Welcome to your first lesson: the alphabet and the Pledge of Allegiance

Hello, everyone! As a former teacher and leader of an after school sign language club, I thought it would be helpful to offer free, daily sign language lessons for adults and/or children who are interested in learning sign language. I use a hybrid of ASL (American Sign Language) and SEE (Signed Exact English--used most often in school settings). I am not in any way an expert in sign language, but I am able to teach you hundreds of signs in the way that most of us learn best -- through natural use. I will teach you to sign along to songs, poems and rhymes, as well as teach the origin of many of the signs. My goal is to help you all have fun while you learn. Please send me comments, questions, and suggestions. Welcome! Let's get started! As a kindergarten teacher, I always introduced sign language by teaching the alphabet and the Pledge of Allegiance, so that's where we'll begin.

Fruity Friday

Hello and happy Friday to you! Today I'll teach you some fruit signs. Many of the signs for fruit are done near your mouth. I like to think that they are next to your sweet tooth since fruit is sweet. I didn't include the sign for orange since it is the same sign for the fruit and the color (2 squeezes below your chin), which I showed you on color day.

A fun way to reinforce food signs is to distribute a piece of toy food to each student. Ask students to take turns to stand and sign what they have, as in, "I have *an apple." *(When they are signing, the article "an" is implied and is not signed.) After each student has had a turn to sign a sentence, the teacher can sign "I want (food sign)" and ask the student who is holding that food to silently return it to the basket and sit back down. Continue until all food is collected.

It might seem time consuming to spend 15 minutes of your precious class time teaching sign language, but remember you are also teaching students to use complete sentences, to take turns, and to pay attention. All of these are important preschool and kindergarten skills.

Lions and tigers and bears...oh, my!

Hello! Today I'm teaching just a few animal signs. I thought I'd start with some zoo animals. Remind students that there's no need to make the animal sounds as they do the signs. lol

Add Some Color to Your Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! In today's lesson, you'll learn to sign the colors. I've included signs for gold and silver. I'm getting you prepared so that you will be able to sign some classic books you'll use if you're teaching preschool or kindergarten, such as Cat's Colors and Brown Bear, Brown Bear.

Signs for School

This one's for you, teachers. Practice these signs now so that when school starts, you can confidently teach them to your students. I always tried to set an example by not talking in the hall since the students weren't allowed to talk, so I used signs. I'm also not a big talker, so using fewer words or fewer signs appeals to me. Instead of having to say, "No running." I simply signed, "Walk." Simple, simple, simple. If you can't get a student's attention, clap or stomp. That's what you would do to get a deaf person's attention, so it's not as far out as it sounds. I'm sure I've left out other signs you'll need. Please let me know, by commenting below, if there are any other signs you want me to include. Thanks!

Days of the Week

Happy Monday! It's the Monday after the Super Moon. I'm off today and am anxious to take my friend to do some sightseeing, so my lesson is extra short. I've shown you how to sign the days of the week and given some explanations for the signs. I remember the signs because someone provided analogies for them as I was learning, and I want to help you in the same way. I'd love to hear your feedback! Post a comment!

Opposite Day

Good morning! It's opposite day. I even parted my hair on the opposite side just for grins! In today's video, you'll learn to sign same, different, on, off, in, out, little, big, light, dark, mine, yours, brother and sister. Plus, you can put them together to make a sentence. Don't be shy--practice with a friend. Have a great weekend and I'll see you again on Monday!

Feelings, nothing more than feelings...

Hello! I hope you woke up happy today! In today's video lesson, you will learn to indicate how you are feeling: happy, sad, mad, tired, thirsty, or hungry. YouTube's thumbnail pic for this video is just awful, but it definitely shows a feeling ALL OVER MY FACE! Oh, well, I was just demonstrating and was not actually mad.

Happy Hump Day! In today's video lesson, I've shown you some signs to help you get started if you're going to be working with a group of students. This lesson teaches you how to say "good morning" and "good night." I've also shown signs for family, mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, dog, cat, fish, and bird. After this lesson, you'll be able to ask someone, "How old are you?", although I wouldn't suggest randomly walking up to a deaf adult and asking this question....save it for the kids! In the coming weeks and months, we'll get into more sentence structure and question and answer formats. I'd love to hear suggestions for what you want to learn!

Pledge of Allegiance

Hello again! Today I will teach you the Pledge of Allegiance. This is a great way to start the school year and to learn many new signs.

Welcome!!

Hi, everyone! My name is Jane Dews and I'm a former teacher and facilitator of an after school sign language club. Now that I'm no longer in the classroom, I wanted to have a place where students of all ages could go to learn sign language. By the time my kindergartners finished the school year, they knew hundreds of signs. They learned them through poems, rhymes, and songs, so that's the way I will present them to you on this blog. Many of my followers are teachers, so I want to make it easy for them to teach a little sign language to their class each day. I want this to be an interactive place, where teachers can ask questions, make suggestions for what they want to learn, and to share what their students are doing with regards to sign language. Let's get started! You must know the alphabet first since many signs are initialized, or use the beginning letter of the word as part of the sign.