How to Succeed in ASL Class

[SasoriNoDannaLova]

ahahaha!!! i like the girl in the middle when they say avoid eye contact! She's reading a book! haha!

[BrianaBelton]

XD haha. i do all this in my asl class :)

[Reprovedhornet]

I'm Deaf This is bad Advice to the interpreter student . hey guys on video show. offer you join jehovah witness. :-)

[contron]

CINDY is my favorite! Love her! :)

[signer3130]

I love it... going to start showing these to my ASL students at the beginning of the semester!

[yayadane87]

to all you people bashing the video: this was supposed to be made as a "how to" parody... it's NOT supposed to be taken seriously. in fact, it was my ASL teacher who suggested the class watch this...because guess what?...it's funny! duh. stop being negative about stuff that shouldn't matter. where's your sense of humor??

[ihearyourhands]

this is not funny. doing those things are not funny if you live in silent world. its considered rude to cover mouth when talking in front of a hearing impaired and not a joke for any of those things staged for entertainment.

[PseudoKitsch]

This is entirely sarcasm. They understand that it isn't funny in real life and that's why they're making fun of it here, so people know that when you do it in real life, you look like an idiot and a jerk.

[liketohavefun2007]

didn't like the video at all.

[ihearyourhands]

me either, to the hearing it may be funny but for the hearing impaired it is a joke and sarcastic to our reality.

[RoyalSongstress]

This is awesome! Last week in ASL class, we learned about responsive/expressive listening. Our teacher was saying he could always tell when we didn't get it from the blank looks on our faces. Plus, there are many people in our class who look at the Alphabet sheet to spell words. And who whisper to each other. :D

[hosannatheking]

This was so FUNNY!

[Banerika]

Maybe you should put a "comedy disclaimer" in the more info section, stating that what you are really advising is the opposite, just so it's not misinterpreted. Or refer people to The Coda Brothers vlog entitled, "What Deaf People Love about Interpreters" to see a similar example of sarcasm--saying the OPPOSITE of what you mean for comic effect. Then perhaps it won't be as confusing, because it's very clear that this is just exactly what ASL students should not do! That's *why* it's funny.

[drooooopy]

lol @ 'stare blankly at teacher'!

[hrdcrcthlc101]

lol... this is really funny, i took two years of sign language in high school and i had one girl in my class that would call her boyfriend every morning to wake him up, she would call him put her phone in her purse and turn it on speakerphone. she would then lay her head down and talk to him the entire class period. there was only 9 of us in the class, how she never got in trouble is beyond me...

[firegirlemtcop]

LOL this was great. I'm just finishing my 1st semester in ASL with a Deaf teacher and we totally have 3 people who do this stuff. It was great last week when they got called out by the teacher!

[RainBirdLori]

That was sooooo funny! Best parts were Cinfy and her nose! lols

[zarhad]

very cute video, really well done

[TomWyn123]

rofl "Cinfy"

[hornplayer69]

This was funny , it reminded me of when i took an ASL class.... too bad this is raelly common , alot of people dont take it seriously and talk when the teachers back is turned. Which is annoying cuz then no one learns.

[TenksDrinks]

Lol, that was sooo funny, it looks like some people seem to have trouble understanding sarcasm. But personal I thought that was a hilarious video. good work!

[aznrailroad]

LOL myDiesel. do you know a joke when you see one? hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha­hha

seriously though, its a joke. chill out.

[bluedude4256]

You mean to say that you like the video because it shows what you shouldn't do, right? Sometimes comments of your type can be misconstrued as a criticism.

[pvpa1]

FABULOUS!!! I showed that to my ASL 103 teacher (who also teaches 101) and she loved it! Thanks for making us all laugh!!

[Climber656]

This is absolutely great! Some of it is too true.....

[nolitafaerietale]

This is HYSTERICAL. This is exactly like my ASL class...though, "Cinfy" was a good fingerspeller compared to some I've seen.

My poor teacher. :(

[MamaCatCat]

lol Cinfy

[luvmy2gals]

lol this is SO my class

[JesusMyTruLuv]

HHAHAHAHHA omg... this was totally how people were in asl class. haha it's not meant to be disrespectful, it's just the truth of how people in sign are

[lilolovesmilo]

this is a very cute video!!! i dont think it is meant to be disrespectful...as an ASL student...that is pretty much how it goes in class!!!!!

[luvmy2gals]

lololololol

[jenloesem]

this is really dumb ---it is not to make fun of ---very rude--

[ZodiakGrizzlyBear]

Cinfy?

Lol, too funny! Made me laugh!

[evilorangelava]

that was .... not right

[tagger812]

THAT was funny hahaha

[debcrn]

Sorry to be a downer, but according to Deaf Culture etiquette rules, this is considered very impolite and rude. It should not be done if all people in the room are hearing. and their is no interpreter in the room.

[artzygrrl]

What's rude? Not SimComming? It's perfectly normal for ASL classes to be all manual.

[debcrn]

This is truly cute. As an ASL student, (actually an Interpreter student), I knew exactly how you all felt. We have a student in class that text messages during class time. She even thinks the teacher doesn't know. Ha ha ha.

[krazy2321]

Funny video. Well done, whoever you are.

[dunnoson2007]

HILARIOUS!!

[UMnet]

Hahahahha.

[AStarner002]

I love this, Deaf comedy!

[brolly2385]

I love this one, I'm hard of hearing, its good to see other people knowing sign language. keep it up! =]

[Brooke2008]

LMFAO love it.

[michaelottinger]

Don't learn fingerspelling!!! lol

"My name's Cin....fy."

[toodty04]

That's funny. Most of that stuff still occurs in my ASL 4 class. Good stuff.

