My 12 year old daughter is very interested in learning sign language. I searched the bookfinder and found “Signs for His Glory”. It looks very interesting. I was wondering if someone who has used it could give me a little more information about it.
What is your daughter’s interest in sign language? Is she wanting to incorporate signing into her worship(wonderful idea and fun, too) or she wanting to communicate with the deaf(again, a wonderful idea and fun, too)? I ask because I have some experience with both and have taken some community college courses.
Signing a song and signing for communication with a deaf individual are different. It sounds like that book would be good for songs. Some good ones to get an introduction to ASL(American Sign Language) are : A Basic Course in American Sign Language and the Joy of Signing. Just as with any foreign language, if you can get her some exposure(be careful due to age) with a native speaker that will help as she goes along. There are also cultural things to consider, aspects of how they view their community, etc. that are different than their hearing counterparts even in the same geographic location. Also, if she studies this over the next couple of years you can count it as a foreign language for High School.
Just some thoughts, feel free to email me off-list if you have specific questions. This has been an interest of mine since I was in the 8th grade. Let’s just say that was a while ago 🙂 .
They have some free lessons that you can work through at your own pace.
As Jone mentioned, you will get so much more out of any foreign language study if you can connect with a native speaker/signer. You might check with churches in your area and see if any have a deaf ministry.
Thank you ladies for your suggestions! You have given me some great ideas & resources to check out.
At this point, her goal is to incorporate signing into her worship. Do you think it would be difficult to translate that skill into communicating with the deaf if she developed an interest to do that as well? I don’t know much about sign language and I’m not sure how those two skills (worship signing vs. communication with the deaf) are different.
Do be aware when using ASL for high school credit that not all colleges will accept it as a foreign language. So for some schools you’d still need two years of another language. I don’t know why it’s that way, but it is.
Good point Bookworm, unfortunately, they don’t all see it as a foreign language. I don’t know why either. How much more foreign can you get?!
Hey, great link Sonya. I’ll have to check it out further. I haven’t done as much with signing lately as I would like.
Toni, much of the difference lies in the sytax/grammar involved. The signs are usually the same, but you “translate” differently for the two and there are differences in where you locate the signs. She would be able to carry over what she learned for worship singing to communication if the interest is there. I don’t think it would be detrimental at all as long as she sought out others to help in those areas. Checking with local churches is a great idea. I got some great help and experience that way. I hope she enjoys her journey.
Thanks for the additional information. Our summer break seems to be flying by and I am working to complete my planning for the beginning of a new school year.
Have a great 4th of July weekend!
Toni
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