Learning ASL: Lesson 03 - Reflection

My third ASL Lesson was about 46-minutes in video length. After each new and review of words that was shown, I paused the video and imitated the motion of Instructor Bill. With each pause my total time of today’s sitting was 57:18 (I tried to pause less in today’s session).

I started this lesson pretty late in the evening, which I regret immensely; not getting a chance to practice / learn this weekend and starting late was not the best combination. While I was trying not to fall asleep, I was surprised how many words I did remember from my weekend hiatus, there were still plenty of words I needed refreshers on though. 

In this third lesson, Instructor Bill introduced a new student named Katelyn. She seemed slightly more advanced compared to Jen. Katelyn was more fluid with finger spelling, though still struggled comprehending finger spellings given to her. Katelyn also knew certain new words that were introduced in the lesson, indicating she is slightly more advanced in ASL. Bill’s structure of introducing words then teaching sentence/question format is very attainable to learn. Bill is also very expressive and comical in certain movements which allow the learners to absorb the information quickly. I found myself and Katelyn laughing out loud a couple of times Bill would sign silly comments. After being introduced or reminded of words in ASL, Bill would string the words together to make questions like he has done in past videos.

In this sitting, I learned the words: all (two versions), bad, bathroom, big, city, class, come, do not like, family, favorite, fine (monetary and adjective), from, go, go to, group, team, good, better, best, house, more, need, must, have to, should, ought to, school, so so, small, think, brain, wonder, raised / grow-up, want, aunt, daughter, forget, know. At the end of this lesson, Bill revisited the signing motions for the alphabet and counting up to 30. I am pretty confident in my ASL alphabet but I barely know the numbers. Numbers one to five are pretty basic though after five, counting continues on the hand initially started with unlike non-ASL counting when we transition to using another hand. I am pretty sure there are resources separate from the lesson curriculum I can check to refine my counting, to be reported on later. 

Another difference of ASL compared to non-ASL, is grammar. With non-ASL, we create present participles whereas in ASL, we do not add -ing to endings of words (reflecting on this observation, this advancement in grammar might come along later as I continue my lessons, to be posted). Noun placement in questions / sentences varies from non-ASL too. For example, when asking one’s name, we say or write, “What is your name?”, for ASL, the sign is “Name, you?”. Occasionally, nouns are not even included in questions, the usage of eyebrow expression can replace personal pronouns. 

All in all, this sitting was very productive! I will try to complete more lessons tomorrow and start earlier in the day~