The Amazing Discovery

​If you want to see this ASL thing in action in an ESL classroom, check out this video, Amazing Discovery from Daddy Ross Preschool, on YouTube. Val is from Argentina and her first language is not English. Being a seasoned ESL teacher of young children, she has always used gestures faithfully in her teaching but she was also looking for something else that might help in her teaching.
 
When she came across information about using ASL with hearing toddlers, she decided to do an experiment with her two preschool ESL classes (morning and afternoon). With one group she kept using gestures as she had always done. With the other group, she started using ASL signs instead of the gestures she had previously used.

The transformation was unbelievable as you will see when you watch Val’s  YouTube video! She found that the ‘groups who used ASL were more focused, relaxed, comfortable and active in the class from beginning to end’. Val also stated that the ASL group ‘learned faster and took advantage of that by doing three times more games or activities in the first class’.
 
The difference I saw in the groups was that the ASL group gained self-confidence, even the shyest little girl! I have adapted what Val terms an ‘Instant Flashcard’ on students’ hands. Can you imagine that your students would always have their ‘flashcards’ with them?
 
The lesson that Val uses in the YouTube video is from Genki English, Vegetables Theme, which is also a great tool for teaching ESL! Genki’s creator, Richard, calls ASL the ‘Magic Bullet’!
 
Val taught herself the signs but, hopefully, my soon-to-be released book American Sign Language as a Bridge to English, will be a huge help for other teachers learning ASL. There are four parameters to every sign and, sometimes, two signs might vary only by one of the parameters, such as LIKE and WHITE. The Palm Orientation, Location, and Movement are exactly the same and the Handshape is the only difference. LIKE uses the ‘8-hand’ and WHITE uses the ‘5-hand’. My book teaches signs using the handshapes which helps correct simple mistakes in signing.