Friday, April 15, 2005

My ASL activities for the week

Ahh it has been a busy week indeed!

Tuesday night Melody came over to study ASL level 3 vocabulary. This was our first study session and next week we are having two more people come over to my house. All three of them are taking ASL level 3 at Bellevue Community College this quarter and want to transfer to the interpreter program at Seattle Central Community College next year.

Seattle Central Community College is the only state funded school here that offers asl classes beyond level 3 because they are the only school in western washington that offers a two year degree in deaf studies or interpreter training. I have had up to level 4 but I could not continue last quarter with level 5 because of my symptoms and vision problems from the tumor swelling. The classes must be taken in a series and are only offered one time a year.

Anyhow, I have all the vocabulary video tapes for asl 4-6. So I made asl card games based on the vocabulary from asl 4 for our weekly meetup group. On Tuesday nights, Melody, Laura, and Diane are coming over to review the vocabulary and practice. This is good for me because without using or motivating myself to practice, I forget some of my vocabulary.

Wednesday night was our regular meetup group and Harley was able to come with as he had Thursday off. We socialized in asl for most of it but in the end we played the card game I made which everyone seems to enjoy.

Friday night was the monthly coffee night at Starbucks in Bellevue with the BCC Silent Voices ASL club. Just about our entire meetup group was there so it was a fantastic time! In fact, so many people I know go there now that I do not even get a chance to visit with everyone and the time really flies! I went to the first one this summer and only knew 2 people at first. Initially I felt kind of intimidated because my signing skill was slower then and they were having a fluent conversation. Now it is hard to talk to everyone I know because there are so many people! Afterward the group gravitates to the Cheesecake Factory but I wanted to get home before Harley went to bed and as much as I love cheesecake I felt that in the present situation I should pass (I had already had too many treats for the day).

1 comment:

Steven said...

I've forgotten almost all my signs, and now Sally *really* needs to learn ASL. I'm going to enroll us both in a night class at community college (the campus is near her office.) If I am in the same class, she'll go, otherwise she'll find a reason not to. ;)