Lesson #8

For my last week of Sign Lessons, I decided to do a quiz of all the words I had learned thus far. I learned 105 words and the alphabet. I had my husband quiz me every day with these words and by the end of the week, I could recall nearly 90% of them!

I did realize one fatal flaw. When I was reviewing my words, I would Sign them in the exact same order. If I do them in order, I know the Signs. If my husband mixes up the order, I can't remember as many. I had been memorizing the patterns of the Signs more than the Signs themselves! So this week I've been trying to fix this. I've had my husband always test me randomly in a different order every time.


Looking back at my previous posts, especially the first one, I feel like I came a long way. First of all, I learned that Sign Language is just like any other language and can be difficult to learn. It takes dedication and time. Secondly, I envisioned this assignment to be like a one hill roller coaster. I expected to struggle with the learning for the first bit and then suddenly get the swing of things and it would all be down hill and smooth sailing. I was quite wrong. I was on a several hill roller coaster with a few loops and zig zags in between. I had days and a few weeks where learning was easy and I was understanding everything and connecting the dots, and then the next day or week, I felt like I was starting all over again. I learned, and appreciated knowing, that I use different types of ways to help me learn. Sometimes different learning techniques worked one week and then the next, I had to try something different. Though I had some hard, frustrating times (which comes from any learning experience), I had some really good, fun, and rewarding times! I learned that, for myself, I really learn best using the ZPD. I learn better by interacting with others and by learning from them. I really enjoyed recognizing how I was learning. I feel like I've been able to broaden my understanding of how I learn and how those around me learn.