F creates a circle

H

with your index finger and thumb as their tips meet, while your other fingers are spread out like feathers in a peacock tail.

41

Five ive is a HandShape that stretches your wrist and fingers to test maximum

F

flexibility and, yes, this HandShape looks a lot like the way Hearing people indicate the number five. That’s because it is also the ASL sign for the number five.

42

Commanding HandShapes

Chapter 4

Flat-B ow we’re getting into the realm where you might begin to get confused. The Flat-B

N

HandShape is related to the B HandShape, but they have very different meanings. The difference between a Flat-B and B is the thumb. Notice how the Flat-B thumb is tucked on the outside edge of the palm instead of resting in the middle of the palm? That’s a small change with a big difference—a B HandShape usually indicates the letter B, while a Flat-B HandShape most often is used to describe motion, a tool, or specific movements.

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Flat-O he Flat-O HandShape is created by using a regular O HandShape—based on the O letter—and then “crushing it” down flat. If you practice martial arts, you might recognize the Flat-O HandShape as the form you use to do an eye gouge. Your thumbprint meets the meaty part of your index and second finger fingertips, and the rest of your fingers fall in line with the other fingers to form the crushing action of the Flat-O.

T

44

Commanding HandShapes

Chapter 4

H andShape H gives many of our students trouble. They find the angle of the

H

HandShape hard on their wrist, as the hand angles out and downward in one direction. The easiest way to remember the H HandShape is to think of it as the One HandShape with a second finger added; then you move your wrist sideways away from you to create the H HandShape. This one will take some practice to get the fingers and angle right and feeling good.

45

M is another HandShape based on the manual alphabet, but it is also one of the easiest to misunderstand. If you don’t have really long thumbs, you can confuse some people as to which HandShape you’re really using. To make an M, you move your thumb into your palm and then fold the first three fingers of your hand over your thumb. Some ASL guides and courses will teach you to stick those three fingers down over your thumb. We prefer the “faster” Deaf Way, where the M is quickly suggested with your three fingers shooting almost straight out from your thumb so the viewer can see those really important three fingertips that clearly say M (and avoids confusion with N, which is made with the first two fingers only).

M

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Commanding HandShapes

Chapter 4

S

T

hink of the S HandShape as the Superman HandShape because it is your “fist of

power!” Making the S is as simple as making a fist, or to be more technical, the S HandShape is the A HandShape with your thumb held against your fingers instead of standing at attention alongside your closed fingers. You’ll use the S fist HandShape a lot in more advanced ASL concepts where it comes in handy to indicate hard things, like “rocks,” “working,” and “dumb.”

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T f you can make the A HandShape without any trouble, then making HandShape T will be a breeze. You make a T by tucking your thumb under your index finger and then curling in the tips of your other fingers to meet your palm. Again, you sort of need long thumbs here to get the tip of your thumb to poke through your fingers. If you have a stubby thumb, you can raise your index finger just a bit to indicate your thumb is hiding under there so those receiving the T will understand.

I

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Commanding HandShapes

Chapter 4

W ome students think the W HandShape is a Three—and in some cultures, those three fingers shooting straight up from a joined thumb and pinky finger means the number three. For the purposes of this book, we’ll call this HandShape W. If you can make a Five HandShape, then you make this W from Five by curling in your thumb and pinky to touch tips.

S

49

Y

A

few students think the Y HandShape looks like the Hang Loose street sign and you can

decide to make that connection if it works for your sentence because it works for us to give you that lateral freedom.. You create the Y from a Five by bending the three middle fingers down into your palm. You don’t shake your Y HandShape in traditional Hang Loose style, but you will learn that the Y does get used in this book to sign “play” with jiggling hands.

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Commanding HandShapes

Chapter 4

Wrapping Up the Hands

T

hese 16 HandShapes are all you need to master the rest of this book. In the next three

chapters, you will combine your Facial Expressions and your HandShapes to create not just words, but stories, dreams, and events that will have meaning for you and create joy in others. Get ready to start learning some sentence starter signs next!

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“Red” is the color of “apples.”

5 The Red Chapter

Y

ou’ve mastered Facial Expressions and

HandShapes—now it’s time to apply those skills to words so you can start signing some meaning into the Deaf World. We’re starting with nouns as sentence starters. The 30 words in this chapter will serve as beginnings for each sentence you construct.

Time (Starters) Red

W

e refer to this chapter

as “Time (Starters) Red,” or “The Red Chapter” for short, because we don’t want to tie you down to established English language glyphs, glossings, and definitions. By choosing to identify these sentence starters (which can be more than a single English word) by color, we are freeing your mind to consider concepts and attitudes that go beyond the rules of English and begin to tempt the real semiotics of American Sign Language.

54

ASL sentences generally begin with a sense of time to establish the context of the sentence within a timeframe. We will give you Facial Expression choices as well as the HandShape(s) you need to sign each word and emphasize the movement of your hands in the description. We alphabetized these words so you can easily look them up again later. We will do our best to explain in text how to create each sign, but remember that eyes are stronger than hands when it comes to learning and memory, so be sure to watch the DVD to see all the signs in this chapter performed in real time. You can use either hand to sign any words in this book. Just reverse the hand position to favor your dominant hand if that’s an easier way for you to learn.

The Red Chapter

Chapter 5

At Two O’Clock o sign “at two o’clock” you make HandShape Two in one hand and raise your other arm parallel with your body. You don’t need to worry about the HandShape on your parallel arm— it isn’t really considered a HandShape because your entire arm is included in the sign. You then take your Two and tap the meat of your thumb on the back of your other hand, moving the Two out and away from your body in a series of small arcs.

T

55

Friday “Friday” is created by lifting HandShape F to your shoulder and turning your palm toward your body. Then you make a series of small counterclockwise circles at shoulder level. If you’re really feeling intense about Friday, you can modify your Facial Expression and make your circling F HandShape stronger and more determined.

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The Red Chapter

Chapter 5

Future igning “future” can look like a karate chop! Perhaps it is in some ways because you are “chopping” your way into the future. Using a Flat-B HandShape, bring it up next to the side of your head by your ear—palm facing your ear—and then thrust it forward in two movements away from your body. Or you can use one single chop if you prefer.

S

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In Two Hours “In two hours” is a fun sign to make because you get to imitate a clock with both of your hands without needing to create real clock hands. Bend your elbow to bring one hand to shoulder level and face the palm away from you in a Flat-B HandShape: that hand is the face of your clock. Next, take your other hand, now in HandShape Two, and, with palms facing, circle the Two around the face of your Flat-B hand once in a clockwise movement to indicate an hour passing. . . times two!

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The Red Chapter

Chapter 5

In Two Days

Y

ou know American Sign Language is a visual language. There are a lot of signs

that indicate the movement of the sun and the moon in the sky to define time and space, as well as the transportation of people and things over a period of time as the sun moves across the sky. “In two days” is one such phrase or concept in sign that indicates the setting of the sun. You begin by lifting one arm and placing it in front of your body so it is parallel to your chest; your hand should be in a closed position in a fist. Then, take your other arm creating HandShape Two with the palm facing your face and touch the inner elbow against the face of the fist on the other hand. Your Two is the sun in the sky, and, as you let the arm holding your HandShape Two arm fall down onto the top of your parallel arm, you are showing the “sun setting twice” to make the sign “in two days.”

