It’s Not Just About Knowing Signs

This article originally appeared at i711.com on June 29, 2006, and was updated on August 28, 2013.

On the first day of my American Sign Language (ASL) class years ago, I found it puzzling that many of the students signed with their mouths shut in a tight, horizontal line, with not one natural movement. This was a level two class, so these students weren’t new to the language. I asked each of the students who their ASL I teacher had been. It turns out that this teacher—who was deaf and from a deaf family—had told them that they were to never move their mouths when signing, not even for descriptions (CHA, OO, et cetera). It took me the rest of the semester to undo this.

As someone who teaches from time to time, I’m always fascinated by those who believe they can teach ASL but are sorely unqualified. I taught my first ASL class when I was 18, and I shudder to think of my lack of teaching skills back then. I had absolutely no formal training in the language, other than having signed all of my life. Even though two people in that class have gone on to become top-notch interpreters, I cringe at how I conducted class back then. Over years, with age and experience, I’ve come to see that the requirements of teaching any language are, in a nutshell: fluency, attitude, teaching skills and experience (and that spells out FATE, I know).

Fluency is a must for teaching any language. Many of us have horror stories of people—deaf or hearing—who think they’re fluent enough to teach ASL. In 2005, an interpreter came to my doctor’s appointment. She was outfitted in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt jacket, hardly proper attire for an interpreter. Her signing skills were mediocre, but I was so sick that I only cared about getting medicine from the doctor. After some polite chatting, she asked if I would be part of a panel for the advanced ASL class she taught. I asked her to repeat, to make sure I understood right; this woman—obviously not fluent in the language—was teaching ASL to hearing people who trusted her to be fluent? She said, “It’d be great to have you; we have a panel about deafness every year and this is the first time I’ve been able to find a deaf person.”

The consequences of someone not so fluent in ASL teaching the language are far-reaching: future teachers and community members have to retrain these students, if possible. The students then go out into the world mistakenly thinking they’re fluent and go on to maybe interpret or teach deaf children. Then deaf children or consumers deal with mediocre signing skills… and then the students are puzzled by why they get criticized if their teachers said they were fluent. And so on.

Then there’s attitude. This is critical; attitude can make or break the learning process. The teacher has to love the language and be willing to share what he knows. The teacher has to really embrace teaching. And he has to be open to new ideas, since language is always changing. It doesn’t matter if the teacher’s relatives are deaf, if he is deaf or hearing, or if he is astoundingly fluent in the language. It’s a no-brainer; attitude is what motivates students to come to class.

Next is the issue of teaching skills. So many signers think they can teach the language because they’re fluent in it and have a good attitude. What often happens is that the teachers come to class, teach vocabulary from a book and then administer tests. Nothing more. That’s a recipe for failure. ASL programs need to have a curriculum in place, with a strong support system. At one ASL program I taught in, I had no curriculum to work from, nor did I have any supplemental materials other than the textbooks I was given.

The next semester, I started teaching at a different college and was blown away by its resources. There were four file cabinets, four drawers each, with materials for each week of each course, at each level of ASL. The support system at this college, along with the incredible leadership of the program coordinator, taught me more than I could have ever learned in any other program. This is why I think training workshops like those offered by the Signing Naturally creators are so essential. Workshops like this teach a curriculum that emphasizes language and culture, rather than just vocabulary.

Finally, there’s experience. What this refers to is the Deaf experience. In a discussion on this topic, ASL instructor John Pirone of Massachusetts pointed out that if two candidates — one Deaf, one hearing — possessed each of these components, the Deaf teacher likely would be  more qualified. This is because the Deaf teacher has the “Deaf experience”–that is, s/he lives life as a Deaf person, and is more likely to teach the language’s and community’s nuances that even the most culturally-knowledgeable hearing teacher cannot.

Learning a language, obviously, is also learning the culture, boundaries, and the nuances of the community that uses the language. I’m not really saying anything new here, but it still amazes me how many people lack the FATE components of teaching. It’s important to recognize just how much impact  ASL teachers have so upon the community at large, often more than they’re given credit for.

The local ASL teacher at the high school here, who is a CODA, has hundreds of students in her ASL classes each year, so it’s only natural to assume that the impact she has upon deaf people here is minimal given the volume of her work. The opposite is true: even with this sheer number of students, the impact she’s had upon the community is phenomenal. I go to the food store, restaurants, gas stations, even the car dealership, and people there sign because they took her class. This is why it’s so crucial to ensure that an ASL teacher has all of the FATE components. Such ASL teachers make this country become just a bit more harmonious.

Copyrighted material, used by permission. This article can not be copied, reproduced, or redistributed without the written consent of the author.

Workshop: June 29, 2013 | Think of a Word, Quick! (New Jersey RID)

Think of a Word, Quick! 
New Jersey Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Eatontown, NJ

Trudy’s thoughts:

This workshop was filled to capacity, much to my happiness. It’s is one I have taught since 2000 in at least 25 locations around the nation.

Although the workshop has evolved over the years, the basic premise is always the same: use it or lose it. What I emphasize in this workshop is that one must use language in order to expand it. This seems like a no-brainer, but too many approach this from an academic standpoint rather than an everyday, basic perspective. To help drive this point home, I provide hands-on activities that help expand interpreters’ ASL and English vocabularies.  They’re activities that can be done anywhere, whether it be at home, on the train going somewhere, or even waiting at an appointment. They are such basic activities that I do all the time for my language development and expansion, because they really do work.

