Posted: November 12, 2009 at 12:43 am | Tags: class, Communication, help, learning, Sign Language
A couple of months ago, our family signed up for a sign language class. This last week, our class focused on the vocabulary we should have learned during our beginning and intermediate classes. The teacher, Karen, is sending an email for us to practice and giving us a website so that we can practice over the holidays.
I have enjoyed our sign language classes. My family practices with me and I can teach my grandchildren. The four year old twins are most anxious to learn the signs. We can talk together.
I have been sick and it hurts to talk. My daughter suggested that I sign to communicate. This has been an exercise which has taught me that I really need to work on learning the signs so that I am prepared.
We are never too old to learn. I have been surprised by what I can understand. And you never know when you will need to use the knowledge you gain. I would not have guessed that the class we took would allow me to heal and still be able to communicate. Mostly, I have to fingerspell (spelling out words using the signing letters). And often, I give up and speak. Tomorrow I am going to be more diligent to use sign language. This is an opportunity for me to grow.
Posted: October 30, 2009 at 3:29 pm | Tags: Brain Connections, Communication, Faith, Health, Sign Language
This month (October) is Women’s Health Month and Breast Cancer Awareness month. As a result, I have been thinking about the women in my life and the health situations that have occurred or are occurring in our family. Some of these situations include memory loss (and brain connection issues), thyroid, ovarian cysts, and fibromyalgia.
About a month ago, our family decided to take a sign language class from the local college. We did this for many reasons. I have always wanted to learn sign language, and we were looking for an activity that our whole family could do together; one of our daughters already knows a lot of signs, and, because of our family health history, we are always looking for ways to build our brain connections.
Sign language has been fun to learn. Now that we are in the advanced class, we must communicate one to another by signing during class. I must admit that I almost didn’t take the class because I worry about being able to remember the signs. In our last class, I became aware of something I discovered a few years ago: I understand more that is spoken in another language than I can speak. The teacher was giving us directions. Even though I didn’t understand all the words, I was able to follow her directions.
Sometimes, our lives are like that. We may not understand each aspect and what is being said, but we have a feeling for what we have to do. We may be unsure at times as we take a step into the darkness, but still, we try to understand what is needed from us.
Taking the class has been good for me. I hope that some day I can communicate with sign language as well as I speak English. There are other languages I would like to learn as well. The more people we can understand, the more we can do to become a family–a family as members of this world.