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In Two Weeks

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o sign “in two weeks,” you need to bring one hand in front of your chest, palm facing

inward in HandShape Flat-B, and angle your elbow away from your body. If you think of a monthly view of a calendar, consider that arm as a week in that monthly calendar grid. Next, take your other hand in HandShape Two and, with your palm facing outward and positioned behind your first arm, move the Two out and around your first hand, and stop when your HandShape Two is in front of your original arm. By moving around your arm—on a parallel and horizontal plane—while using HandShape Two, you are indicating two weeks of calendar time and not just one.

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Last Month

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ake HandShape One and bring it to shoulder height with your palm facing out.

Put HandShape One on your other hand, and then scrape that One down the back of the original One, as if you’re peeling a carrot one time. Then leave the original One in place while making your other hand into HandShape B or Flat-B and, with palm facing behind you, move that HandShape from your chest and backward beyond your ear to sign “last month.” In ASL, the body is the “now” in a timeline. Everything in front of you—beyond your immediate chest and forward—is the future. Everything behind your head indicates the past or history.

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Last Week

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o sign “last week,” you sort of modify the idea of signing “in two weeks” to move

backward in time. Lift one arm and make a Flat-B HandShape. Raise the other arm and create HandShape One with the palm facing you and place that HandShape against the palm of your Flat-B. Then move HandShape One away from HandShape B and move it backward beyond your ear to indicate the plane of the past. You can keep your moving finger in HandShape One or, if you’re feeling fancy, you can transform the One into a HandShape B if you like. We show you one way here in the images and another on the DVD. Look at both and see if you can discern the difference!

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Last Year ake two of those glorious Superman HandShape S fists and stack one atop the other in front of your chest. Then, move the top S and fling it backward beyond your ear—transforming the S into a HandShape One mid-flight—to indicate you are talking about “last year,” not this year or a year into the future.

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Later

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ou may recognize “later” as the universal gesture for “go away” or “pishaw” or “oh, bother”—and you’d be right—if the Facial Expression matches the movements! To sign “later” formally, raise your hand into the Flat-B HandShape and flick your wrist forward once or twice, and you’re done!

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Long Ago “Long ago” is tons of fun to sign because you get to use your Karate Chop chops again, but this time in a backward movement. Make both hands into Flat-Bs and chop them backward over your shoulder to indicate the “really, really, long ago” past. You can also use a single hand to sign “long ago” to indicate not-so-long-long-ago. We’ve provided both versions for you in images and on the DVD, and your homework is to figure out which is where!

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Monthly ueling HandShape Ones will help you create the idea of “monthly.” Begin the

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sign the same way you did for “last month,” except instead of flinging your hand backward, you will “peel the carrot” two or three times to indicate more than one month. On the DVD, you’ll see “Monthly” signed “straight on.” Here on the page we’re demonstrating it in a side view to help give you a better understanding of the hand positions and to help clarify depth-of-field issues when dealing in a flat medium while describing three-dimensional movements.

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Next Month

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he next few signs are delightful because they move you forward in time instead of

backward in time, and they’re based on concepts and signs you’ve already learned! “Next month” begins with double One HandShapes and the “single carrot peeling” movement you used in “last month”—but instead of flinging your transformed Flat-B hand back behind your ear, you push that hand forward beyond the remaining One HandShape to indicate future forward time.

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Next Week “Next week” builds upon the same concepts you learned earlier in this chapter for “last month.” You take the same One and the Flat-B HandShapes—but instead of moving your One hand back to your ear, you move that hand forward around to the front of your stationary Flat-B hand to show future time.

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s well, “Next year” builds on what you already learned in this chapter for

“last year.” Take those double Superman S fists, and clang them one atop the other—but instead of changing one S into a One and pushing it backward in time, press the One forward instead to indicate a future year.

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Now ow It’s time to Sign “Now” which is a synonym for “today,” and “right now,” and “this moment.” and you create it by making HandShape Y on both hands and raising them, palms facing your chest and firmly holding them in place. Your Facial Expression is especially important for this sign to indicate the intensity of your intent for “now,” your story about “now,” or your future imperative for “NOW!”

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Recent Monday “Recent Monday” is signed by making a Flat-B or a B HandShape—the choice is yours—and bringing it to your cheek with the fingers pointing away from your face toward your ear. You then sort of wave goodbye twice by flicking your fingers up and down twice to indicate “recently.” Then you immediately take that same hand and transform it into HandShape M and turn your hand around so the fingers are pointing outward so your entire hand can make two, small, clockwise circles to indicate “Monday.”

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Saturday id you know “Saturday” is Superman’s favorite day of the week?

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Take a fist (HandShape S), raise it to shoulder level with your palm facing you, and, using your elbow as your axis (but never your Axis of Evil) make three small clockwise circles with your fist.

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Since Then “Since then” bends time in two directions. Here’s how and why: Create HandShape One with both hands and point them both back over one shoulder to indicate the past. Then arc both hands “forward in time” to create a movement of time “from then to now,” which means “since then.” This is one sign where you can pucker your Facial Expression and even Blow Air as you move your hands backward and forward to help describe the long span of time.

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Soon “Soon” is made with HandShape F. You tap the tip of your (circled and touching) index fingertip and thumb tip twice on your chin.

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Sunday “Sunday” looks like you’re washing windows with your hands. Use a Flat-B HandShape on both hands. If your thumbs come apart from your fingers a bit, that’s fine. Point the palms outward and move each hand counterclockwise two times. There are many, many regional and colloquial signs for “Sunday” across the nation.

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Thursday

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o sign “Thursday,” you need to raise your hand to shoulder level, make

HandShape H, and, with the tips of your H fingers, point away from you and make three clockwise circles. That is how you sign “Thursday” in most of the United States, but mainly in the Midwest. There are regional differences for many signs, and we’ll mention those anomalies as we progress through the book. On the East Coast, and in New York City, in particular, “Thursday” is generally signed using the T and H HandShapes, where your hand quickly flicks from T to TH to indicate the TH in Thursday without any circular movement at all.

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Today arlier in this chapter, we learned the sign for “now.” When signing “today,” you

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can use now + day, and you can also raise one elbow to a parallel plane with your chest and aim your flat palm downward. Then, take HandShape One and, using the elbow of that arm, make a point for pivoting at the outstretched fingertips of the first hand. Slowly drop your One HandShape in a downward arc to meet the elbow of the first arm. We provide “today” in two versions here and on the DVD—see if you can figure out which one best fits your signing style.

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Tomorrow Signing “tomorrow” uses the A HandShape. You place the thumb of the HandShape alongside your chin and then rotate that HandShape at the wrist so the thumb moves outward into the future.

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Tuesday “Tuesday,” like “Thursday” and “Monday,” is created by a circling clockwise HandShape held at shoulder height. Make a T HandShape, and let it go ’round!

