Hello everyone!
It’s almost Thanksgiving, so to prepare to discuss what kinds of food we enjoy eating with our friends and family, Reba and I have been going over some more food terms and expressions we use. “I’m thirsty”, or my favorite, “I’M HUNGRY NOW”, are both I will be teaching my family members soon.
First, we went over the types of meats, seafood, and methods of preparing food (baking, cooking). My favorite word was “potato” because we can have so many variations of potatoes by attaching the signs for “bake”, “sweet”, or “salad” onto it and create new meanings.
We also reviewed some drinks. While there is a particular sign for “coffee”, some words such as the specific types of sodas require that we use fingerspelling. This is mainly to avoid confusion. Reba told me a funny story about how when she was a child, she though ketchup was catch-up, so she would sign “catch” “up” to refer to the condiment.
Later, we did a review of silverware and other materials that can be seen on a dinner table. Furniture was also a big topic I found useful. We talked about the furniture in my dorm room and I told her that even though I have my own room and bathroom, it can get pretty lonely and boring living by myself. On the other hand, Reba said that she had 2 roommates her first year at her university and that it was a lot to deal with since the room was packed.
The next week we talked about technology and went over terms such as “computer” and “program” and learned how to describe how good the internet is. We talked about the computer mouse and how that was a different sign for the animal mouse. I added on that my friend recently got a mouse as a pet and Reba shocked to say the least.
When Reba was teaching me difference between England and English, I was surprised to see how subtle it was. If she was to sign it quickly, I’m not sure if I would notice right away. Then I noticed that many of the signs also have this similarity. The motions for sugar and sweet are exactly the same, but for sugar you do it once and for sweet you do it multiple times.
This wasn’t during a lesson but as I was scrolling through YouTube I came across a trailer for the movie “A Quiet Place” which came out a couple years ago. It’s a thriller movie where the characters have to stay quiet to avoid the mysterious creatures that have extraordinary hearing abilities. Therefore, instead of talking, the characters communicate through sign language. One of the main actresses, Millicent Simmonds, is actually deaf, so it was interesting to hear her thoughts on the movie. Although this movie seems intriguing, I am not sure if I can watch it without squealing throughout the whole film. Maybe I’ll watch it over winter break!
Also, a quick update: I am improving a bit on reading fingerspelling, but I still find it helpful for it to be repeated.
Comments
Hey, So Myung, nice post! I think that is hilarious that you are going over "important" Thanksgiving terms, especially the "I'M HUNGRY NOW" one. I am glad you guys were able to incorporate your learning throughout the whole time and also had fun with it. I hope that I could also adopt this way of learning interactively in the future.