Mentor Meeting

I met with my mentor, and it was amazing. After school, last Wednesday, I met with a sign language interpreter here in Midland and she shared with me so much phenomenal information. She gave me work book pages with different common signs to learn, as well a link to a cool website that quizzes you on different common signs (http://www.aslpro.com/).

Along with different ways to learn, she taught me a little about the history of American Sign Language. The two important people who brought sign language to the U.S. were Thomas Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc. Thomas Gallaudet's neighbor was deaf, and he wanted very badly to communicate with her, so he went on a search for sign language. He traveled to Spain, where sign language was prominent, but they wouldn't share the art with him, so he left for France. While in France, he met Laurent Clerc, who shared the art with Thomas. Laurent and Thomas traveled back to the U.S. and began teaching ASL.

My mentor also taught me a lot about the deaf community in Midland, which she is very in touch with. She shared with me some different social events that the deaf community have, with the hope that once I know more than the ABC's and common phrases, I will be able to attend with her.

This meeting got me so pumped. I have some homework to do before my next meeting with my mentor (scheduled tentatively for after spring break), but I  could not be more excited to do it. For once in my life I am actually excited to do homework! This is what learning should be like: fun, exciting, engaging, and entertaining. I'm very thankful for this project. It is allowing me to help explore my love and desire for learning and is making me feel like a little first grader who wakes up excited and ready to learn new things!

As a parting little gift, I'd like to share two things:

• First, a quote from Helen Keller my mentor shared with me: When Helen was asked if she'd rather be deaf or blind, she stated that she'd rather be blind because, "Blindness separates people from things; deafness separates people from people."

While on my pursuit of knew knowledge, I hope to carry this quote with me always. It will serve as some motivation for me and I believe that it will help me be able to relate to the deaf community just a little bit better.

• Second, a video shared with me on Facebook by my sweet cousin, Jenny. The video is of a deaf man and his amazing town. Several of his neighbors took the time to learn common signs to try and make his day, which I most certainly think they did:

This video just shows how nice people truly are. I hope to make someone's day with sign language, like others did in this video!

Until next time (and I'm back from India!),

Piper 

Yay! A Video!

Okay, so in my last post, I said I'd post a video, and well, here it is:

So, I found out that making a video isn't as easy as I thought... I have to refilm myself like 20 different times because I kept messing up... Also, my mom kept making fun of me, which made me laugh, resulting in a failed attempt at a video. After many trials, I finally got one that I would deem good enough to post!

In the video I am (attempting to say) saying, "Hello! My name is Piper. What is your name?" For all of you that might know sign language, please feel free to drop a comment and tell me if I'm actually saying that... If I'm not, I would like to extend my apology to the deaf and ASL speaking communities for my failed attempt. (I actually do think I'm saying what I meant to, but would just like to cover my bases in case I messed up).

The videos that I've been watching have really helped me to learn new vocab words. Though they've helped me with words, I haven't really been able to practice sentences much, which could be a problem down the road when I want to actually be able to have a conversation with someone.

On a brighter note, I got in contact with my mentor! She is a sign language interpreter here in town, so she'll be able to aid and assist me throughout the process. I'm stoked about this because it means that I'll actually be able to begin conversations with others. I'm meeting with my mentor today after school in the library here at Dow! So in about 30 minutes I will be having my first real ASL lesson.

As a part of 20-Time, in order to make it even more of a learning experience, my teacher is requiring us to pick a book(s) to read for 10-15 minutes each day in class that somewhat relates to our project.
The book I chose to read is called I'll Scream Later by Marlee Matlin (http://www.amazon.com/Ill-Scream-Later-Marlee-Matlin/dp/1439171513). It is a memoir written by Marlee, a deaf actress, and highlights here struggles in the film industry. I'm really enjoying it so far and can't wait to keep you all up to date with what I read!

Next week I will be traveling to India with my friend Faith and her family for spring break, so unfortunately, I will be missing 20-Time :( However, my goal is to watch at least one video in the airport either on my way to India, or back home. I am super excited for my trip and can't wait to tell you all about it when I return!

Until then, wish me luck with my lesson and safe travels for my trip!
Piper :)

20-Time Week Two

Well, it's been a long week. As many of you know, your junior year of high school is tough, and this week has been one of the toughest for me. It was the week of the dreaded ACT. I've been stressed about it for a while and am glad it's over, but it has really restricted the amount of time I've had to work on my 20-Time project...

Though I haven't spent as much time as I would like on my project, I did watch the first video from the website that was included in my last post! I learned how to sign many common words like: he/she, yes, no, again, sign, deaf, etc. I also learned question words and how to ask question like "are you deaf?" and "what is your name?" I'm super excited about this because these are great ways to start a conversation, which means I'm one step closer to reaching my goal!

I have also contacted a possible mentor, but she hasn't gotten back to me yet. Hopefully she will soon so I can have someone to help me practice and eventually reach my goal.

Next week I hope to watch at least two more videos. Also, in my next post I'm going to try to post a video of myself signing some common words, phrases, and questions to show off what I've learned.

Until next time...