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Two Days Ago “Two days ago” builds on the “today” base you’ve already learned in this chapter. Create a parallel plane in front of your body with one arm, with the palm facing downward. Then make the elbow/fingertip pivot—but this time use a Two HandShape to indicate “two days”—and drop the HandShape down to meet the opposite elbow. But, wait! You’re not done yet! Lift your Two and make it into a Flat-B or B HandShape as it travels backward in time past your ear to show “ago.”

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Wednesday “Wednesday,” like “Tuesday,” and “Thursday,” and “Monday,” is created by a circling clockwise HandShape held at shoulder height with the first letter of the word suggesting the sign. Make the W HandShape, and create a few small circles.

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Weekly ring a Flat-B HandShape palm chest high and angle it toward you. Using HandShape

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One on the other hand, move your One across the palm of the other hand twice to indicate more than one week.

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Yearly emember earlier in this chapter when you signed “last year”? “Yearly” uses the same core sign, but instead of propelling back in time, you thrust forward into the future. Take your Superman HandShape on each hand and clag them atop each other. As you push your top hand outward, you transform it into HandShape One, and then you repeat the whole process to sign “yearly” instead of just “year.”

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Yesterday

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emember how we signed “tomorrow” starting on the cheek and moving forward?

“Yesterday” uses the same sort of descriptive movement and HandShape—except you move backward in time instead of forward. Take HandShape A and place the thumb on the side of your chin line, and then you move your hand backward past your ear to sign “yesterday.”

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Going Green hat’s it! You’ve learned 30 new vocabulary words and concepts! You should be blushing red with pride in your accomplishment as you discover new associations, influences, and imitations in these related time signs. In the next chapter we’ll get into “The Green Chapter,” where you’ll learn how to make other ASL signers green with envy as you begin to put middles into your American Sign Language sentences with a noun or two.

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“Green” is the color of “grass.”

6 The Green Chapter elcome to “The Green Chapter,” where you will build upon the lessons of the previous chapter to learn American Sign Language vocabulary and word ideas to create the next middle link in your sentence-creating signing scheme.

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Nouns (Middles) Green reen is the color chosen to represent the middle part of your three-word American Sign Language sentences. These middles are nouns, and some of them may be intuitive and familiar to you, while others may seem more mime and gesture than formalistic sign. We’ll step you through the wonder of learning, so grab a HandShape and hold on tight!

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Baby ou’ve probably used this universal gesture many times in the past to indicate “baby.” You can use a Flat-B or B HandShape to help form the crook of your arm where you will soothe and rock the baby in comforting sleep. Your Facial Expression can express alarm for the baby, or drowsiness as you let your viewers know the baby is doing well and falling asleep.

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Bear any of our students get confused when creating the “bear” sign because, for some reason, they forget to cross their arms before they begin scratching their own shoulders. So let’s learn this simple sign right together from the start. Lift both hands into the Claw HandShape, then cross your arms and “claw” at the tips of your own shoulders. That’s it! You know you’re signing “bear” correctly and not some strange “itchy skin problem” by remembering to cross your arms. It has always seemed unnatural to us to scratch the tip of your own shoulder without crossing your arms, but our real-world teaching experience warns us to warn you otherwise.

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Boy “Boy” may seem like a generic word to sign, but if you add the idea of a Negative Facial Expression to the sign, you suddenly get a whole new meaning, as you will see in vivid color on the DVD. Generally, male-centric signs are created on the upper half of the face, while, generally speaking, femalecentric signs are created on the lower half of the face. To sign “boy,” make a Flat-O and pretend to grab and smooth the bill of a baseball cap on your head a couple of times.

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Cat e’re big on cats, and all animals and their sign names are so intuitive and fun to

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teach. The sign “Cat” is its whiskers, so you take HandShape F and you start “Cat” on your upper lip and move your hand outward a few times to show off your beautiful long whiskers.

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Class es, we know class can be boring as a student, yes, even this ASL class can tend to trundle on at times. To create the sign for a “class” room or a “class” of people—but not “class” as in “classy”—you take HandShape C on both hands and raise them to chest level with your thumbs pointing at each other, and then you round the edges of the room or the category in the space in front of you as the outside edges of each hand meet.

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Dog nimal signs can be regional and vary across the country. Think of these sign anomalies as regional accents that you need to learn in order to be fluent across a wide-ranging country. In the Midwest, the sign for “dog” is to slap your leg and snap your fingers with the same hand—that’s sort of a universal gesture. On the East Coast, and elsewhere, “dog” is signed with a Flat-B or B HandShape with your palm facing outward and your fingers flicking your ear a couple of times as you try to rid yourself of fleas.

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Dolphin nother wide-ranging regional sign is “Dolphin”—probably because they are so

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rare and few people have actual access to them in real life. On the East Coast, you sign “dolphin” with the D HandShape bobbing in and out of the water in front of you. In the Midwest, “dolphin” is made with two Flat-B HandShapes clasped together as they swim along in the water as one. Let your thumbs rise a bit away from the rest of your hand, as they indicate the dolphin’s fin. Bend one of your thumbs so it touches the opposite Flat-B HandShape.

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Elephant

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nimal signs are visual and based on semiotic cultural archetypes.

“Elephant” is great fun to sign because you can really play it up, and everyone will understand you even if they don’t study American Sign Language. Take a Flat-B HandShape and place the back of your hand against your mouth. You’re going to indicate the elephant’s trunk with your next movements. Then, play it out—move and swoop your hand out and away from your mouth and show us your trunk in action!

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Family

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ou sign “family” with the same movement and meaning you used to sign “class,” except you change the HandShape from C to F. Family is a sort of group, a “class” if you will, and ASL recognizes that deep people connection on an interrelated level.

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Fish ish are smaller than Dolphins, but the idea of signing is the same. Take a Flat-B HandShape with one hand only, and swim about in front of you to indicate a “fish.” Let your thumb sneak away from your hand to show the fin of the fish.

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Girl emember when we were talking about the “boy” sign and how gender signs divide the face into male signs (from your nose up to the top of your head) and female signs (from your nose down to your chin)? “Girl” is created with HandShape A. You lightly brush the side of your cheek two times with your thumb to indicate “girl.”

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Giraffe “Giraffe” is another one of our favorite animal signs because, like “Elephant,” it is universal and incredibly visual. Take HandShape C and place it under your chin near your neck. Then stretch that hand up and away from your body to indicate the long sleek neck of a Giraffe.

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He ow “He” may look like you’re just pointing into thin air—and for now, you are

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because in more advanced levels of American Sign Language you would use that pointing to create groups and individuals in front of you and around you in order to speak to them and have them speak to you. You would move your torso and entire body as you would change the people you were indicating. That’s too advanced for this book, so a simple HandShape One pointing away from you and to the side is enough of a “he” indicator to please us.

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I Like “he,” “I” is a simple sign using HandShape One, where you point to yourself.

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Lion hen you sign “lion,” you create the great and magnificent mane of a lion on the African plains. Take your Claw HandShape and place it over your head. Then comb back through the thick mane across your head while twisting the HandShape at the wrist to indicate just why you are considered king of the jungle.

