Learning Activity

Today I only had two of my students present at the Jays program,

Maryjayne and Grace. This was unfortunate because it was the first
day that Chyna, my fellow ASL intern from UPG, was able to attend. We
completed introductions and identified new sign names for ourselves
as we would if we were part of a deaf culture. The two students that we
were working with were very excited to do this and they each came up
with appropriate and accurate signs for themselves. We then reviewed
the alphabet and learned the numbers one to fifteen. Maryjayne asked
how to count up to twenty, so we showed them and then had them do
it with us. We actually threw in an extra number and continued to
twenty-one. In order to help the girls remember the difficult sign for
twenty-one, we referenced the honorary symbol of the twenty-one gun
solute. They thought this was interesting and even came up with their
own ideas on how to remember the number. Grace informed us that
her brother was about to turn twenty-one years of age and wanted to
tell him happy twenty-first birthday. Even though it was a sidetrack
from the lesson, I was glad to see their interest and we showed her. I
was able to acquire a deck of ASL flash cards that varied in their level
of difficulty and we were able to get through the first ten cards before
he girls had to pack up and head to dinner. The experience was
enlightening, however a few concerns did arise. My co-teacher
informed me that she would not be able to attend the Jays Program
every week so it may be difficult to communicate what we will be doing
in the future. It is very fortunate that we have ASL II together so I feel
that we will be able to work out objectives and plans together at that
time.