Classroom Resource

ASL Using Classifiers to Describe What Happened

Subject Area

World Languages

Grade(s)

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Overview

In this intermediate low to intermediate-high ASL activity, students will learn about classifiers and their role in telling stories. A detailed PowerPoint is included to walk students through the key grammatical terms taught in this lesson. The PowerPoint also includes links to video examples of classifiers being used to describe accidents in the past as well as tell stories or jokes. After reviewing the resources, students are asked to use their new vocabulary skills to describe an accident or event that happened.

World Languages (2017) Grade(s): 07-12 - American Sign Language

WL17.ASL.L2.1

Communicate and share using American Sign Language on familiar topics with a variety of words, phrases, and simple sentences in the past time frame.

Unpacked Content

UP:WL17.ASL.L2.1

Knowledge

Students know:
  • strategies to expressively ask for and receptively understand directions.
  • strategies to communicate using phrases and simple topic/comment sentences.
  • strategies for asking and answering yes/no and 'wh' questions.
  • strategies to communicate about daily activities and personal preferences using phrases, simple sentences, and/or listing.
  • strategies to describe an event in the past time frame.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • use ASL to gain information to meet basic survival needs, such as locating a bathroom or a place to eat.
  • expressively and receptively communicate on familiar topics using a variety of phrases and simple sentences.
  • ask and answer questions on factual information using the appropriate ASL sentence type with the correct non-manual markers.
  • communicate about their daily activities and personal preferences.
  • describe an event in the past time frame with the correct ASL word order.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • effective communication requires knowing how when and why to say what to whom.
  • the purpose of language study is to communicate so one can understand others and be understood.
  • ASL can be used to engage in conversations to share information.
  • interpersonal communication requires the knowledge of linguistic elements.
World Languages (2017) Grade(s): 07-12 - American Sign Language

WL17.ASL.L2.3

Present information on familiar topics with a variety of words, phrases, and simple sentences in American Sign Language using past or present time frame.

Unpacked Content

UP:WL17.ASL.L2.3

Knowledge

Students know:
  • strategies to present information to an audience or a recording device.
  • ASL vocabulary for people, activities, and anecdotes.
  • strategies/rules to represent the frequency or duration of the temporal aspect of the verb.
  • familiar ASL anecdotes.
  • strategies to present anecdotes, including conversations, using body shifts, contrastive structure and spatial referencing.
  • strategies/rules to present information in the past or present time frame.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • present to an audience or recording device basic information about people and activities using words, phrases, and simple sentences.
  • recite to an audience or recording device brief memorized anecdotes using target vocabulary and grammar.
  • use the past or present time frame to present information.
  • present some verbs showing duration and frequency correctly.
  • produce high frequency words and vocabulary words to present information.
  • present familiar anecdotes with accurate representation of information through body shifts, contrastive structure, and spatial referencing.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • effective communication requires knowing how when and why to say what to whom.
  • the purpose of language study is to communicate so one can understand others and be understood.
  • ASL can be used to engage in conversations to share information.
  • interpersonal communication requires the knowledge of linguistic elements.
  • information is often expressed in the target language with live audiences or via recorded devices.
  • the Deaf community has familiar anecdotes which hearing students can also memorize and recite.
  • ASL has past and present time frames.
World Languages (2017) Grade(s): 07-12 - American Sign Language

WL17.ASL.L3.3

Present information on familiar topics to an audience of viewers in American Sign Language.

Unpacked Content

UP:WL17.ASL.L3.3

Knowledge

Students know:
  • strategies to use technology to research different topics to find information.
  • how to use recorded vlogs to express different ideas and concepts that are close to the Deaf Community.
  • the importance of ABC/123 stories in the Deaf Community.
  • how different types of stories/poetry are used to express different emotions via ASL.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • find, explain and demonstrate different classifiers and how they are used within ASL.
  • create a vlog that expresses a short message about topics that students are familiar with.
  • create and express different ASL poems and ABC/123 stories.
  • explain why these different mediums of expression are important to the Deaf Community.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • effective communication requires knowing how when and why to say what to whom.
  • the purpose of language study is to communicate so one can understand others and be understood.
  • ASL can be used to engage in conversations to share information.
  • interpersonal communication requires the knowledge of linguistic elements.
  • different classifiers are used in ways that sometimes do not have a direct, one-word English equivalency.
  • vlogs are used to communicate different thoughts and ideas of great variety.
  • ASL poetry, ABC/123 stories, and other ASL stories hold a great value in the history of ASL and in Deaf Culture.
World Languages (2017) Grade(s): 07-12 - American Sign Language

WL17.ASL.L4.2

Interpret, restate, and react to what is viewed on familiar and new topics.

Unpacked Content

UP:WL17.ASL.L4.2

Knowledge

Students know:
  • target language vocabulary related to daily activities and school related topics.
  • strategies to identify gestures, non-manual markers, visual cues, and selected classifiers to restate the communicate message accurately.
  • strategies to identify and understand cultural nuances in various products.
  • how the expressive products of Deaf culture preserve the language.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • view messages in the target language and restate information about daily activities and school related topics.
  • view messages in the target language and use the information given by gestures, non-manual markers, visual cues, and classifiers to restate information accurately.
  • view expressive products of the Deaf culture and identify and show an understanding of cultural nuances of Deaf culture such as symbolism and signing styles.
  • identify how the products of Deaf culture preserve the language.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • effective communication requires knowing how when and why to say what to whom.
  • the purpose of language study is to communicate so one can understand others and be understood.
  • ASL can be used to engage in conversations to share information.
  • interpersonal communication requires the knowledge of linguistic elements.
World Languages (2017) Grade(s): 07-12 - American Sign Language

WL17.ASL.L4.8

Compare characteristics of the target language and their own language in a variety of time frames and moods.

Unpacked Content

UP:WL17.ASL.L4.8

Knowledge

Students know:
  • strategies to identify and use different categories of classifiers.
  • strategies to identify and use different types of non-manual markers, including mouth morphemes.
  • the temporal aspects used in ASL and English.
  • the grammatical structure of sentences in ASL and English.
  • the formation of similar verbs and nouns in ASL.
  • the characteristics of verbs, nouns and pronouns in ASL and English.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • use different types of classifiers and non-manual markers to represent appropriate concepts.
  • use different types of non-manual markers, including mouth morphemes, to represent appropriate concepts.
  • use various temporal aspects of verbs to represent and compare different aspects of the action.
  • identify and list the similarities and differences in syntax, verbs, nouns, and pronouns in ASL and English.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • by learning another language one can better understand how the native language works.
  • ASL and English are produced in a different modality.
  • ASL is not a signed version of English.
  • the language characteristics of ASL differ from English.
  • ASL word order differs from English word order.
Link to Resource
https://www.oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/80843/overview

CR Resource Type

Learning Activity

Resource Provider

OER Commons
Accessibility
License

License Type

Attribution

Approved Date

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