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Sign Me Up! Online
Edition William G. Vicars, Ph.D. MCSE, MCT, MCP+I, A+, Network+, EdNet |
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Opening "Chat Log Session 7" (Chapter 7) DrVicars: Good evening how are you? Art: Hi Bill, Im fine. I have a joke for you DrVicars: Love to hear it. Art: Olie & Lena went to the doctor. [Olie is hard of hearing] The
doctor says, Lena you got Art: 1st you got to keep everything real smooth. You got to iron
everything. 2nd you got to fix DrVicars: RTFL LOL, I love it! DrVicars: Here's one for you: The wife and I are going for a drive. I get pulled
over by a police Officer: "Hey buddy! Your wife fell out three miles back!" Lii: LOL Art: HA HA DrVicars: Okay welcome to class! Let's get with it, for the agenda tonight I have a whole bunch of thought questions for
you. Do If not I'll get to the questions... DrVicars: Is ASL universal? Lii: I thought so, but aren't there different variations according to countries? DrVicars: Right! There are, and that leads to my next question: Does sign have dialects? Lii: Yes. DrVicars: Okay, so, sign is NOT universal and it does vary, (even from state to
state). And Lii: Because of dialects? DrVicars: Why the dialects? Why more so than hearing people? Why is there greater
variation DrVicars: For example, if I go to CA they will sign some signs quite a bit differently
than DrVicars: Let me suggest that in the morning a hearing person turns on the television
or the radio DrVicars: Have much less exposure to signs from outside of their region. Video
phones DrVicars: Next question: What should left handed signers do? Art: Reverse positioning of hands. DrVicars: Right. DrVicars: Mirror image. Meaning, whatever a right handed signer does, the leftie
can do the DrVicars: Also, now that we are down to a manageable size class we can dispense with
any Art: But I'm not sure what my answer means. DrVicars: Oh let me explain--If I'm a lefty, I fingerspell with the left. I would
do everything with Switching back and forth can be confusing sometimes because we use comparative sentence
DrVicars: Does that clear it up? Art: Yes DrVicars: Great Lii: Does it get harder to "read" another signer when they do that,
though? DrVicars: Only a little. It becomes pretty clear after you get used to
it--kind of like an accent. Lii: I guess it comes with the ole' proverbial "practice" again. DrVicars: <Grin> [New topic] DrVicars: Is sign language used in monasteries? Has anyone visited a monastery before? If so, did you learn any of the signs they use? DrVicars: There is a monastery in Huntsville, Utah, near my home town. I visited
and talked to Art: How can that be? DrVicars: What do you mean Art? Art: How are their signs sexual? DrVicars: To him they weren't sexual, but they had other meanings in ASL. Lii: No, in fact, this is quite interesting! Art: Thanks DrVicars: The point is though that I really enjoyed learning about his signs. It
was a neat DrVicars: A new language opens new doors. So if you have the chance, you should
ask other DrVicars: Okay next question: How long does it take to learn to sign? Art: A lifetime? Lii: It would take seconds to learn a sign, but it takes years to perfect it. I would think. DrVicars: Of course the answer is: "It depends." DrVicars: How smart are you? How good at language acquisition in general? How
often are DrVicars: I remember having a roommate once. He picked up enough sign in two
weeks to Art: Even though we know English, we still learn new words years later. Some
people are still DrVicars: What are some applications for sign? Jobs, etc. Lii: Interpreting is the main one. DrVicars: Good, what else? Art: Directions, communications. DrVicars: Fine, now let's get creative for a bit, how about underwater directions for
scuba Monica: You can use it to interpret body language. DrVicars: How about cheating in class? Monica: Baseball or football signals. DrVicars: Right, right! You get the idea. DrVicars: Let's talk about non-verbal communication. Non-verbal communication is
more But let's shout a warning here: body-language is ambiguous much of the
time. If a woman (or a DrVicars: Maybe nothing. Maybe a lot. It depends. Did she get kicked
during a recent soccer DrVicars: There are too many variables to tell with any certainty what a person is
thinking by DrVicars: Non-verbal communication is culturally based. I have a kid in one of my
college He shakes his head for yes and nods it up and down to say no. (Exactly backwards
of how we DrVicars: Now he is re-learning the American way but the other way became a habit for
him DrVicars: When verbal and nonverbal conflict, people accept the nonverbal. DrVicars: Albert Mehrabian (spelling?) did a study. (He is a psychologist at UCLA.) He found that in emotional communication situations, the communicative content of a message was as follows: 7 percent verbal Art: What do you mean "para-verbal?" Monica: Little of both? Art: See I'm still learning English, LOL DrVicars: Para-verbal includes sounds like, "hmmm" or "tsk
tsk." Utterances that are sort of DrVicars: The sounds your mother used to make when you were in trouble.