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Man “Man” is another sign that adheres to the male indicator upper part of the face. Take HandShape Five, place the thumb on your forehead above your eyebrow, and then move your hand downward until your thumb touches your chest.

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Monkey o sign “monkey,” you must become monkey! Take both arms and arch them away from your body at the elbows. Put both hands in the Claw HandShape and itch your pits and scratch your sides in unison. You can also twist one arm up and use the same scratching motion to convey the very meaning of “monkey.”

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Monster “Monster” is another universally fun concept to sign. Make both hands into HandShape Claw, raise your arms, make a frightened Facial Expression, and let your “monster” hands rip into the air!

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Shark “Shark,” like “Dolphin,” has a lot of different regional tastes and meanings— probably, again, because so few people actually interact with sharks. Everyday invention and commonality of memes in a culture require daily exposure to become a commonly transmitted concept. In the United States Midwest, you sign “shark” much like you sign “dolphin”—using two palms stuck together in Flat-B HandShapes—except your Facial Expression is more ferocious, your hands move in a more jagged sense through the water, and your shoulders are hunched, and you emit a darker energy. On the East Coast, “shark” is made by using two Flat-B HandShapes and placing one on a horizontal flat plane to suggest the water and the other hand is placed vertically behind the thumb of the first hand to indicate the large fin of the shark. Then you sway both hands back and forth to suggest the danger from the depths on the rise in front of you.

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She ike “He” before, “She” is a simple indicator of pointing in a different direction than you used for “He,” by using a One HandShape to indicate where “She” is located in the space in front of you. At the more advanced level of ASL, you could then retell a conversation you had with “she” and “he” by pointing in the space created before you who was speaking just by using HandShape One to guide the conversation. Don’t forget to choose a Facial Expression as you sign! If you don’t like her, make your Facial Expression clear when you sign “she!”

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Snake

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t’s slithering time! To make a “Snake,” you better get the right tongue! Find it by placing the S HandShape in front of your mouth, and then slither it away from your mouth as you transform HandShape S into HandShape Two to indicate your forked, Snake tongue out sensing the world around you.

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Snowman e met our beloved Snowman in Chapter 1 of this book and now it’s time to formally teach you how to sign what you have probably already learned by watching the two Chapter 1 video examples on the DVD. Cup both hands into HandShape C forms and build your “snowman” by indicating the outline of the two or three balls of snow you used to create him.

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Spider w! There’s a “Spider” on your hands, and you want it that way! Make both

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hands into HandShape Claw. Place one palm on the back of the other hand and wiggle your fingers that have magically become the hairy legs of your scary Spider!

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Student igning “Student” can look complicated at first glance. Let’s break up the idea into its separate ASL thoughts. First, you place a sky-facing Flat-B palm in front of you (that’s the “paper” or “book” from which you will learn), and then take a Flat-O HandShape with the other hand. Touch the palm and move that hand to the center of your forehead, as the learning and knowledge “move” from your book to your head. You’ve created the idea of “learn,” but now we have to—in English terms—add the “-er,” or “person,” to the concept of the sign by making both hands into Flat-B HandShapes and holding them a couple of feet apart, palms facing and parallel with your body on a vertical plane, and moving your hands in unison from chest high down to your waist to indicate “person” is added to “learn.” This translates into the concept of a “Student” in American Sign Language.

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Teacher kay, we just learned the complicated learn + person for “student.”

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Now we’ll build on that intensive study to create teach + person to indicate “teacher.” Start by taking a Flat-O HandShape on each hand. Place them on either side of your head near your eyes so you can “transmit” the knowledge in your mind by sending your smarts out into the student world before you with two quick forward-and-back movements to indicate the “teach.” Then by dropping your parallel Flat-B HandShapes from your chest down to your waist, you indicate the “-er” part of the person in “teacher.”

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They “They” is an interesting concept to sign because you use HandShape Two with your palm facing the sky, and you move it back and forth at the wrist to indicate two people only. Okay, we’re shouting that last part because many of our students think “they” means three or more people, or even a group. Not so! “They” means TWO PEOPLE ONLY! There! We shouted again just to make that one important point clear. You can use “they” to tell a story that includes more than one person, or you can use it to indicate to someone “they” are right behind you or coming up to soon join the group.

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Tiger ave you noticed how many animal signs use the Claw HandShape to indicate

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their purpose and nature? “Tiger” is no different! Take the Claw HandShape into each hand and use them to indicate your gigantic cat whiskers that start at your mouth and flow beyond your beautiful furry cheeks. Don’t forget to make your Facial Expression ferocious if that intent is on your mind!

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Turtle or some reason, children and really old people love to sign “turtle.” We don’t

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really understand the why of it, but it might be because the sign is gentle and it takes some warmth to correctly get the idea across. Take HandShape A—stick the thumb out a bit to make the turtle’s head— and then cover your A hand with HandShape C to create the shell across the turtle’s back. Then wiggle your thumb “head” to view the life around your new “turtle” world.

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Woman “Woman” is another gender-specific sign that, like “Girl,” we learned before is created on the lower half of the face by taking a HandShape Five, and placing the thumb on your chin, and then dropping that HandShape to your chest so your thumb touches your breastbone.

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You ike “he,” and “she,” and “I” (and sort of “they”) before, “you” is best signed

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“straight on” with HandShape One pointing outward because that’s where the “you” you are addressing is most likely standing.

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Into the Wild Blue ver the last couple of chapters, you have learned 60 new signing concepts, words, and

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phrases! You should be glowing Green with envy as you compare your new signing skills to where you used to be at the start of this chapter. In the next chapter we’ll get into “The Blue Chapter,” where the sky is the limit as you learn how to put ends on your sentences.

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“Blue” is the color of the “sky.”

7 The Blue Chapter ow we’re going to provide you with the last piece of your American Sign Language puzzle for creating complete sentences as we add some ending actions for your signed thoughts.

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Actions (Ends) Blue he words in this chapter are actions. We also call them blue ends, just to keep us in the realm of American Sign Language and not English grammar. We’ll teach you how to end some simple ASL sentences while opening up a whole new realm of complex mixing of more colors and themes in the future. You will notice HandShape Flat-B is used a lot in this chapter because it is so handy to use to create planes and suggesting action.

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Clean

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leaning is a chore few of us enjoy, and signing “clean” should convey your feelings in

context. Take two Flat-B HandShapes. Place one in front of you with the palm to the sky, and then brush the other palm over the original palm, as if you are cleaning breadcrumbs off the table. This “clean” does not mean drug-free or you have a clean body—this sign has to do with cleaning objects, not people.

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Complain

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ll of our students love to sign “complain”—but never to us! You get there with the fingertips of a Claw HandShape tapping your breastbone a few times. Don’t forget to choose the right Facial Expression to fit your sentence!

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Cook “Cook” returns us to the Flat-B HandShape on both hands. One hand with the palm facing the sky in front of you is the pan and your other hand is the pancake or the spatula as you alternate touching the back and palm of your hand against your “pan hand.”

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Cry ad signs can be fun to emote and throw, and “Cry” is one that is both universal and specifically touching. Use a HandShape One to touch a tear falling from your eye and let the HandShape follow the trail of the tear down your face to indicate a small “cry,” and if you want to indicate heavy crying, use both hands and pick a Facial Expression that conveys the extra amount of emotion felt.

