Since I am also certified as a teacher of the deaf/hearing impaired, this question was brought up to me at a recent conference. Is it confusing the children to be making up gestures that are not true ASL? In my opinion, absolutely not! When teaching hearing students, we are not teaching them a new language to communicate with the rest of their lives. We are simply providing them a visual, thus utilizing their visual cortex. These are tools to help them remember new information.

If you are teaching a classroom of deaf students, this model would look different. You would have to adapt it to meet your needs. Perhaps you would construct your own pictures using ASL. If you had one student in your class that was deaf, chances are that student would have an interpreter that could wor with you in adapting for that student's needs. If you have a hearing impaired student utilizing amplification, chances are they do not use ASL and would not become confuse with the power pic gestures.

I haven't seen any posts yet on this topic, but I hope I helped any one out there who may have had this question. I was originally drawn into ASL because I had seen deaf children acquire language faster through sign, than I did hearing children through spoken language. The visual aspect made so much sense to me.

Rebecca Crooks
WBT Intern 2011-12

I started in deaf ed when I taught special ed. You are absolutely right about aqui. Many students who are deaf also use "home signs" so the signs from whole brain should not confuse them. When using ASL with hearing children I'd make it clear that this is someones language, just like Spanish or Chinese and we don't make fun or do it I proper.
Annette

rcrooks, it is great to hear your opinion on this given your background. At a recent conference one of our presenters had a teacher with a similar background to yours, but who was adamant that all gestures in WBT should always and only come from ASL. All of us who talked about this situation agreed with you and Annette on this point.

It is good to have support from one who teaches in this arena. Keep up the great work!

Thanks Jeff. I really don't think that teacher got the point.

Just another point of view from someone with a BA in Deaf Education that now teaches hearing first graders If there is an ASL sign I have found it easier for me as a teacher to use that sign when teaching, for example author or addition, but many things are more of a concept like less than or main idea so the whole brain gesture is easier to teach. When I am not sure how to do a power pic gesture or I need a new gesture I find looking at ASL video dictionaries like www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/aslpro.cgi helpful but also think making class gestures with the students very powerful. I think that if we can teach some ASL as we use WBT that adds to the power of WBT but I'm comfortable with ASL, others might not be so making them do ASL does not make sense. hope that all makes sense

Scrap bunny,

Hi there! Are you also a teacher of deaf/hearing impaired? I have a BA in deaf Ed and a masters in special Ed. We seem to have a lot in common. We are teachers, draftees, into whole brain, and now deaf Ed. Pretty cool. We should be able to help each other out this year. What you said makes sense. I do use ASL derived sighns with my students sometimes. Most of the time it is out of habit because that is what I am used to. Well, take care and haveva great start to the new year.

For me teaching student ASL in the ESL classroom is empowering the student to learn another language that will enable him or her to speak with a deaf student or person. I do like some of the non-ASL gestures and use them when nothing else fits or is available. I like to stick to a standard so that when I get new students that were taught ASL, I know immediately which signs to use. I believe it is totally up to the teacher regarding which gestures to use but the benefits of teaching and learning ASL can be highly advantageous.