It's About Sign - Teaching ASL to Kids

Getting Started and Continuing Teaching ASL to Kids

2011-03-18T15:48:00.000-07:00

A great series of articles about teaching ASL to groups of children, whether in the classroom or daycare or even at home. Lots of game and activity ideas for strengthening vocabulary and conversation skills.

Starting Out Teaching Sign Language To Groups of Children
Vocabulary Building Games for Teaching Sign Language to Children
Teaching Phrases and Conversation Skills in Sign Language

On Their Own Time

2009-04-20T18:44:00.001-07:00

At the local teacher's store I purchased a 'flip book' of beginner signs. It's a self checking type of flipbook with the answers on the opposite side to the illustration. I've put it out for the kids to look at. i've also issued the challenge:

Each child can learn one new sign a day, teach it to another child, and then both of them report back to me. Then they can enter their name in a draw for friday for a nice treat.

So far VERY positive. Teaching other children is exciting for them, and it reinforces their new signs.

Roll of the Dice

2009-04-20T18:40:00.001-07:00

Just bought an alphabet die! Very excited! We're going to take turns rolling it and then have to come up with a sign that starts with that letter. We're also going to try thinking up as many signs starting with that letter as we can in one minute. The kids enjoy games with a bit of competition, however I feel sorry for the child who rolls Z.

Mortimer

2009-04-10T08:44:00.001-07:00

So all of the classes have been asked to do a 'skit/music/performance' for the opening of some brand new rooms for our program. Of course I want to incorporate some ASL in it as well. I think we're going to do "Mortimer" by Robert Munsch. Everyone can sign most of the words already, and they will have fun acting out the parts! As well, we can have some kids doing 'sound effects' with the sticks we practice rhythms with. Such as the 'thump thump thump' when people walk up and down the stairs. And playing along to his 'bang bang rattle cling clang' song. I'm very excited about this, and hope the kids are too!

Overacting

2009-04-03T08:56:00.000-07:00

In order to learn emotion signs better, as well as practice other signs, we came up with an activity we called "Over acting".

Decide on a sentance to sign. (eg. I ate an apple for breakfast)
Have one person stand to sign the sentance.
Pick another child from the audience to sign an emotion that they have to use while signing the sentance. (eg. happy, excited, surprised, sad, angry, sick)

This activity ends up with lots of laughing and dramatic acting!

It's about Family

2009-04-02T08:25:00.000-07:00

We took a little long, I think, in our class to learn family signs. I wish now that we'd introduced them earlier. Ce'la vie.

Once we learned family signs we started activities such as sitting in a circle and going around describing a family member.

eg. My brother has brown hair
My mother has glasses
etc.

There's lots of games and activities that family signs can be introduced into, be creative!

What's Wrong?

2009-04-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

This activity requires a bit of ASL vocab, but it's extremely flexible as to what that vocab is. For our class we used it to learn the words "wrong, need, lost, and help".

Sit in a circle and pick someone for the middle. That person goes up to someone in the circle and signs, "Can you help me?"
The second person signs, "What's wrong?"

This can be followed by numerous small sentances such as the examples below:

My foot hurts
I'm sick
My elephant is sick
I need a banana
I need a toilet

Or conversations such as:

My shoe is lost
Your shoe?
My shoe!
What color is your shoe?
Blue.
How big is your shoe?
Big!
I'll help you!
Thank you!

The important thing is to remember that no answer is wrong as long as the kids are signing!

What's In The Box?

2009-02-28T06:15:00.000-08:00

This game is super fun for the first 20 or so times, but then loses it's charm and has been put on the back shelf in our classroom. I call it "The Monkey in the Box".

The Monkey in the Box - The kids sit in a circle. You hold a big (bigger is better) box in your lap. (And empty giant cereal box worked for us) All the kids chant and sign along:

"What's in the box?
What's in the box?
Who knows what's in the box?"

Then you pass the box to someone in the circle and they sign something that might be in the box. (Eg. An elephant)

An elephant
An elephant
An elephant in the box
Take the elephant out...
Now what's in the box?

And it gets passed to another person. Lots of fun, and everyone will want a turn.

Names

2009-02-27T18:12:00.000-08:00

Fingerspelling takes some time for kids to get with any degree of speed. Playing games really helps with this, especially spelling kid's names!

