Teaching American Sign Language for beginners, this short film covers letters of the alphabet, numbers, colors, grammar, fingerspelling, and a few common signs. Expressive and enthusiastic instructor Clarissa Story strives to make learning sign language fun, later working with a hearing-impaired individual to demonstrate signing. Signs are only presented once using a mirror view in which the instructor uses her left hand to illustrate the alphabet and numbers but encourages use of the dominant hand for fingerspelling out words. While Clarissa signs clearly, she also moves through signs fairly quickly, and the instruction does not allow for repetition of the sign or any practice. She also illustrates how to use facial expressions—especially moving the eyebrows up or down—along with signs to convey yes/no and "w" questions such as what, where, and who. And she covers common signs for "name," "slow down," "hard of hearing," "don’t understand," and more. When Clarissa practices signing with a hearing-impaired individual, she signs in full sentences, challenging the student to interpret the signs. This would have been a better film with more repetition and a slower pace, and a short quiz at the end is good but only tests a few signs. Still, this should be considered a strong optional purchase. Aud: J, H, C, P. (T. Root)
American Sign Language Made Easy: ASL for Beginners—ABCs, Numbers & Everyday Signs
(2018) 30 min. DVD: $34.99. DRA. TMW Media Group. PPR. Closed captioned. Volume 34, Issue 3
American Sign Language Made Easy: ASL for Beginners—ABCs, Numbers & Everyday Signs
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