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Date f you are going out on a hot “date,” you indicate that with two A HandShapes held closely against each other at the knuckles in the space in front of your chest. Then you move those HandShapes in unison up and down together to show a tender closeness. One HandShape represents one person, and the other HandShape is the other person out on the date.

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Died t can be tough to sign “died” because it is so permanent and such a perilous idea to the spirit, but death is part of life so take one Flat-B or B HandShape and place it in front of you palm down and horizontal, and then turn your hand over at the wrist so your palm faces skyward. You are indicating the universal idea that when a person or an animal dies, they flip over onto their backs so their faces touch the sun one last time.

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Drink-Alcohol ometimes when you drink a little too much alcohol, you can get slightly loopy

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and your body becomes loose. You might even sway back and forth a bit in a euphoric sort of dance. Remember, ASL is about acting out the reality of a condition so if you’re describing yourself or someone else as they “drink-alcohol,” use HandShape A on both hands, and then stick out the thumb to become the mouth of your beer bottle and then bring each thumb alternately to your mouth.

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Eat Hungry? Let’s eat! You already know the why of it—so here’s the how: HandShape Flat-O and start to chow!

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Fall-Down h, “Fall-down” is fun to sign, even though its meaning is rarely something good. Make HandShape Five or Flat-B—we’ll let you choose—and represent the sidewalk with your palm facing the sky. Then, invert HandShape Two to create your legs as you’re walking down the sidewalk, and then, when the moment strikes you, “slip and fall” by lifting HandShape Two from your palm to “fall-down” on your knuckles.

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Hide f you remember “turtle” from the previous chapter, you’ll immediately recognize

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“hide” as a series of directly related movements and intents. Place HandShape Flat-B in front of you with the palm facing the ground. Then take HandShape A, placing the thumb near your mouth, and then move the entire A hand underneath your original hand to complete the “hide” concept.

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Lay-Down emember how you just fell down signing “Fall-down” in this chapter? “Lay Down” and “Lie Down” in the Midwest and other parts of the nation mean the same thing—and are synonyms sharing the same idea with less pain involved. Make one hand a Flat-B HandShape to indicate a soft bed or something similar and then take your HandShape Two and gently rest the back of your Two hand on the downy comfort of your bed. Or you could also be placing a book on the bed as well to keep the synonym keen but cogent, in the mind of any English major!

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Marry ou may not be the marrying kind, but “marry” can be an effective, emotional sign when

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associated with the appropriate Facial Expression. Take two HandShapes “C” and cup them together with palms facing each other in a simulated matrimony ceremony in the space in front of you.

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Melt “Melt” is another sign that clearly imitates the action you are describing. Start with both hands positioned mid-chest in Flat-O HandShapes. Then slide your thumbs across the tips of your fingers as they “melt” into dual HandShapes “A” while both your arms move downward in melting motion, too.

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Paint here are several different ideas for “paint” and we’re going to teach you the artistic sort. Make one hand into your painting easel by creating HandShape Flat-B and having the palm angled toward your body. Then make HandShape H in your other hand—that’s your paintbrush—and begin to “paint” with your H fingertips on your palm easel before you.

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Party “Party” uses the “hang loose” movement of HandShape Y on both hands. You can move that HandShape all over your upper torso to indicate the sort of party you’re having by moving your arms at the elbows to sway and swing your way into happiness.

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Play irectly related to “party” is the sign for “play” and it, too, uses the HandShape Y on each hand. But the subtle difference in signing “play” is the more subtle movement of the HandShapes at the wrist, and the movement does not travel down the arm into the elbow or torso.

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Pray ometimes we “pray.” Here is the traditional Christian sign created by placing two

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Flat-B HandShapes in front of us while solemnly bowing our head.

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Rest f you’re tired and you want to “Rest,” use two Flat-B HandShapes, cross your arms, and Rest your hands on opposite shoulders. Some might think this sign looks like the universal body language for “dead” based on old Wild West photographs of killed bandits. We guess you could use that idea to help you remember this sign, and you recall the RIP idea of resting in peace —just remember you can always wake up from this sign, though!

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Retired “Retired” uses the same sort of body motion and Facial Expression intent as “rest.” Use two Flat-B HandShapes and stick the thumbs out a bit to hook the straps of your overalls as you tap the tips of your thumbs twice on your shoulders to indicate your non-work state.

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Roller-Blade andShape Flat-B comes into play again on both hands. You “skate” the vertical edges

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of your hands across the sidewalk as you “roller-blade” to the parking lot.

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Scream

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“scream” is only as good as the hands creating it. Make both hands into Claw HandShapes and place them near your chin with fingertips pointing at your mouth. Then “scream” by stretching your arms skyward while keeping your Claw hands strong and taut.

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Shopping “Shopping” means you’re going to start doleing out your hard-earned money. Place a Flat-B HandShape with the palm facing the sky near your chest to represent your pocketbook. Then use the other hand in HandShape B to take money out of your purse to buy. The movement is B HandShape touching the palm of Flat-B and your “merchant” are inches away from each other as you go “shopping.” You can see this demonstrated on the DVD. Make sure to use your eyes to indicate directionality of your purchases in the space before you. You also can do the “shopping” movement one time to indicate a “one-time purchase” in the context of the single purchase.

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The Blue Chapter

Chapter 7

Skip

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o “skip” is to show delight in your fingers! Make a Flat-B HandShape with the palm

facing the sky to serve as your playground, while HandShape Two on your other hand inverts, and your fingers alternately “skip” a few times along the path to freedom and joyousness. Beware that in the DVD we try to sign everything slowly and precisely—but when you sign “skip” on your own, speed up your fingers to match the delight and the look, and feel, and action of actually skipping with your fingers! It’s a fun sign to throw!

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Sleep f you want to “sleep” to dream, start by hovering HandShape Five over your face, and then

I

closing the fingers together and downward to transform into HandShape Flat-O to indicate your fall from light into darkness.

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The Blue Chapter

Chapter 7

Surf f you want to “surf,” you can do so any time of the year in American Sign Language. Just

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take two Flat-B HandShapes facing palm down, and place one hand flat on the back of the other and go!

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Swim f you’re a big swimmer, you might recognize the sign for “swim” looks a lot like the frog stroke but done on dry land. Take two Flat-B HandShapes and place them in front of you with the back of your hands facing each other in a horizontal plane, and start to Swim!

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The Blue Chapter

Chapter 7

Walk ased on the previous learning in this chapter, “skipping,” and “fall-down,” and

B

“lay-down” and “lie-down,” you might think “walk” would involve HandShape Two and your fingers walking down the street. Not so! “Walk” is signed with the grander Flat-B or B HandShapes on both hands and you “strut” down the street in alternating hand slides in front of your chest. Your downward-facing palms imitate the soles of your shoes as they rise from the ground and touch down again.

