Signing with my sister

...is so much fun! My family and I were eating dinner and all of a sudden I wanted to say something to my sister (who is taking the S.E.E. signing class with me) but I did not want to say it out loud. Knowing most of the words I wanted to say, I signed it all to her. It was exhilarating! She signed back, too. I asked her after dinner if she completely understood me and she said she did. I bet my parents and other sisters weren't too happy about it, but it was good practice.

I know, this sounds so bad and conniving. At home I don't think it is so bad. As I typed before, it is good practice. I promise I won't sign in public because it is kind of like talking behind people's back but signing instead of talking.

Hopefully as the weeks pass by I won't have to finger spell some words. It gets tiresome, especially if the person you're signing to is not understanding what I am signing.

If only I could get more of my friends to take the class with me... I could sign at school too!

4th Class Session + Of Course More

I may be so tired throughout the school day, but really, I wake up in class. I am tune out nor am I ever bored. I love it!

We learned a lot more signs today. More "A" words. Almost, act, among, aid, ambulance, apple, above, accept, about, ache, acquaint, afraid, adult, and many more. We even learn some Halloween words.  "Family" words make a lot of sense, too. It is basically a certain movement or concept is used for a variety of words in S.E.E signing, rather than just one single concept for a variety of words in ASL. American Sign Language, since it is not exact English, does not require every English word. Hence, afraid or fear is kind of the same thing, I believe in ASL, they'd be the same sign since it is just a concept.

Today I told Lois that my senior project mentor is Debbie. She told me to tell her hi and I definitely will. I was so happy I told Lois as well because she said she had a class with younger kids in Vacaville during the summer. I think it was some sort of invite too. It was great. She's super funny when teaching the class. So nice and helpful, too. Knowing important adults in different groups is so helpful! And beneficial, and just interesting because they've been through so much whereas I'm still growing up and getting to know the world.

In class, though, we have these groups, and the group I had was nice. I honestly think the experience at New Tech helps me a lot in various situations. Talking to people I barely know? In the same class? Years ago I would have been scared to death. Now, I've been asked at least 5 times what a certain word means. I feel so, needed and smart when others ask me for help. My classmates are nice. One student is I think younger than I am. Maybe the same age. I'm not so sure. He was nice too. Great signer. Good kid. One of my classmates made a funny point that when we're younger, we retain information easier. I was the one in our group that remembered the most. I was patient with others, let others guess what word the sign was for, and assisted others too.

Lately, I have been reading and familiarizing myself with the deaf and Deaf culture. I read it in a book somewhere that there is a difference. With deaf people, they may not necessarily interact with those who know signing. Deaf culture with a capital "D" is the group that associates with American Sign Language and maybe even S.E.E. signing. Getting to know the background of it all really fascinates me. It's a whole new world for those hard-of-hearing.

In all honesty, if I had to choose between being deaf and blind, I'd rather be deaf.

Randomly Signing During the Day

It's just Thursday after going through 3 class sessions of Signing Exact English. Sometimes when I am not in public or I'm not around people I know super well who would think I'm weird, I would sign things I read or say. It's pretty funny too. If only I had others who would naturally sign with me, day in and day out. That would make my life easier in learning the language. I think it would even make learning S-E-E sign easier and flawless in memorization and such.

I must admit that randomly signing words I know is a lot of fun. Signing Exact English is really muscle memory. Having someone sign to me everyday would make that muscle memory much stronger, but what can I do.

Next week's class needs to come sooner. It's too much fun having to wait an entire week to correctly learn more signs.

3rd S-E-E Signing Class Session + Extreme Tiredness

Everyday, even though I am tired, for some odd reason, driving either a.) Keeps me alert. or b.) Wakes me up so I am alert. It's weird... It gets weirder. During my classes after 10 a.m., I was so unbelievably tired. I don't know if it was a lecture in class or just me not getting enough sleep, but I fell asleep at least 8 times today.

Although, it gets even weirder because during class I may have yawned and in the car too, but I didn't doze off during S-E-E signing. I was completely awake and attentive. It's good that I was awake too because we learned so many new signs for words. Mainly they were "people" signs. Basically signs for people such as those in a person's family: mother, father, daughter, granddaughter, grandson, son, brother, sister, baby, and much more. Other "people" words that are going to be so useful are: people, person, human, teacher, miss, mr., mrs., and a ton more. There were at least 60 words, but of course, I have always had a lot of fun.

The teacher is really great. She's not boring, makes us laugh, a great teacher, and so helpful. Today she was able to give the class (and just a small number of students) information on the sign books (there is a big one [which I am planning to borrow from my senior project mentor {which by the way, thank you so much!}] and a small one that lies flat [which I am hoping to purchase}) and getting college credit. The teacher says that it is 45 bucks if it is cumulative (I think meaning I take more than one class). It's a plus too because it's cheaper, and I am planning to take more anyway. Like I said, she is an awesome teacher. Oh, but back to the book, I want the small one mainly because it lays flat. Haha, but back to the college credit again, that reminds me I have to remind her to get the papers so that I can have permission to take the class and get credit for it from my parents, the principal, and the counselor. Not to mention she answered all of my questions too. I feel so welcome to the class. I did forget to tell her that I am taking the class all because of my senior project mentor.

Other than that, the class is great, I am learning a lot, and I am definitely enjoying it all.

I can't wait until next week!

2nd Meeting with Mentor + A Little Blurb about this morning + 2nd Class Session

My mentor is great! I am not sure if I should put her name or not, but maybe I should after she comments on my blog. Anyways, she's great, super nice, and she's given me a lot of resources. She is how I got into the class in the first place. So may I say, "Thank you so much!"

So anyway, this morning, before getting to school. I had to drop off my younger sisters at their elementary school. As I was driving, I look at my side view mirror and there is a grasshopper... It was green, and kind of huge, and it scared me. Not to mention this morning this bug or mosquito or whatever was on my wall. It was in my sister's room last night, and I guess it found way into my room. Well, I killed it. That is what happened this morning before getting to school.

I got a lot of books from her too. I think at least 5 of them. Two of them are about the signs. One of them was written by an actual deaf person. Then another is about the steps to take in being a parent with a deaf child. In time, after I read the book I just borrowed from the library, I will read all the books, especially if we have no books to read.

We also talked about a possibly of looking at an all deaf school all the way in Fremont. It is a while a ways but I think it would be amazing to get a tour and even see how they teach. During last week's class session, Lois talked about how a teacher of a deaf class flickers the lights to get the students' attentions. I thought that was interesting and I think it would even work for students of hearing.

Also, Mr. Carlton, a teacher at my school, let me borrow some flash cards of American Sign Language and they are pretty cool. Although, while looking through the cards, one of the signs completely threw me and my best friend off. We were looking at the flash cards at my house and the signs for "Thank You" and "You're Welcome" is the same. I know for a fact they are not...

The second class session of S-E-E signing was great. A lot of the words we learned to sign helped so much to continue signing more complex sentences (at least more complicated than the ones we learned to do the first day). Some of the words were this, that, those, and these, and then there were words that helped us ask questions such as who, what, where, why, and how many and then give answers like because. Then at the end of every class so far, she has given a little good-bye speech. It's all in S-E-E signing too, so it is so much fun to try and decipher what she is saying while she's signing and mouthing the words. I usually I understand almost every word, but I miss maybe a couple words.

I am seriously enjoying this class and having people back me up. They are all great.

Hopefully I can get college credit...