Lesson #2

This week I turned to the handy dandy library and have learned the signs for the following words:
Male
Female
Man
Woman
Father
Mother
Grandfather
Grandmother
Boy
Girl
Brother
Sister
Wife
Husband
Family

I got the following books at the library:
"The Joy of Signing" by Lottie L. Riekehof.
"Signing Exact English" by Gerilee Gustason and Esther Zawolkow
"Signing Around Town: Sign Language for Kids" by Kathryn Clay

Also, I found this awesome YouTube clip that talks about Sign Language. From this clip, I learned that Sign Language does not follow the syntax and grammar of English. It also talked about how Sign Language is a visual language. I always knew this but I didn't realize how important it is to emphasis your facial expressions. Check out the short clip here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTs8Vf9pldI

This weeks challenge was remembering the right sign for "Man" and "Boy" (which are somewhat similar) and  "Woman" and "Girl".
For example, the sign for "Man" is done by holding your hand up to your forehead like you are tipping the brim of an invisible hat on your head, then dropping your hand down and opening your hand like you are shaking someone's hand. The sign for "Boy" is done the same way only instead of opening your hand like you are shaking someone's hand, you bring your hand down as though measuring the height of a child. Here is the demonstration in the book "The Joy of Signing":

Hmmm...oddly enough, now that I have written down the actions for "Man" and "Boy", they don't seem too hard (haha!).

I had made a goal to learn certain things (I made a list on my first blog post) but when looking through the books I got at the library, it really helped me to see how the books compile their lessons so I think I will follow their guidelines. I get frustrated every now and then when I mess up a sign but I find myself being really intrinsically motivated. I really want to learn this and be able to use this in my life. My husband is helping me learn and is practicing the alphabet and these signs that I learned this week. Having someone learn with me has really made my experience this week turn into a flow. I forget sometimes how much I love to learn new things and I am excited to continue this experience!