In a message dated 1/25/2008 6:56:52 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
slfink@ writes:
I have been studying your site for a while and trying to absorb
your method. I am going to be teaching my first ASL course to
children in the fall (previously I've just been on the interpreting
end of things).
In your discussion of the method, you give the noun "city" as an
example of how you teach new vocabulary--OK, find a picture of a
city on the internet and paste. No problem. However, in sitting
down to work on the very first lesson, I am immediately stumped.
Almost none of the words in Lesson 1 can be easily pictured (except
student and teacher).
How do you make slides for concepts which are not nouns? What
guidelines are helpful in making such slides? Print a copy of a
photo of you signing the word (from your dictionary)?
Please forgive me if the answer is somewhere on the website
already.
Feel free to simply direct me to a link if that is the case. I did
check the FAQ first and try to search on this topic, but I was
unsure of the correct keywords.
Thank you so much for making this resource available. I hope to
improve greatly over the 95% English, 5% ASL old method I was taught
by.
…
I was thinking that it sure would be nice to see one of your ppt
files for an example (perhaps just Lesson 1). I would still like
to submit this idea as a help to ASL teachers.
However, I thought of something else. Have you considered dropping
ALL of your PowerPoint presentations on a CD and selling it? Say
for
$100?
I would buy it in a moment! I'd like to spend less time on the
mechanics of constructing the ppt files and more time on learning
how to apply your method in the classroom, preparing and practicing
the
dialogues, etc.
Thanks,
Sherrill Fink
Sherrill,
The question is, "How do we teach abstract
concepts (verbs/adverbs/adjectives) effectively?"
Let's discuss chocolate for a moment.
Both the English word "chocolate" and a picture of chocolate link in
your brain to an area of gray matter that houses your underlying
cognition (understanding) of the substance we call chocolate.
Many instructors feel that by showing students a
picture of
"chocolate" is somehow a better teaching method than showing
students the word "chocolate" in English.
What do we mean by "better?"
Is using a picture faster
than using a student's native language? No. It
takes about the same amount of time to show either the word or the
picture.
Is using a picture more
clear? No. Students are more likely to
misunderstand your point. They might think you are teaching the sign
"candy." They might get distracted by other elements of the picture
like the "box" the chocolate is in.
Is it easier to prepare a
picture based lesson? No. It takes much more time
to edit and assemble pictures than it does to type words.
Is using a picture "safer"
than using words? No. Some aspect of the picture
might be offensive to one of your students. (Our students are
diverse.)
The fact is, when it comes to linking a new "sign concept" to a
student's underlying cognition—text is a much more effective tool
than using pictures. That is because text is a form of "language"
and language is used by humans to efficiently organize and refer to
concepts.
So, what is the value of using pictures to teach language?
Believe it or not, the reason why pictures are helpful is because
they are HARDER to understand than text. Being harder to understand
makes them more interesting.
Why do people like games and puzzles?
Because you have to "figure something out." You get that "ah ha!"
moment when your brain recognizes a pattern and associates it with
existing knowledge.
Using English text is so effective at linking a new sign with a
student's underlying cognition that the student actually gets BORED!
Pictures
provide a level of abstraction. They provide a micro-challenge.
Students see you do a sign and they see the picture being displayed.
It becomes a brief game. Their brains are desperately racing to
categorize this new sign and associate it with existing knowledge.
They search their brain for the English word that describes the
picture. This leads to an "ah ha!" moment when they think of the
English word and a sense of relief and success that they now know
what area of the brain in which to store this new sign—this new way
of referring to the existing concept of "chocolate.
What if someone suggested that the "best" way to teach the ASL sign
for "chocolate" would be to use the student's sense of taste? They
might argue that tasting is much more interesting and has a much
stronger impact than simply "seeing" a picture. So, should you put
a piece of chocolate in each student's mouth and then show them the
sign "chocolate?" Would that be "better" than seeing a
picture of chocolate?
I'm sure many of the students would think that it was better.
They would raise their hands and ask you to repeat that particular
lesson numerous times. (They would have to taste that "stuff" again
and again to make sure the concept is really clear in their minds.
:)
Obviously, "better" is relative.
It takes a lot of money and time to pass out pieces of chocolate to
each student.
What if you want to teach the concept "diamond?" Are you going to
pass out diamonds?
As teachers we are in the business of providing students with
knowledge and tools to transfer that knowledge to their gray matter.
So we choose our "tools" to fit our concepts.
We show a picture of a "diamond" or we point to the diamond in a
wedding ring.
To teach the color "red" we can point to red objects in the
classroom.
To teach the sign "sit" we can do the action and contrast it with
"stand."
To teach the sign "bowling" we can mime the process.
To teach the word "for" we can write it on the board or display it
in an overhead slide.
Using a Bilingual-bicultural approach to teaching ASL allows us to
capitalize on our students native language in our classrooms.
Sometimes the most effective approach to instruction is to use a
student's native language as a tool to help the student learn the
target language.
-----------------------
Sherrill, I know what you mean about many of those early concepts
not being easy to represent via a picture.
As of right now my Powerpoints start using lots of pictures around
lesson 6. I say "as of right now" because each semester I teach I
add more pictures. My current slides have hundreds of pictures of
"concrete" concepts (like nouns) by next year I imagine I'll have
many more.
I've wanted for quite some time to make them available to the public
on a disk, but since many of the slides contain "googled" material I
didn't want to sell them and thus couldn't afford to give them away
on CDs either.
But requests such as yours have convinced me to upload many of my
powerpoints to my website and make them available at no cost to
whomever they might benefit. The address is:
http://lifeprint.ipower.com/asl101/curriculum/powerpoints/
When you go to that link and then click on whichever powerpoint you
want to download. Note: to download the PowerPoints you might need
to right
click (not left) and choose "save target as..."
Here are some notes:
Note: Some are "huge" and will take many minutes to download. Others
are small.
Note: These powerpoints will be updated and improved often
throughout the semester. I'm constantly working to improve the
site. What you see today will likely be different (improved?) each
week. I am radically rebuilding them this semester due to offering
a "cable" (TV broadcast) version of my ASL 1 course that requires
all of the slides to be my own material (free from copyright
issues).
On a different topic, I recently put together a (large) Powerpoint
slide addressing the rationale for the Lifeprint curriculum. You
can access it at:
http://lifeprint.com/asl101/topics/rationale/index.htm
From that page you can right click on the link and tell it to "save
target as."
Or you can try playing the file in your browser window. On a PC
press the "F11" (function 11) key to expand your window, then click
on the link that says: Lifeprint.com discussion (PowerPoint).
Then you wait 5 or so minutes for it to load (depending on your
connection speed) then you might be able to view it from an internet
window.
Best wishes for your teaching endeavors.
Cordially,
Dr. Bill Vicars