[ceptxj]

mariana is cute, how old is she? lol

[JMGrl4Eva]

SEE and Sign Language are different. SEE (Signed Essential English) is a made up language made to be like Visible English. ASL is an actual language developed naturally. However, I know the feelign about having people think you are ridiculously fast. It is funny...til they get frustrated and don't wish to talk.

[arysmom2003]

TOO much. My class, I swear, was like this at the beginning of the semester, but now all students like to sign in ASL.

[MrsRBD]

TOO Funny! When I had my class we had SO many people who thought it would be a "cop out" class, so that's why they took it.....and I SWEAR they all looked like that! LOVED IT!!!!! Yes, it WILL be shared!

[trance12]

ROFL

[UMnet]

lol!

[zea6thayec]

that shame..that is shame lol

[snotface7]

my mom teaches asl at a collige. alot of her student take asl becous they think it is not a foreign language so they think it will be easy. the first day of class she tells them that it is not going to be an easy elective and if they think its not for them to leave now. she has lost half her class that way and still ends up with students like on the video.

[yelloweyed]

I have to share this.

[katiemovies]

HAHHA. That was good.

[warhawls06]

OMG!! lol This video is so funny, but most of all TRUE!! I was in ASL for all of High School, 4 YEARS!! I did a lot of that stuff...like, not making eye contact, or not volunteering to share what you did over the weekend and stuff. lol

[borderline18]

I love it! One of them is my ASL teacher. We saw this video in class and it had all of us in stitches, good job really =)

[aleniboy]

yeah, it's so true, you do see that. but I guess the real point is that eventually we all learn! I did the whole 'What did she say thing?' at first, and now I'm a qualified interpreter. but I grew up in a bilingual family and whenever I didn't understand, I just asked my cousins "what did she say?!". old habits die hard sometimes...

[wiggums1]

Ha ha, a friend of mine's an ASL teacher and he has to go through that! But he did say most of his students are okay, but there are some who obviously think that ASL is much easier than a foreign language so they take ASL classes.

[mergfkt]

For me it is, but I also pay attention in class and do out-of-class immersion, like on Youtube. ;) I think it depends on what language your brain is geared to. I'm VERY grounded in English, so Spanish and French (etc) are extremely difficult for me to learn, considering sentence structure and stuff. But ASL is close enough to proper (by-the-book) English that it's a cinch for me! (most days anyway...) :) Great vid, loved it!

[AStarner002]

Umm hello! ASL is not like English and it is not a cinch to learn. ASL is an offical language, seperate and distinct from English. if ASL is a cinch to learn then you are learning Signed English, which is not a language, it just mimics English. ASL does not mimic English at all. ASL is a hard as French, it uses the same sentence structure as French.... Didn't you learn that ASL has roots in France?? Gosh, what the crap are people teaching these days.

[mergfkt]

Proper English is Subject-Description. Proper ASL is Time-Subject-Description. How are those not similar? Forgive me if I have not thoroughly researched French and Spanish sentence structure -- the couple weeks I lasted in Spanish 1 kind of gave me the idea that it was too hard for me to learn.

[bluedude4256]

Um, "proper ASL" is not as rigid as you say it is. But continuing on, "proper ASL" is "topic-description". So if I were to say "hi, my name is kyle and i live in toronto" in ASL, i would sign "HI MY NAME K-Y-L-E, LIVE WHERE? TORONTO".

but deaf people do undersand english word order

[mergfkt]

Just like with English, people don't always sign in proper ASL grammar. However, there IS a grammatical structure, and it's time-subject-description. If there's no time associated, then of course you won't include it, but time always comes first.

And I never said Deaf people don't understand English word order. But it's kind of offensive to learn their native language then mix it with yours and call it good.

[bluedude4256]

True about the first oaragraph.

Second paragraph: Why did you mention "it's kind of offensive to learn their native language then mix it with yours and call it good"?

[mergfkt]

Because that's what you're doing if you sign PSE. Signing ASL signs in English word order is like speaking Spanglish.

[bluedude4256]

Ah, OK

[mergfkt]

After two years of ASL in high school, however, I placed into level 4 (out of 5) at my college through an entrance interview with the head of the ASL and Deaf Studies Department (who is Deaf with a capital-D).

And yes, I do know about Laurent Clerc.

Stop looking for excuses to feel righteous indignation.

[ASL8306]

Interesting.... what was the point?

[wizula]

The point was... to give students in an ASL class ideas of what NOT to do. We, as ASL teachers, have seen each and every one of these behaviors in our class, and we wanted to let our students know that we're aware of them, and to give them an idea of what it looks like, from our viewpoint.

[ASL8306]

Oic.. good. Why would ppl who take these classes do that?? Ignorance..or stupdidity?

[tareya]

i think its stupdidity i am in asl and i see ppl who talk and are being disrespectful to the teacher and they are failing i am one of the few kid who are good

[ASL8306]

Good for you. I know when I first started learning, when I was around Deaf people especially I would never talk, I refused. I think many ppl just don't understand or don't care i guess..

keep up the good work. smile

[aleniboy]

It's not always stupidity and it's not always ignorance -- either of those arguments are too simplistic. Some hearin ppl just get nervous -- but a good teacher will put them at ease and eventually hearing students will get it. If you notice your classmates displaying those behaviours, talk to them about it, don't just sit back and judge.

[ASL8306]

Who said anything about judging? You are right, I'm sure many are nervous. However some are ignorant and yes those who see these ppl doing those things should talk to them about it. you are right. smile.

[tareya]

i dont i sign turn off your vocie to them

[americah]

Very Funny! Good job.