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Wash-Laundry hen you “wash-laundry,” you become the washing machine! Use HandShape Claw on each hand and hold one hand above the other with your palms facing on a vertical plane. Then start twisting your hands to imitate the movement of the washer spindle, and you are signing “wash-laundry” as your shoulders help you churn the suds into the clothes.

W

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The Blue Chapter

Chapter 7

Work “Work” brings out the fist hammers of your HandShape Superman. Place one fist atop the other in a vertical plane, and tap the top hand against the bottom hand three times to indicate a lot of hard “work.” Or you can tap just a couple of times to indicate a lesser task.

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Worry

C

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reating trouble in the mind means to “worry,” and you convey that sense of desperation by using two Flat-B or B HandShapes and, with palms facing the earth, moving them around your face to induce a sense of uncertainty and concern.

The Blue Chapter

Chapter 7

Putting It Together ou’re done! You are now the master of 90 American Sign Language vocabulary concepts, and signs, and ideas, and no one can take away that accomplishment from the future of your bright blue ASL sky. In the next chapter, we’ll put it all together as we create over 27,000 unique ASL phrases for you from our Pick and Say Rubric.

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You have to be able to “pick signs” before you can “throw them!”

8 The Pick and Say Rubric

his chapter is the culmination of your American Sign Language experience with us as we provide you a graphical “Pick and Say” interface in Rubric form where you can build your own ASL thoughts into over 27,000 unique sentences.

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Using the Rubric

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ou will recognize the words in

this Pick and Say Rubric from Chapters 5, 6, and 7. We have redacted each word down to a single image essence. Even if a word took more than one image to teach in a previous chapter, we have indicated only the first image to make this an easier way to build 27,000 sentences by just picking one image to represent one word. Your job in this chapter is to build some sentences! Pick one word from the RED section, one word from the GREEN section, and pick one word from the BLUE section. Any word you pick will make a cogent ASL sentence. However, you must follow the RED + GREEN + BLUE structure, or your sentences will not make sense because you will not be following proper American Sign Language grammar rules. You must also have at least one of each color, or your sentence will not make sense.

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We’ll start you off with three examples. Remember, to get the ebb and flow of the sentences, watch the DVD videos and see how the signs are created and then blend them together in a full sentence and don’t worry about being smooth between words right now. Just concentrate on making each sign clear. We provided some worksheet space for you at the end of this chapter so you can easily create your own RED + GREEN + BLUE sentences. Enjoy building your new American Sign Language skills, and remember, if you get stuck or lost, you can refer back to the original chapter to refresh your memory.

The Pick and Say Rubric

Chapter 8

soon + monster + skip

tomorrow + monkey + lay-down

last-year + they + pray

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Chapter 5 Rubric: Time (Starters) Red

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At 2:00 o'clock

Friday

Future

In two hours

In two days

In two weeks

Last month

Last week

Last year

The Pick and Say Rubric

Chapter 8

Later

Long ago

Monthly

Next month

Next week

Next year

Now

Recent Monday

Saturday 159

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Since then

Soon

Sunday

Thursday

Today

Tomorrow

Tuesday

Two days ago

Wednesday

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Weekly

Yearly

Chapter 8

Yesterday

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Chapter 6 Rubric: Nouns (Middles) Green

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Baby

Bear

Boy

Cat

Class

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Dolphin

Elephant

Family

The Pick and Say Rubric

Chapter 8

Fish

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Giraffe

He

I

Lion

Man

Monkey

Monster 163

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Shark

She

Snake

Snowman

Spider

Student

Teacher

They

Tiger

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Woman

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You

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Chapter 7 Rubric: Actions (Ends) Blue

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Clean

Complain

Cook

Cry

Date

Died

Drink-alcohol

Eat

Fall-down

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Chapter 8

Hide

Lay-down

Marry

Melt

Paint

Party

Play

Pray

Rest 167

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Retired

Roller-blade

Scream

Shopping

Skip

Sleep

Surf

Swim

Walk

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Work

Chapter 8

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Homework Worksheet ow it’s your turn to create your own simple American Sign Language sentences.

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Use this homework worksheet to express your thoughts and dreams:

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Chapter 8

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You will soon become an “expert” “signer” by following the advice in this chapter!

9 Creating Complex Sentences n the previous chapter, you used our Pick and Say Rubric to create simple three-idea sentences by choosing a red, green, and blue option. In this chapter, we will show you how to build upon your 27,000 sentences by creating a multiplicity of more complex sentences using the same Rubric!

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Reds First + Greens Next + Blues Finish

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ou mastered making simple

three-word sentences in the last chapter. In this chapter, we are going to challenge you to create more complex sentences by making more choices using the same words. Your simple Pick and Say Rubric is sophisticated enough to give you the opportunity to create some really funky sentences and your good taste and your want for coherence is the only thing holding you back! Here’s how it works. You must follow the RED + GREEN + BLUE structure rule or your sentences will not make any sense because you’ll be breaking American Sign Language grammar. The trick here is to pick more than one option in one or all of your RED + GREEN + BLUE structure to make your sentences more complex.

yesterday + tiger + elephant + giraffe + rest

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Here’s an example using RED + GREEN + GREEN + GREEN + BLUE and keep in mind you should slightly move your torso an inch or two in either direction each time you sign the name of an animal so the listener will understand you are talking about three separate animals and not one animal with three monster heads.

On the DVD for Chapter 9 you will see Janna signing "tiger" even though the open caption says "lion." See if you can spot the difference between the two signs and then test your ASL skills to see if you can sign that sentence using "lion" instead of "tiger!"

Creating Complex Sentences

Chapter 9

Isn’t that cool? Let’s have some more fun creating sophisticated ASL sentences. Here’s a second example using RED + GREEN + BLUE + BLUE + BLUE

last-week + boy + party + drink-alcohol + marry

We’ll give you one more example of our simple word/complex sentence creation scheme using our way of teaching American Sign Language: RED + RED + GREEN + BLUE + BLUE. When you sign this sentence, remember your Facial Expression, especially when it comes to signing “died.” Are you sad the turtle died? If so, you use the Negative Facial Expression. If you are surprised your turtle died, use the Hyper Facial Expression. And we aren’t going to tell you what Facial Expression to use if you’re happy your turtle died because that just makes us cry!

friday + 2:00 + turtle + sleep + died

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Homework Worksheets ow it’s your turn to create your own complex American Sign Language sentences.

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Use this homework worksheet to express your thoughts and dreams. We’ll start you off with a few fill-in-the blank sentence starters to help get your creative ASL juices flowing. Just remember your mantra must be REDs first, then GREENs, then BLUE s, and you must have at least one of each color in every sentence you create. Enjoy! RED + RED + GREEN + BLUE + BLUE RED + GREEN + GREEN + BLUE RED + RED + GREEN + GREEN + BLUE + BLUE

Creating complex sentences is fun and challenging. There are some rules you need to remember. 1. You cannot mix the order of the colors. 2. You must always have: RED + GREEN + BLUE as the necessary order to construct correct American Sign Language grammar. 3. You must always begin your sentences with RED and end them with BLUE. 4. You may use more than one RED and more than one GREEN and more than one BLUE. 5. You do not have to fill in all the spaces provided—but try to fill in at least more than three spaces—and remember, you must have at least one RED and one GREEN and one BLUE. In the worksheets below we’ve given you some clues to help you construct some complex American Sign Language sentences. Circle the ( R / G / B ) option you decide to use so you can keep the structure straight on the page and clear in your mind. Enjoy!