-Name Game - Standing in a circle, have one child pick a person and spell their name. When that person recognizes their name they raise their hand, then they get to spell someone else's name. A simple game, but it holds everyone's attention as they are excited to see if it's their name being spelled.

-Guessing Game - Everyone gets a flashcard with a word on it, then sits in a circle. The first person finger spells someone's name and then signs the word. The person they named has to say the word out loud once they recognize it. This game helps kids pay attention because they have to watch and see who's being called.

What's the Weather...

2009-02-08T14:52:00.000-08:00

Learning the sign for "What " has opened a lot of doors for us in terms of what activities and words we learn. We've recently learned weather signs, Cloudy, windy, rain, snow, sun, hot, cold, dark, etc. This allows us to ask each other about the weather and practice signing that way. Flashcards with pics would be a good idea too, should I have time to make them!

Flashcards

2009-02-07T06:41:00.000-08:00

Flashcards have become a big deal in our ASL group. We play games with them, do reviews etc. I printed them out and then glued them on stiff paper and cut them out. Some of the games and activities are below:

Can I Have...? Everyone gets a flashcard word and someone stands in the middle. Everyone in the circle does their sign and the person in the middle picks someone and signs "Can I have.._____" They switch words with that person and take a turn in the middle. Everyone always wants to have a turn!

Make up a Sentence: Everyone takes a word and thinks of a sentence they can sign that includes that word. Some are very simple like "I like cats" but other kids get creative. I find having kids volunteer when they've thought up something is better than going around the circle in order, because then you don't put anyone on the spot and have to wait a long time for them to come up with something.

Guessing Game:One by one the tin goes around and the kids pick a sign. They sign the word and everyone puts up their hand when they know it, trying to compete to see who can get it first, or just for fun.

Finger Spelling: The kids take turn picking signs from the tin and then finger spelling the word. Everyone tries to be the first one to read the word and recognize it.

There's tons of things that can be done with flashcards so be creative!

Emotion Motion

2009-02-06T21:33:00.000-08:00

Some of the funnest signs we've learned are the emotions: happy, sad, angry, sick, surprised, tired etc. We've done games with them such as "Simon Says", or "If your happy and you know it". Then we learned "How Are You?" and we'd go around the circle asking each other how we were, then answering. The kids especially had fun signing out and acting sick. Definately some over acting.

Do the Hokey Pokey...

2009-02-06T06:24:00.000-08:00

After learning the signs for right and left, we decided to play the Hokey Pokey using the signs we'd learned about the body. At first it was a bit awkward because we were all signing and at the same time trying to put our left hand in and out...but then we switched to having me sign and them all sing. This way it was more of a sign 'reading' exercise rather than everyone practicing. It turned out to be a bit crazy but lots of fun!

Reading Sign

2009-02-05T18:15:00.000-08:00

Although I wasn't sure if my kids were too old or not, reading books with sign has become a fun activity for our class. We either take turns (one person for each page) or do it all together in a circle. As we read each page we also sign along to any words we know. It's fun to let the kids compete to see who can recognize a word we know the sign to first. It's also great for review of old signs we haven't used in a while.

Can I Have?

2009-02-03T09:37:00.000-08:00

Trying to get the kids to use ASL in the classroom is a challenge. Mostly they just don't remember. But in an effort to get them signing we learned classroom words like "Pencil, glue, paper, book, etc" Then we learned "Can" and "Have".

Sitting in a circle we give everyone either a pencil, glue, paper, book, pen or felt. Then we go around the circle giving everyone a turn. The first person asks someone else (in sign) for whatever they have, and they switch items. Then the next person asks someone else for what they have, and so forth. This game can include colored felts and then they have to be asked for "purple pen" etc.

The kids love each having a turn, and for the shy ones they can "pass" and opt out. (But they still get to trade if anyone wants what they have, so they're still involved).

Playing Doctor

2009-02-02T09:19:00.000-08:00

When the kids got tired of "Simon Says" we started playing "Dr. Simon Says". We learned words like "sick, hurt, foot, arm, hand, face, head, body, ear, nose, back, eye" etc. And then we'd do, 'Simon says my foot hurts' and they'd have to act it out. The kids loved it!

