Welcome to Day Four of Stink Week 2016!
Day 4: Sign Language
REMINDER: Every day of Stink Week we will be posting information to learn and challenges to try! Remember to come back every day to learn, share, and let us know how it all goes! If you share more of the facts and challenges during the day, you can log back in again at the end of the day and let us know that too!
Facts
1. Communication is very important for language development in young children. This is why many families start communicating with their children using sign language even if the don't have a hearing loss.
Click on this link to watch a short video of two toddlers signing to each other during a car ride: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-fwQpCylW4
2. According to the World Federation of the Deaf, about 70 Million people in the world use American Sign Language (ASL) as their first language. ASL is a language just like English, French and Spanish. Many people with hearing loss chose to communicate with ASL instead of speaking.
Click on the video to see a family at the park communicating completely through ASL: https://youtu.be/Azkk1Qy8lgM
3. Many children with hearing loss who wear hearing aids or cochlear implants also use sign language to communicate.
Check out this story about a boy who wears cochlear implants, but also uses ASL to communicate. Some of his classmates are skipping recess so they can learn ASL. Click here to read the story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fifth-graders-ditch-recess-for-sign-language-club-so-they-can-chat-with-deaf-classmate_us_56d06c1ee4b0bf0dab31c1cc
Challenges
Challenge #1: Learn the alphabet in sign language and even try to sing the ABC song. Click on this link and follow along: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYhAAMDQl-Q Learn the alphabet & how to sing the alphabet in sign
Challenge #2: Try to fingerspell the alphabet using the chart below. Try to fingerspell your name.
(When you sign the letters of a word it is call 'fingerspelling'. When you use a gesture to mean a word that is called 'signing'.)
Challenge #3: Go to www.signingsavvy.com and learn how to sign some phrases:
- Hello! My name is…
- What’s your name?
- Nice to meet you!
- I am from (state)
- What’s up?