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Your “far off” American Sign Language future is “bright.”

10 Signing from Here on Up!

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e have reached the end of your American

Sign Language Level 1 training, and it has been a great journey to travel with you. Now it’s time to decide where you should go from here and how best to practice what you’ve learned so you will always remember and never forget the skills you mastered.

Keeping Your Face and Hands in Shape

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s with any language, you must

practice your skills to hone them. Get out into the Deaf community. Meet people. Get onboard with some online websites and discussion groups. The Internet is a great meeting place for sharing interests, but ASL really requires in-person communication to be successful—so be prepared to get out and meet some Deaf people. You can practice these signs at home by looking into a full-length mirror. Sign and look at yourself. Check your hand positions and Facial Expressions. How is your torso reacting to what you say? Ask yourself a question, and then reply back as your reflected self. You can also use videotape to check your progress. Set up the camera, record a few sentences, and then play them back on a large screen so you can see the minute details of your American Sign Language work. If you have a video camera, you might be able to have a video chat with a Deaf person using Apple’s iChat or third-party software like XMeeting or Windows Messenger for video conferencing. Many Deaf people now have dedicated Video IP devices at home and at work so they can do live video chat. There are video relay services you can use for free to help you get in touch with the Deaf to set up a meeting; or if you need to use your voice in order to communicate with the Deaf person, the relay operator will work as the facilitator of the conversation.

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As you watch the DVD and the video training, remember to not just watch the signs. Watch the Facial Expressions! Look for emotion in the face you can imitate later. Don’t watch the hands. Train your eyes to look from head to mid-chest. You will have to practice seeing the big picture as part of your private training.

Institutional Brainwashing What you learned in this book is pure ASL. As you interact with the Deaf community while practicing your signing skills you will find Deaf who do not use ASL. They may have a different signing style that is foreign to you. That’s okay! Be open to any signing option you may find while honing your signing skill. All experience in the field makes you better. Also keep in mind a great deal of “ASL” teaching, as we mentioned in Chapter 1, is really Pidgin Signed English (PSE) where English words and sentence structure are used with signs to create a sort of a bastardized version of BOTH English and ASL. We are not fond of PSE, but we understand its role in the Deaf Community. Accept that PSE is commonly used in the Deaf Community—as it pretends to be ASL—for those who are not as well trained as you are now.

Signing from Here on Up! Effective communication is the most important thing to keep in mind. You may need to use some PSE to get through the day. You may need to mime, or gesture, instead of using your pure ASL skill. Sometimes you may even need to write notes back and forth to each other. Remember it all counts to help get your point across; it’s all good! Total understanding and clear communication are the keystones of learning that serve as counterweights to strict ASL enforcement. The purpose of learning something worthwhile is being open to different styles of thought and to give fair consideration to equal, but opposite, ideas. We are American Sign Language purists, but that doesn’t mean we reject the opposite, but equal, role PSE plays in Deaf Culture. Don’t forget that for several generations, the Deaf in America have been mainly mainstreamed in Hearing schools, so their signing skills may not be as good as yours. Even the Deaf taught in purely Deaf Schools are often taught by Hearing teachers using PSE and not American Sign Language. It is extremely difficult to voice in English and sign in pure ASL—so PSE is the communicative kludge employed by both sides.

Chapter 10

Waving Goodbye but Staying in Touch Now it’s time for us to wave goodbye to you. We enjoyed writing this book and teaching you with as many images and videos as we could fit on the page. Don’t worry if you get frustrated or lost. That’s part of the process of learning any new language. Think whole-body signing and include every bit of you in every sign and your effort in the Deaf Community will be appreciated and rewarded. You can visit us online for more information on our Hardcore ASL website located at http://HardcoreASL.com, and feel free to drop us a line here: [email protected]. We’ll help you as best as we can. Always keep in mind that we think the beauty of American Sign Language is in the pictures and images you create with your hands. We are grateful we had the opportunity to share that glory with you in the large images in this book and in the moving pictures found on the DVD.

If you’re serious about learning American Sign Language as a proper foreign language, you will continue to study what you have learned here so far with us.

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Our Parting Thought Here’s our last good wish for you. Can you understand what we’re saying? Look back on your training. Remember the Rubric color sequence. Let the semiotics speak to you. This phrase does not appear on the DVD or anywhere else in the book. This message is from us to you. We thank you, and we wish you all the best.

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Index A A Handshape, 37 actions, sentence ends, 122–153 “clean,” 123, 166 “complain,” 124, 166 “cook,” 125, 166 “cry,” 126, 166 “date,” 127, 166 “died,” 128, 166 “drink-alcohol,” 129, 166 “eat,” 130, 166 “fall-down,” 131, 166 “hide,” 132, 167 “lay-down,” 133, 167 “marry,” 134, 167 “melt,” 135, 167 “paint,” 136, 167 “party,” 137, 167 “play,” 138, 167 “pray,” 139, 167 “rest,” 140, 167 “retired,” 141, 168 “roller-blade,” 142, 168 “scream,” 143, 168 “shopping,” 144, 168 “skip,” 145, 168 “sleep,” 146, 168 “surf,” 147, 168 “swim,” 148, 168 “walk,” 149, 168 “wash-laundry,” 150, 169 “work,” 151, 169 “worry,” 152, 169

alphabet, 6, 34 attention-getting practices, 15 “at two o’clock” sign, 55, 158

B B Handshape, 38 “baby” sign, 89, 162 “bear” sign, 90, 162 Bell, Alexander Graham, 19 body interpreting, 12–14 body language, 12, 17 “boy” sign, 91, 162 blue vocabulary, see actions, sentence ends

C C Handshape, 40 “cat” sign, 92, 162 “class” sign, 93, 162 Claw Handshape, 39 “clean” sign, 123, 166 Clerc, Laurent, 18–19, 23 cochlear implants, 10, 14 “complain” sign, 124, 166 complex sentences, 175–181 homework worksheets, 178–181 multiple nouns, 176–177 multiple times and actions, 177 multiple actions, 177 “cook” sign, 125, 166 “cry” sign, 126, 166

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culture embedded, 14 oralists, 19 versus disease, 10

D “date” sign, 127, 166 Deaf community, acceptance, 5 Deaf culture, 10, 14 oralists, 19 history, 18–19 Deaf Speech, 23 “died” sign, 128, 166 directionality, 23 disabled signers, 17 disappointment, 4–5 “dog” sign, 94, 162 “dolphin” sign, 95, 162 “drink-alcohol” sign, 129, 166 drowsy expression, 24 drunkenness expression, 24

E “eat” sign, 130, 166 eavesdropping, 16 “elephant” sign, 96, 162 expectations, 4–5 eye contact, 23 eyes, hearing with, 11

F F Handshape, 41 Facial Expression, 2–3, 5, 13, 16, 21–31, 184 Deaf Speech, 23 drowsy, 24 eye contact, 23

