Classroom Signs
GIVE is a directional sign. This means I-GIVEYOU. If you change the movement toward yourself
it becomes YOU-GIVE-ME. You can also sign with
both hands to GIVE-EACH-OTHER or TRADE.
Help is a directional sign. When using
HELP as a general sign the movement is
straight up. For HELP-ME the
movement is toward your body. For the
sign HELP-YOU simply move the sign
toward the other person. You will learn
many more directional signs later.
If you raise your eyebrows this sign
becomes SHOULD. When you change
the movement to one strong downward
movement the sign becomes MUST.
The sign for SURE is also the same sign
as TRUE and REALLY. Your facial
expressions will change depending on
which meaning you want to convey.
When asking a question it is
important to use the appropriate
facial expression or what is know as
the WH-Face.
Facial expressions are essential in
American Sign Language and you
must learn feel comfortable with
them. Not only do they show
emotions, as you learned in Unit 1, but
they are also used when asking a
question, asking for clarification, and
to show intensity of a sign.
Notice the use of the WH-Face in the following examples asking for clarification.
This is also the sign for DON’T.
You will also see the sign
(two thumbs up) for
YOU’RE WELCOME.
Natural gesture that
is also a sign
The sign for HOME began as
EAT/SLEEP as home is where you eat
and sleep. Over time the sign evolved
to maintaining the same handshape
in both positions.
Here the flat hands
represent two feet
taking steps forward.
With this sign
the fingers
represent the
two legs as
they walk .
Not only can the
fingers represent legs,
but they also
represent the eyes.
Here, two eyes read
the page.
When signing this with a bigger
movement, the sign becomes to
CANCEL.
The sign for student is
LEARN + the agent marker,
which represents a person.
Can you see how the sign
brings the information off
the page and into the head?
Here you see that the information
is coming out of the head to be
given away to others (the sign for
TEACH) and the agent marker is
added to make it a person.
The sign for MISTAKE is very
similar to the sign for WRONG.
Instead of just touching the chin,
the sign twists from right to left.
The question mark can be added to the end of a sentence for emphasis along
with the WH face, especially when a WH question word is not being used.
Just as we saw that HELP is a directional sign, ASK is a directional sign as well.
See how the movement changes direction depending on who is asking whom.
Although FOOD
and EAT are
interchangeable
signs, often you
will see them as a
noun/verb pair.
We will learn
about these later.
What does this
mean?
To-eat
Food
Well… for a verb (EAT) you
sign one big movement and for
a noun (FOOD) you sign it
twice with a smaller controlled
movement.
Cool Information:
The sign for WISH is the exact
same sign as HUNGRY!
CAFETERIA is signed the same way but
with a “C” handshape. NAPKIN is
singed with a “flat O” handshape.
Days of the week can be signed
toward or away from the body
depending on the signs
preceding or following.
For example: LAST
MONDAY you would sign
facing the body. But,
MONDAY YOU DO-DO
WHAT? You would sing
facing away from the body.
Again, facing towards or away
from the body. If the sign
preceding the week day is
already facing the body, you
sign the day of the week facing
you. If the sign before or after
the day of the week is facing
away from the body you sign the
weekday facing away from you.
Another example would be: YOUALL WEDNESDAY TAKE TEST.
Wednesday would be signed
facing forward because YOU-ALL
is a forward facing sign.
Alternate signs for Thursday.
Most commonly used.
FRIDAY I GO STORE
Signed facing since I will be
facing myself.
FRIDAY HE ABSENT
Signed facing away from
self since HE is facing away
from myself.
Got the idea?
Whether you sign the day
of the week facing
towards or away from
your body depends on the
signs around it. Neither
one is more correct; you
sign the one that’s easiest.
This is the sign your book
teaches for SUNDAY.
Another very popular way to
sign SUNDAY is with the
hands moving up and down
facing forward.
Another very popular ASL sign for
KICK-BACK is the two bent index
fingers, one up and one down .
This sign is also used to mean COMPETE
or COMPITION and you will also see it to
mean RUN-TRACK and RACE.
When asking a question it is
important to use the appropriate
facial expression or what is know as
the WH-Face.
The sign for DAY shows the sun moving
across the horizon.
The sign for week moves across the
hand from left to right, just as the days
of the week move across a calendar.
Here you see the sign for week and then
it drops off to show the end of the week
Alternate signs for WHO
Another common sign you will see for
WHAT is the right index finger dragged
across the left open 5 hand.
When you change the handshape to a “V”
this sign becomes VALUE.