I'm not going anywhere!!

Just because my WISE presentation is over, doesn't mean I'm going to stop what I'm doing. In fact I'm doing MORE! I've been skyping every week with a student at the NYSD who has disabilities other then deafness. I've been taking Erin's advice and have been trying to constantly keep my foot into Deaf culture and be as involved as I can. I skype/IM with 4 or 5 of my Deaf friends on a weekly basis. They teach me soo much everyday! The other day my friend Nelson was telling me all about the rivialry between the NY school for the Deaf and the Lexington school for the Deaf in Queens, NY.

Is there a sign for every English word?!

Question: I am looking for the sign for word (insert word) and cannot find it.

Answer: There is not a sign for every word in the English dictionary. However, there is usually a sign for most concepts expressed in English. Conceptually correctness is the key.

If you are trying to find a sign on Signing Savvy, first think about the meaning behind what you want to say. If you search for a word and either no sign comes up or the sign that comes up seems to have a different meaning than what you want to say, think of a different word that conveys the meaning of what you want to say and search for that word.

Lets look at an example from Signing Savvy:

I want to look up the word PROTECTION from the following sentence: I need to put on some more sun protection before going on the boat.

When I search for PROTECTION, I do not find a sign. Therefore, I simplify the word and search for PROTECT. Simplifying the word is a good searching strategy on Signing Savvy, such as removing the -ion, -ing, or s (plural form) of the word.

However, in this case the sign for PROTECT may not really convey the conceptual meaning of sun protection. That sign could be used but what I'm really trying to say in my sentence is more like the sign for FILTER or SCREEN.

Now while looking this up I also thought of the work block, as in sun block. When I looked upBLOCK, I found two signs, one for the meaning to block something or prevent it from entering, and one like a building block.

The sun protection I was thinking about was more of a filter than a block, since I still wanted to get a tan, so I would use the sign for FILTER.

As a signer and a sign language interpreter, you constantly have to decide which sign best fits the conceptual meaning of what you are saying. This is one thing that beginner signers really struggle with. It is not always a direct English to ASL sign translation.

Don't forget to cite it! www.signingsavvy.com 

2 DAYS UNTIL MY PRESENTATION!!

Two days until I give my WISE presentation!! I've been working non stop to make sure everything runs smoothly. I have to make sure I get the auditorium booked for my rehearsal and my presentation tomorrow, I have to tell Mr. Lanzetta to reserve parking spaces for everybody coming, I have to print out God knows how many copies of the ASL alphabet, and much more that I don't want to reveal just yet =)

My Final Lesson Yesterday =(

Yesterday was my last lesson with Mrs. Kane's class before my presentation. I wanted to do my last lesson as something fun, but involving the colors to make sure they have the colors down for my presentation, I brought my friend Gio with me to have a 3rd party not really involved with my presentation to observe so I could get his opinions about my lessons. He thought it was really impressive how much the kids had learned, and how well I could keep them focused on the lesson.

My lesson was using a ball with several different colors having them sit in a circle and roll the ball to eachother, when the ball reached them, whatever color their hand was on, they had to sign to the class.