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frightened, 25 hyper, 26 Mouth-Pucker, 30 Mouth-Slightly-Open, 31 Negative, 27 Neutral, 22–23, 28 Positive, 29 vocal tone, setting, 22 “fall-down” sign, 131, 166 “family” sign, 97, 162 “fish” sign, 98, 163 Five Handshape, 42 flashing, 15 Flat-B Handshape, 43 Flat-O Handshape, 44 flexibility of style, 6 focus, 2 foreign language study, 185 “Friday” sign, 56, 158 frightened expression, 25 “future” sign, 57, 158

G Gallaudet, Thomas Hopkins, 18 Gallaudet French Sign Language, 19 “girl” sign, 99, 163 “giraffe” sign, 100, 163 green vocabulary, see nouns, sentence middles

H H Handshape, 45 HandShapes, 6, 16, 33–51 A, 37 B, 38 C, 40 Claw, 39

Index

F, 41 Five, 42 Flat-B, 43 Flat-O, 44 H, 45 hints, 34 M, 46 One, 35 S, 47 T, 48 Two, 35 W, 49 Y, 50 Hardcore ASL website, 185 “he” sign, 101, 163 hearing, taken for granted, 10 “hide” sign, 132, 167 hyper expression, 26

I–K “I” sign, 102, 163 interaction, 5 Internet, 184 interpretation, body, 12–14 “in two hours” sign, 58, 158 “in two days” sign, 59, 158 “in two weeks” sign, 60, 158

L language, looking beyond, 3 “last month” sign, 61, 158 “last week” sign, 62, 158 “last year” sign, 63, 158 “later” sign, 64, 159 “lay-down” sign, 133, 167 lighting, 16 “lion” sign, 103, 163

lips, reading, 12 “long ago” sign, 65, 159

M M Handshape, 46 “man” sign, 104, 163 “marry” sign, 134, 167 “melt” sign, 135, 167 melting snowman example, 2–3 memes attention-getting, 15 communication, 23 defined, 9 “monkey” sign, 105, 163 “monster” sign, 106, 163 “monthly” sign, 66, 159 Mouth-Pucker expression, 30 Mouth-Slightly-Open expression, 31

N National Royal Institute for the Deaf, 18 Negative expression, 27 Neutral expression, 22–23, 28 “next month” sign, 67, 159 “next week” sign, 68, 159 “next year” sign, 69, 159 norms defined, 9 Facial Expression, 13, 23 nouns, sentence middles, 88–119 “baby,” 89, 162 “bear,” 90, 162 “boy,” 91, 162 “cat,” 92, 162 “class,” 93, 162 “dog,” 94, 162 “dolphin,” 95, 162 189

nouns (continued) “elephant,” 96, 162 “family,” 97, 162 “fish,” 98, 163 “girl,” 99, 163 “giraffe,” 100, 163 “he,” 101, 163 “I,” 102, 163 “lion,” 103, 163 “man,” 104, 163 “monkey,” 105, 163 “monster,” 106, 163 “shark,” 107, 164 “she,” 108, 164 “snake,” 109, 164 “snowman,” 110, 164 “spider,” 111, 164 “student,” 112, 164 “teacher,” 113, 164 “they,” 114, 164 “tiger,” 115, 164 “turtle,” 116, 165 “woman,” 117, 165 “you,” 118, 165 “now” sign, 70, 159 numbers, 6, 34

O One Handshape, 35 oralists, 19 overhearing versus over-eyeing, 16

P–Q “paint” sign, 136, 167 “party” sign, 137, 167

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Pick and Say rubric, 155–173 examples, 157 actions, ends (blue), 166–169 complex sentences, 175–181 homework worksheets, 170–173, 178–181 nouns, middles (green), 162–165 rules, 178 time, starters (red), 158–161 using, 156 Pidgin Signed English, 13, 23, 184–185 “play” sign, 138, 167 Positive expression, 29 practicing skills, 184 “pray” sign, 139, 167 PSE, see Pidgin Signed English

R reading lips, 12 reading versus seeing, 4 receiving skills, 4 “recent Monday” sign, 71, 159 red vocabulary, see time, sentence starters “rest” sign, 140, 167 “retired” sign, 141, 168 “roller-blade” sign, 142, 168

S S Handshape, 47 “Saturday” sign, 72, 159 “scream” sign, 143, 168 seeing versus reading, 4 selfishness, 4 sentence ends, see actions sentence middles, see nouns, sentence middles sentence starters, see time, sentence starters

Index

sentences, complex, 175–181 homework worksheets, 178–181 multiple nouns, 176–177 multiple times and actions, 177 multiple actions, 177 “shark” sign, 107, 164 “she” sign, 108, 164 “shopping” sign, 144, 168 “since then” sign, 73, 160 skills, practicing, 184 “skip” sign, 145, 168 “sleep” sign, 146, 168 sloppy signing, 17 “snake” sign, 109, 164 snowman, melting, 2–3 “snowman” sign, 110, 164 “soon” sign, 74, 160 “spider” sign, 111, 164 standards, defined, 9 “student” sign, 112, 164 “Sunday” sign, 75, 160 “surf” sign, 147, 168 “swim” sign, 148, 168

T T Handshape, 48 “teacher” sign, 113, 164 “they” sign, 114, 164 “Thursday” sign, 76, 160 “tiger” sign, 115, 164 time, sentence starters, 54–85, 158–161 “at two o’clock,” 55, 158 “Friday,” 56, 158 “future,” 57, 158 “in two hours,” 58, 158 “in two days,” 59, 158 “in two weeks,” 60, 158

“last month,” 61, 158 “last week,” 62, 158 “last year,” 63, 158 “later,” 64, 159 “long ago,” 65, 159 “monthly,” 66, 159 “next month,” 67, 159 “next week,” 68, 159 “next year,” 69, 159 “now,” 70, 159 “recent Monday,” 71, 159 “Saturday,” 72, 159 “since then,” 73, 160 “soon,” 74, 160 “Sunday,” 75, 160 “Thursday,” 76, 160 “today,” 77, 160 “tomorrow,” 78, 160 “Tuesday,” 79, 160 “two days ago,” 80, 160 “Wednesday,” 81, 160 “weekly,” 82, 161 “yearly,” 83, 161 “yesterday,” 84, 161 tapping, attention-getting, 15 “today” sign, 77, 160 “tomorrow” sign, 78, 160 “Tuesday” sign, 79, 160 “turtle” sign, 116, 165 “two days ago” sign, 80, 160 Two Handshape, 35

U–V understanding, faking, 17 video conferencing, 184 videotape, 184 vocal tone, setting, 22

191

W–X W Handshape, 49 “walk” sign, 149, 168 “wash-laundry” sign, 150, 169 “Wednesday” sign, 81, 160 “weekly” sign, 82, 161 whispering, 16 whole-body approach, 2, 17, 185 “woman” sign, 117, 165 “work” sign, 151, 169 “worry” sign, 152, 169 wrinkles, 29

Y–Z Y Handshape, 50 “yearly” sign, 83, 161 “yesterday” sign, 84, 161 “you” sign, 118, 165

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