Stress

 I'm starting to become frustrated with my project. The other people that I hear working need no preparation. For example if someone is singing a new song they aim to hit the notes. They can correct themselves within a few pracices. It's the same for piano. If the person playing messes up a key then they start over and correct it. When you sign, you have to practice one sign a few times just to get it down, it so much work to learn a sentence and then the next time you go to sign it you might have to correct yourself yet again because there are so many motions that are similar you have to make sure you have the correct motion. Other people want me to sign during their project where they sign and that's stressful if they don't know what they are singing at this point there's no chance I'll be able to teach myself the signs for there music and have all the signs correct. 

Update

I haven't blogged in a while so I have a few updates! 

1) I had an amazing time in France! Tyler and I actually talk about our projects a lot. He helped me come up with a few idea for my final project! I really like the concept of signing while Brian sings, but I'm a little bit bummed out that he changed his song choice because Hallelujah took a lot of time to learn and I still have to improve it. So I think I might sign the song as my own final project.

2) I want to improve my basic signing skill so I can talk more with the new student although that's extreamly challenging! I'm watching YouTube videos to help me get better and more fluent! 

3) I'm extreamly nervous about the Ted talk! I am going to need to do a lot of work to get to a point where I won't feel sick talking in front of so many people! I can hardly read in class. Although I think I can do it. I'm going to practice, but how do I do that? 

 

ASL Inspiration

  This weekend I took a break from learning Hallelujah to try and memorize signs that would help in conversation. Surprisingly the lyrics from the song made learning basic conversation signs a lot easier! Even though I won't use all the signs from Hallelujah in a conversation some connecting and describing words could be useful.

  Recently I've been thinking about ways I could make my project more meaningful. Even though I haven't met the new student yet, eventually I think it would be like to teach some people that he might run into a few signs to make him feel more comfortable in a new school! I watched a video where a hearing-impared man's entire town learned ASL to give him a perfect day. He was moved to tears. It was so beautiful and inspiring. It was a video by Samsung to promote their new call center for the hearing-impaired. They want to "create a world without barriers".

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2988285/Deaf-man-moved-tears-discovering-entire-neighbourhood-learned-sign-language-talk-Turkey.html

  If I could do something even remotely close to this for the new student, I think it would be a great welcome to UEHS! It would show how amazing our school can be! I'm really excited about this and I think after Monday when I meet the new student I'll know more and be able to further my idea's and see where I will be able to take it, if it's possible. I would love for more people to be interested in ASL and making a student feel welcome in the process would be amazing.

20% Day Calibration

 Today I worked on a calibration with Will Brennan, Brian Harris and Lydia Griffin! It was really cool because I was signing, Lydia and Brian were singing and Will was playing the piano. 

 After we all showed each other our progress with our own work! It was a really awesome 20% day because I got to sign to people who hadn't seen me sign before so they were more interested in what I was doing! I also got to see my friends progress and I'm happy to see how well their projects are coming alone. (Brian has the voice of an angel!) We took at lot of videos and pictures for our blogs and for snapchat.

Signing Hallelujah

 I'm so excited because I've FINALLY mastered the first verse of Hallelujah and have moved on to learning the second verse!! I've been practicing so much by signing the song to everyone in my house as soon as I learn how to sign the next lyric. I practice when I'm at school too by signing to my friends. I've been able to learn up to "overthrew you". It's hard to sign this song because there aren't exact translations. I've been trying my best to match the correct signs with the words without exact translations. I plan on making a video to show my progress sometime during the next week! 

YouTube Videos

 I've spent many hours today and throughout the past few weeks watching ASL videos on YouTube. 

 The music videos I've seen are very inspiring. American Sign Language is truly an art form. It's beautiful and so expressive. I've learned that different people have different sign styles and it's interesting to watch how the styles vary! I love when the person signing uses humor to make the video more exciting for the audience. 

 I've also been watching how-to videos. I'm trying to improve the signs that I've learned so far and/or to help me better understand a sign if the apps on my phone aren't clear enough for me.

 Lastly I've been watching lesson videos on YouTube. I've been searching for a teacher that I really like but I can't seem to find one that makes me keep coming back to their page. I hope to find a person that inspires me on YouTube, soon! 

 I have so many questions that I want answers to. I know YouTube cannot answer all the questions I have so I'll be sending an email to the BHS ASL teacher to hopefully I'll have a teacher on and off YouTube! 

Just found the most insane ASL video!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P0HnaxfyUxk

More Songs and Favorite Signs

 I've almost mastered the song Bad Romance by Lady Gaga and I'm excited to say that I've started learning other well known songs. I've learned a lot of the lyrics to Stacy's Mom by Fountians of Wayne. The signs to Stacy's mom are really easy to pick up on because the song is so repetitive but also because the signs aren't as complicated for the lyrics to Stacy's Mom as they for other songs I'm trying to learn. The song Hallelujah by Jeff Burkely on the other hand is extremely difficult to learn. Many of the signs have more than one motion and that makes it difficult to sign at the same pace of the song. I would really love to be able to sign Hallelujah because when you watch someone sign the lyrics it's mesmerizing and beautiful. 

 Hallelujah is one of my favorite words to sign. I also really like signing the words, wrong, everything, free, broken, walk, bitch, ugly, brother and love. I'm sure as I continue to sign my favorite signs will change but for now these are the signs I find interesting. Although my absolute favorite sign is hallelujah. It's a sign with four motions and when it's signed to a song you have to sign the motions at the same pace the part of the word each motions corresponds with. It's more complicated than it sounds. It's fun to signs and so beautiful. 

Signing Stilloe

 I'm so excited to have a topic selected for my 20% Project (learning ASL) that I am passionate about!

 I have already downloaded five apps on my phone to help me learn. My favorite one is called ASL Dictionary. It's so awesome because you can search any word you want to know, then the app gives you written instructions and a video that you can follow along with.

 My ASL Dictionary app helped me learn how to sign the song Bad Romance by Lady Gaga. The song came on my Pandora and I couldn't get it out of my head so I figured why not learn it. Everyone knows the song so it will make it easier for others to follow what I sign if I want to show them! Since I learned it I've been practicing in my mirror! I dance all around my room and get super into the signing. I feel like that helps me remember the signs better if I practice to a song.

 On YouTube there are tons of videos of people signing songs. They even have a video to Bad Romance. Watching the videos on Youtube was also huge help when I was trying to learn the song. Look At Me Now by Chris Brown ASL Translation (on YouTube) is absolutely AMAZING, it's one of the best signing videos I've seen so far. Sign Language is so intriguing. Totally incredible to watch.