As we approach the end of the academic year, I can look back and reflect on a tumultuous semester in which myself and my friend Susmita were able to do ASL classes over Zoom for about 10 weeks. Towards the beginning of the course, we learned about the FIRE model, according to which my learning style was 40% auditory, 30% visual, and 30% tactile. My own feedback and review process throughout the semester have validated and reinforced those insights. Initially, we were a group of three being instructed by Ms. Reba who is Deaf. As an older lady, she was also unfamiliar with today’s Zoom technology. This led to two difficulties for us as first-time learners of ASL. Firstly, as Ms. Reba could not speak English, in some classes I would not be able to follow along or may not have understood a certain sign or nuance. In any other course, I would still be able to clarify my question and ask the instructor but because of the language barrier here, it was a bit tedious to do at times. Eli, who was a more seasoned learner was better suited to Ms. Reba’s pace and style of teaching than we perhaps were. Additionally, internet and Zoom issues on Ms. Reba’s end meant that we were either delayed by several classes or spent a chunk of our class time trying to set up the technology. Eventually, when we broke off into two groups and Ms. Kaye became our instructor, all those earlier problems were resolved. As Ms. Kaye spoke both native English and ASL, we were able to better follow her lectures, comparisons, advice, and subtle mnemonics that assisted in both our short-term learning and our long-term retention. Previously, where I would learn through reading the book and trying to follow Ms. Reba’s signs in real life, now Ms. Kaye would incorporate much more auditory stimulus into our class times which I can honestly say helped me get a lot better with my ASL.
Two of the things I enjoyed most were the fact that we were a small intimate group of three and the roleplaying we would do as we practiced conversations in ASL from our book. The intimacy of the group helped me feel closer to everyone which made me feel comfortable making mistakes because I knew I had a supportive environment. As Susmita and I were friends from before, the role playing with different characters and dialogues felt very enjoyable, especially when we would make a subtle “mistake” and change the meaning of the whole sentence! In order to continue learning, I hope to be able to keep in touch with Ms. Kaye and Susmita so that we can occasionally call each other and not lose practice of the ASL skills we’ve gained thus far. The Barron’s textbook provided by Dr. Soloway is divided into two components—ASL 1 and 2. I hope to dedicate at least 2.5 hours of my week (similar to class time) going through further chapters trying to learn more advanced concepts. I have also signed up for the Sign Language Forum, which is an online, interactive ASL community. Through reading blog posts and connecting with members of the community, I hope to stay engaged in this unique language.
Two readings that I found very useful was that of “Hofstede’s 6-D Model of National Culture” and “Figuring Foreigners Out.” Both provided me with a comprehensive set of tools to help me assess various aspects of different cultures. For example, analyzing the dimension of power distance from Hofstede, I can make direct connections between societal and interactional differences between people of various socio-economic classes in my home country of Bangladesh and here in the US. From “Figuring Foreigners Out,” how we perceive time, be it Monochronic or Polychronic, has also given me a different perspective as to people’s behaviors, expectations, and motives. For example, in the US people place a great deal of emphasis on being punctual as time is seen as a commodity. Other cultures tend to be far more flexible and adaptable to different contexts which gives me some more insights regarding the mindset of people and institutions here. One topic I would like to learn more about is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). I had previously heard about the term but was unfamiliar with how to apply it. I found the online IPA dashboard very interesting as it helped me learn about new sounds that do not exist in my culture. The application of the IPA is universal, and I believe that once someone learns the fundamentals, they can leverage the tool to help address cultural differences in sounds and pronunciations. For example, my mom pronounces many English words in our unique Bengali way as we have a different set of sounds for our own mother tongue from that of English. I hope to be able to further explore these differences in languages and cultures as I continue my journey towards greater knowledge and empathy of the world around me.
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