(Heh) They were DrVicars: Suppose you are walking down street and look in restaurant window. You
notice DrVicars: Now, truth be told, the words she said were, "I really love you too." DrVicars: WHAT? How could she ever be saying words that are meant to express tenderness and closeness while behaving that way? DrVicars: What happened is: the fellow told her, " I don't think I ever really loved you." DrVicars: Oh wow. The words she said were meaningless--it was the way she acted
and the DrVicars: So--you see body language is more important that verbal words in most
everyday Let me mention though that this is not necessarily true in technical or logistical-type
discussions. For those of you who don't know what emoticons are, they are those punctuation marks
and [If you would like to read a little more about non-verbal communication there is a nice
little Lii: It also helps to know something about other cultures. I lived with Alaskan
Athabascan DrVicars: In Inuit language, Eskimos have one word that means "slice the blubber
horizontally." DrVicars: Or by the same token, if ASL doesn't express things the same way as English
it DrVicars: How does phonetics apply to fingerspelling? DrVicars: Should you sound out the words phonetically, or say them letter by
letter? (Either DrVicars: When I ask new signers their names, they sometimes spell,
"F-R-E-D," (or whatever DrVicars: What you should do is pronounce it normally. For example, if your name is DrVicars: Getting your name (and other fingerspelled words) right on your lips is
important [Please understand that I'm not saying you should mouth everything you sign! Quite the
opposite DrVicars: Should you watch a signers hands or face? Daniel: Both. DrVicars: Right. Later, as you become more skilled, you just concentrate on
the face and catch DrVicars: How do deaf mothers hear their babies cry? How do deaf people hear the doorbell? Monica: Vibrations? DrVicars: Well that is certainly one way, (if you have a very loud doorbell). One
of my friends Art: Lights for the doorbell. DrVicars: Right! We have lights for everything! Our houses are wired!
Deaf people used this DrVicars: Any questions about assistive technology? Art: Can you give more examples? DrVicars: Sure. A couple of years ago I took a group of students on a
"no-voice immersion DrVicars: The deaf youth took it in stride but the hearing kids had more fun calling
from room to Art: LOL Lii: LOL! Are these devices expensive? What happens when some deaf can't afford them. DrVicars: Yes they are. You have to be rich to be deaf. Lii: Are there programs for people to purchase these things? Daniel: Do organizations like NAD help assist with modifying homes or is that left up
to the DrVicars: There are programs, depending on your state. Some states are better than others. DrVicars: California is the best, (my opinion). Lately prices have been dropping
on assistive DrVicars: I can get a catalog number for you all if you will hold sixty
seconds, (I'm running for DrVicars: 1-800-825-6758, Harris Communication DrVicars: 1-800-767-4461, Sign Enhancers DrVicars: 1-800-475-4756, Sign Media Inc. DrVicars: I haven't called them in a while so you take your chances with those numbers,
(but DrVicars: Okay, that wraps it up for tonight's lesson. [Various discussion] DrVicars: You all have a good night now. Lii: You have a SUPER week. Thanks for everything. Monica: What sets off the light when the baby cries? Noise? DrVicars: Right Monica! Art: Good night Daniel: You too. Good night all. DrVicars: The device has a sensor that detects sound. When the noise level is
loud enough the Monica: Thanks! DrVicars: Okay have a nice night, any other questions, feel free to email me. Monica: Good night DrVicars: bye. Closing "Chat Log #7" |