Merry Christmas Largesse

As it has done for the past 15 years, the Sertoma club of Columbus threw a Christmas party for the deaf and hard of hearing students at Key Elementary today. I was lucky enough to help chaperone. What a true delight.

The format is predictable for the students and the teachers: pizza and soft drinks, cake and cookies, candy canes and a gift to take home. Stale? Never! Students anticipate the party each year...usually beginning in August as they return to school: Mrs. Whiteside, you remember Santa? The Sertoma secret to success? Santa Claus communicates with the students in their native language: American Sign Language. That's a pretty special Santa! (You may view video WTVM's report of the event here.)


I wrote earlier this week about the challenges of fund raising for civic clubs. And, yes, I was a bit grumpy about the Exchange club circus across from our house. But I was reminded today about why these clubs work so hard to raise money. They surely paid it forward with their largesse. Now it's my turn.

Resources: Online Virtual Sign Language Dictionaries

Not a comprehensive listing, but these sites are excellent:

ASLPhabet - Currently a prototype -- animated ASL dictionary for children
ASL Pro - Extensive American Sign Language Dictionary
ASL University - dictionary and ASL curriculum
Embe Outreach - Academic subjects ASL Dictionary
Environmental Science Pictionary - RIT
Germs Pictionary - RIT  -- currently inaccessible
Math and Science Sign Language Lexicon - Rochester Institute of Technology (new site)--currently inaccessible
RIT Science/Math Sign Lexicon - Rochester Institute of Technology (old site) --currently inaccessible
Signing Savvy - limited free visits and enhanced (fee-based) membership; handy custom lists for members
Space and Astronomy Pictionary
Succeed HI - Signing Science Dictionary - by Shodor
Texas Math Sign Language Dictionary - by Texas School for the Deaf
Signing Science Dictionary - TERC - ASL and SEE Science Dictionary for Elementary Students

British Sign Language
Learn BSL - for toddlers

Interactive Multimedia ASL Vocabulary

I am keenly interested in vocabulary development for all students, but especially for those who have limited access to the informal language-learning opportunities commonly afforded most children through exposure to ordinary conversation in the home: deaf children. In looking for a way to make vocabulary aquisition motivating, meaningful, and permanent for my deaf
students, I created American Sign Language (ASL) multimedia storybooks and interactive game-like instructional activities based on popular children's literature.


My students interacted with the books for five weeks during speech therapy sessions. Not only did they improve their understanding of the words taught, transfer that learning to their everyday lexicon, and demonstrate understanding of the stories, but they also loved interacting with the words within the multimedia activities. Their excitement in learning words with technology was inspirational for this old lady!

Building Schema with Vocabulary and Vocabulary with Schema

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This PowerPoint is a very quickly thrown together example of an introductory language lesson that I use with my deaf/hard-of-hearing students. I like to use digital video animations of interesting children's storybooks for small group language lessons. These digital stories offer numerous opportunities to develop rich schema, vocabulary, word play, imagery, sequencing, syntax, narrative discourse, and comprehension strategies. I used this particular slide show to introduce the target vocabulary and concepts -- animal families, members of categories, and animal homes -- that would appear in the video.

The PowerPoint was very easy to put together and provided a nice, but static, foundation for the charming story, Over in the Meadow (Langstaff). That video can be found on the Scholastic DVD The Wheels on the Bus. My students enjoyed the very short video (less than ten minutes long)several times, and, as such, had multiple exposures to the new words and concepts.

To make the lessons more child-directed, dynamic, and powerful, I plan to video tape a sign language interpretation of the text and will then use Windows MovieMaker to create an ASL accessible video for my students. In addition, I will use either PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat, or a Web site to create interactive game-like activities for them to practice associating word meaning with the new words. They have done this same activity with Good Night, Gorilla (Rathman). Besides being delighted to have the ASL interpretation which they could control, they paid rapt attention to the lessons and left the speech therapy sessions spontaneously using the new words. So, they went beyond acquiring meaning (receptive) to meaningfully using (expressive) the words in connected language.



While the PowerPoint does provide attractive graphics, text, animations, and sound effects, if used without the situated context of the storybook, I believe that my students' experience would have been rather flat and the effects transient.