Hi everyone! My name is Sara Black and for my genius project I am learning ASL, or American Sign Language, and once I have obtained enough information to have a conversation, I will compare this language to English. I hope you all enjoy my posts and get inspired to learn ASL yourself!
This project was so fun. It was a great experience to step back and look at myself and what I want to do with my life. Learning sign language was not an easy task, and I learned that with challenges I take them head on. In the end, learning a third language really payed off. I think having a job with something that involves languages would be really cool, but I also have many other things that I want to do with my life. I want to be a nurse, I want to be a homicide detective, work in forensics, I want to travel the world, I want to have a family, and after this project I want to be an interpreter. I accomplished a lot. I learned many different signs and how to properly use them in a conversation. I learned how to sing in sign language, which was a really tough thing to do because the fast tempo of the music calls for a quicker signing of words. For those of you who are doing the genius project next year, STAY ON TRACK WITH YOUR PLAN!! I managed to stay on track and I think that it took a lot of stress away. Also, don't get flustered if you do not meet your goal that day. Just make sure to alter your plan and complete the work that you didn't before you start procrastinating and prolonging it.
This is the video of me singing the song Candyman in sign language. In class, I did a performance to compare signing in the English sentence structure and signing in the American Sign Language (ASL) sentence structure. I was originally going to do a side by side video, but I'm not very tech savvy and I couldn't figure out how to send videos to my computer. I only could send one.
I have always wanted to learn another language. In school right now, I am learning Spanish, but I have always felt like I wanted to learn more. I think that people who know many different languages fluently is mesmerizing, and I would love to be one of those people. I decided to learn sign language because I always thought it was a beautiful way of communicating with others and I was influenced by a show called Dancing With the Stars. There is a contestant this year named Nyle DiMarco: he and his whole family are deaf. He says that he doesn't hear any music or feel any vibrations that he can follow; when his partner moves he moves. Just wow! That is truly amazing. To address the comments that I have seen, following this project, I do want to continue to expand my knowledge of sign language beyond just a song and basic words. I really wish that my school offered other languages besides Spanish because I am fairly busy and would not have that much time outside of school to learn more. I might start taking online classes if I can.
Above are two of my favorite dances that this pair has done. On the left is a Viennese Waltz he performed during Switch-Up week, which is when all of the dancers and celebrities switch partners for one dance. Nyle and Sharna performed a beautiful dance that brought everyone to tears. On the right is a Paso Doble that Nyle and his regular partner Peta performed that was truly powerful. At one point in the dance, the music was completely shut off and it was dead silent in the room. This was done in order to show fans the dance from Nyle's perspective; to show them what it is like to dance deaf.
The quote says "I grew up with a huge Deaf family in a large Deaf community. I am the fourth Deaf generation in my family, so I am deeply rooted and I love being Deaf. I think that with me loving my Deafness really made me confident and able to do anything I wanted." Nyle originally studied to be a math teacher, but later became the winner of America's Next Top Model. He now models and advocates for people who are Deaf, especially children in order to boost their self-esteem.
For my final product for this project, I will perform a song in the ASL sentence structure and in the English sentence structure in order to show others the differences and similarities between using these types of structures. I will perform the song Candyman by Zedd, which was remade from Sammy Davis Jr. to celebrate the 75th anniversary of M&M's. I chose this song because it seems fairly simple to perform due to its length and I really enjoy this song. So far I have learned most of the first verse, and I plan to learn the first bridge today in class. By the end of this week, I hope to learn the whole song in the English sentence structure. I realize that it is short notice since next week we will need to begin to prepare for our presentations, but English sentence structure requires a lot more words than the ASL structure. I will already know how to sign the words, so I will only need to practice them in the other structure before I present. Can't wait to learn the whole song!
The pictures above are how to sign "candyman" in ASL.
This is the commercial that was created in commemoration of the candy M&M's, which has the song in it.
So far, with the help of ASL University online lessons and a helpful video, I have learned family, food, places, feelings, clothing, health, questions/requests, colors, temperatures, and some animals. Learning ASL has been really enjoyable and rewarding. I have been practicing by myself at home, in class, and even during volleyball practice. After I had finished my math final, I started to sign to myself, even though people were looking at me a little funny. My goal today is to finish the video that teaches you 100 basic signs in sign language. I am going to master all of these signs before I move on to starting the lessons because I will then build a solid foundation for continuing my learning. I'm really looking forward to learning and practicing more animal signs, money signs and amounts.
For the genius project, I am learning how to speak American Sign Language. I am really excited to begin, and once this project is finished, I hope to be able to communicate with those who speak ASL. Although, I am wondering if three weeks is enough time for me to learn ASL because I want to incorporate it into my presentation whether it be for a small part or for its duration. I am really interested in doing my whole presentation in ASL (also with sound of course). I can't wait to begin!
