During these past two weeks, Reba and I have had many great sessions together! We are continuing with using Zoom so I can record and refer back to the signs. We continued to work on vocabulary and just had random conversations so I could get more practice.
I have been learning the signs for who, what, when, where, and how so that I can start asking questions. Reba usually asks me multiple questions using these signs, so I get the practice of recognizing them. This past week I have been practicing signing opposite words. When Reba signs “right”, I have to remember and sign back “wrong”. We have been doing this for a couple of sessions, so I am pretty good at responding quickly, but I will sometimes only understand one of the words and forget its opposite. This is where the perks of Zoom come in because all I have to do to review the material is to just replay the recording. When learning a new language, repetition is key. Even though we repeat the same words and its opposites each class, some of the signs are still difficult to remember, but I do improve each time!
After learning more vocabulary and trying to teach my friends a couple of signs, I realized that there are many unrelated signs that are so similar to each other. It makes sense that the sign for mom and dad or for sister and brother are similar, but the signs for “deaf” and “home” are also quite similar but are not related.
I also learned new feeling words, which were so helpful! Every time Reba and I meet, we ask each other, “How are you?”, but my vocabulary was limited to good, fine, and okay. Now I am able to express my emotions in various ways such as frustrated, angry, or embarrassed (although I hope I don’t have to use those).
The highlight of the two weeks was this past Thursday near the end of our session when Reba and I shared funny stories from when we were younger. Her stories were so engaging and even though I couldn’t understand each detail, I had so much fun watching her share it. When it was my turn, I was a bit anxious because I only knew general vocabulary. I shared my go to story about falling through the ceiling of my church and my attempt to make carrot juice. I did my best with the signs, but if there was a word I didn’t know, I would fingerspell my way through and Reba would show me the sign for that word. Through those short, 3-minute stories, I was able to practice and learn valuable conversational signs.
When I rewatched this recording, I noticed that I tend to look away from the computer when I fingerspell. Although I do this unintentionally to think about the sign for the letters, I know that I have to work on keeping my eyes on the screen so that I do not miss anything if Reba tells me something. I also want to practice fingerspelling more often during the week so that the letters come more naturally to me.
Comments
Somyung,
Thank you for sharing about your language journey. It is interesting to read where you are at with the language as my own language journey feels similar to yours but it is also different. I see a lot of the exercises and strategies being performed between you and Reba and it brings me joy to hear that your sessions are going well.