We'd also play a circle game called "Doctor" where a child would stand in the middle and ask (sign) someone in the circle "What's wrong?" The person would then sign something like "My head hurts" and the child in the middle would have to act like their head hurt. Then they'd pick someone else to tell them what hurts and they'd act out both. In the end they would be pretty much pretending everything hurt, which made for some hilarious endings!

It's About Games

2009-02-01T08:57:00.001-08:00

Kids love games, so learning sign via games seems to work the best for our class. Half the time the kids don't realize they're learning signs as they play. We have to be careful, however, to make sure everyone can participate in the games including those who haven't picked up a lot of signing and those that don't want to be put on the spot. "Games that have the 'it' person being voluntary and where the kids can use either a single sign or a whole sentence work best.

Simon Says" is a great one to start with. Words like "dance, play, walk, run, sing, fall down (carefully), sit down, and fly" work great. Later on you can even add emotions like "be angry, happy, sad..." etc. Or "walk sad, run happy" etc. We got creative after a while (once we'd learned animals) and did things like "Be an angry rabbit, "a sad crocodile", and so forth.

Although some of the kids were against it, we also tried some songs with sign. "Old Macdonald" and "If Your Happy and You Know It" worked pretty good.

Making it Natural

2009-02-01T08:53:00.000-08:00

When we first started learning signs I thought it might be best if we could use them day-to-day. So we learned words like: please, thank-you, yes, no, more, sit down, quiet, sorry, bathroom, help and eat. The kids were quick to start using these words during snack or outside time, they especially liked being able to ask to go to the bathroom from across the room. I still encourage the kids to use sign whenever they can in our routine, especially outside of our ASL time.

Why?

2009-01-29T20:52:00.001-08:00

Why teach ASL to hearing children?

Even after they learn enough of a spoken language to be understood, children are still figuring out how to communicate. Social nuances, unspoken gestures and double meanings are lost on them. I teach grade 2 and 3 in an after school program and our curriculum includes outside play, snack, art, movie, games and drama. Why include ASL? I can't honestly say they will get a chance to use it, although they might run into someone who is deaf and be able to communicate. I guess I just have a huge love for ASL as a way to express myself, and I have a desire to share that with the kids. It's an amazing thing to be able to 'say' something with your hands. The kids love learning more and more signs and practicing on each other. It's like a secret code for them. And I enjoy teaching them that there are other cultures and differences between people. When I have my own children I am definately going to teach them to sign.

The Alphabet

2009-01-29T19:55:00.000-08:00

When I first began teaching ASL in my class I thought I'd start with the alphabet. The kids were pretty excited to learn and picked it up pretty fast. Or so I thought. I found that when I was leading them in the ABC song, and signing along, they all were pretty confident. However, when I tried to have them sign words one-on-one they were less sure. After a week of practice we were all pretty tired of singing.

I decided to play games instead. Here are a couple we came up with:

The Alphabet Circle Game
Everyone sits in a circle. The first person signs 'A', the second 'B' ... etc.
The second time round everyone signs two letters of the alphabet in order. Then three.
The way this game plays means everyone has to pay attention so they know what letters they have to sign. You can play it with people getting "out" if they don't know the signs but I found it worked better when the other kids could help the person if they were stuck.

The Name Game
Everyone sits in a circle. Someone starts by finger signing someone else's name. Everyone has to pay attention to see if it's theirs. As soon as someone figures out who it is they put up their hand. The person continues signing the name until that person figures out it's them. Then they get a turn to sign someone else's name.

I also found it super helpful to enlarge a copy of the sign language alphabet and put it up where the kids could practice on their own.

Where it all started...

2009-01-29T10:34:00.000-08:00

During a workshop for Out-of-school-care workers I was introduced to the idea of teaching American Sign Language to children in my care. I lead a room of grade 2&3s and loved the idea of giving them another way to communicate. I took a community class in basic ASL and then began to introduce it in the classroom. It took a lot of planning, many failed ideas, and a lot of perseverance but I now have a working ASL program in my classroom!

While looking for resources online I hit a roadblock. It seems most of the good stuff is only for sale, rather than free to anyone, or in books I have to order online. I decided to start this blog to record my successes and failures and maybe give other teachers / child care workers some ideas.

Hope you enjoy reading about our adventures!