Welcome! We have made it through Week 7. How are you doing? We are really being able to make a few sentences here and actually have a conversation or two. That’s always fun once you can get started having conversations.
Today we went over verbs-how they are signed differently from nouns (nouns are signed slightly shorter and choppy, while verbs have a more long, sweeping “vibe”). Another interesting thing about American Sign Language-in its truest form- is that it does not include the verb “to be”…..remember as a young person when you had to conjugate verbs “I am, he is, she is, it is, you are, we are, you (pl) are, they are….” The good news is that ASL does not conjugate verbs, and since the language is very much based in the present-where you stand is present and today you learned how to indicate past and future; so these signs replace the need for the conjugated verbs and for the “to be”….now, people will tell you there are signs for “is” and “are” and “were”…but those have been added to ASL in order that deaf students can become proficient in English, but they are not a part of American Sign Language.
The students in my Friday class wanted to learn the Pledge of Allegiance, so I have added it here if you are interested.
Here are the notes from our discussion.
American Sign Language - Joy's way 