It’s also fascinated me to see how the very same reactions to the activities I present take place every time I do this workshop. It’s a wonderful sociological observation for me, and I always learn so much from those responses and coping strategies (because people who have attended my workshops know I never make the activities too easy–that’d completely defeat the point, right?).

This workshop is my all-time favorite workshop, and I hope to present it for many years to come.   Many thanks to the NJRID participants who made it so much fun, and especially for their kind words, openness, and willingness to discuss stumbling blocks in their interpreting work.

Evaluation comments:

Enjoyable. A combination of education and fun.

Excellent, and enjoyed the safe, fun environment.

Would love to have her back for a full workshop.

Hands down, one of the best workshops I’ve attended in a long time. Helped expand my thought process, made me think outside my habitual box, and made me laugh!

Great! So funny! Love your humor! Thanks.

Great workshop and practice I can use at home.

Good activities. They were fun!

Loved this workshop!! Would love an all-day version!!!

Workshop: June 8, 2013 | In Search of Interpreter Heart (Minnesota RID)

In Search of Interpreter Heart
(co-presented with Doug Bowen-Bailey and Paula Gajewski-Mickelson)
Minnesota Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, St. Paul, MN

Trudy’s thoughts:

This was a last-minute request that turned out wonderfully, especially with us co-presenting together for the first time. With nearly 40 people in attendance at the MRID spring conference, Doug, Paula and I were thrilled with the overall atmosphere, participants’ open minds and everybody’s honest exploration of different topics within the Deaf and interpreter communities. What I especially liked was the opportunity to interact with participants and listening to their experiences and perspectives. One of the best parts for me was when we went into the ethical decision-making circles, which consisted of anywhere from five to ten people per circle. The first thing Paula had us do was write down our top three values–not work values, but overall values in our professional and personal lives. We had to then choose the top one out of our list. It was harder than I anticipated, because I had so many that I couldn’t figure out which ones to choose. We then shared our top value with each other, and that provided me with such a major insight into each circle participant’s perspectives and even life experiences. That was a great activity.

We three are already refining our presentation and are eager to present this again. I was, and am, honored to work with Doug and Paula especially because they are two of the most sincere, committed and fun allies I know.

Evaluation comments:

Thank you! One of the best workshops I’ve ever been to! Please offer it again for those who missed it today.

Great workshop! The presenters were wonderful, knowledgeable, and professional. Thank you!

Workshop: May 30, 2013 | Making Your Case: An Online Course in Advocacy (ADARA)

Making Your Case: An Online Course in Advocacy (presented on behalf of Commission of Deaf, DeafBlind and Hard of Hearing Minnesotans)
American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association, Bloomington, MN

Trudy’s thoughts

This online courseMaking Your Case, is such a crucial resource. It is so useful for so many things, especially legislative advocacy. Best of all, the course, available in American Sign Language, text and open captions, is available to anyone at no charge. It includes inspiring stories from grassroots leaders and real-life case studies.

Typically, this workshop is anywhere from an hour to three hours and filled with activities, but ADARA had a lightning-round format for this year’s conference. This meant I had only 30 minutes to present a chunk of key information. The interpreters were fabulous, and so were the 100-plus participants. Hopefully they will bring this course back to their communities and encourage people to participate.

Evaluation comments

  • …good presentation!
  • Very energetic.  Great interaction.  Very valuable learning.  Thank you.
  • Great stuff…loads of good info quickly
  • …overall great presentation
  • Trudy was great!
  • Nicely developed training.

Communication advocacy

When my children began school, I was amazed at how little I knew about individualized education plans (IEPs), even though I grew up having to deal with them as a deaf child myself. After a while, I finally learned the difference between IFSPs and IEPs…and it was only then that I really understood how powerful IEPs and my rights as a parent are.

One of the concerns I had was about ensuring that my children were in a complete American Sign Language (ASL) immersion environment, as opposed to simultaneous communication (sim-com). Although their school has a majority of deaf teachers, there are still some old-school staffers who think it’s perfectly acceptable to sign and speak at the same time.

This, of course, is one of the most ineffective ways to communicate with deaf children. Usually, when a person speaks and signs at the same time, which language gets words dropped more? Yup, ASL. As a result, the deaf person is forced to lipread more than watch the signs—and this becomes a horribly mangled communication system where the brain processes different things at the same time. It’s confusing, hard work and ineffective. Yet I knew I couldn’t be an ASL cop (nor did I want to be), walking around telling people to not sign and speak at the same time.

What to do, then? When my oldest child began having IEPs, I requested that the school add that she be exposed to only one language at a time—i.e., written English or ASL. In fact, the specific sentence in each child’s IEP says:

The parents have requested that [child] be exposed to only one language at a time (either ASL or written English) in order to prevent, or at least minimize, exposure to signing and speaking at the same time.

 

For example, the teacher can sign to my children in ASL while reading a book in English with printed words, but not speak and sign at the same time. Instead, she’d be doing consecutive language sharing. This is how I learned to acquire English, and I’ve seen it pay off with my children already.

I shared this with a school administrator, and he said that it was the most powerful piece of language advocacy he’d seen in his career. It’s also a really effective way to hold schools accountable for their communication choices with my children.

CHAMP YOU!

A good friend and I were discussing specific signs, and we realized that there is a major difference in the way we sign “CHAMP.” Do you sign it using the 3 handshape, or do you sign it using the 5 handshape? Or do you sign it either way for specific situations?

We discussed this a bit, and I use “3” on the forehead to sign “champ” (as in tournament champion), or on my hand to indicate someone has won a contest or competition.  For any other version of the word, I use “5” on top of the index finger. How about you?

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