Tangrams game

Take turns describing a shape/pattern and the other person must place the correct shape in the correct position. (go here for more information)

Books

Work with children’s books and practice signing what you see in the pictures, focusing specifically on the CLs. (One recommended book series is Good Dog, Carl by Alexandra Day).  Books used in the classroom by an interpreter.

Classifier Bucket

Use ice cream bucket with a hole cut in the top, so that mentee can’t see what’s in it. Have mentee feel an object in there, and describe it using CLs.

Descriptions

•  Describe your morning routine
•  Describe how to cook a favorite recipe or meal;
•  Describe different people in catalogs, pictures, family members, etc., go someplace public and describe the people.
•  Describe similar objects. Example: shoes – how are two pair of shoes different? How are they alike? (also try with people, clothing, etc.)
•  Walk through a room and describe everything in it (within reason).

Handshapes

Brainstorm different uses of the handshapes in ASL. For example, do one handshape a day/or week and see how many different uses you can think of or notice in model texts.

Process

Mentee tells of an experience and Mentor repeats it in ASL. They repeat the process until the mentee’s ASL is correct to the Mentor.

Story

•  How did I decide to become an Interpreter?
•  A High School Experience in sports or other activity
•  A lesson from a class I am interpreting in
•  Cooking a favorite meal
•  A horrible cooking mistake!
•  An embarrassing moment

Poetry & Music

•  Share a favorite poem
•  Share a favorite song
•  Recount an ASL poem
•  Recount an ASL song

Descriptions

•  Tell about family members
•  Tell about pets
•  Tell about a person’s personality

Opinion

•  What I like/don’t like to clean
•  Explain an opinion on a current event

Observation

•  Mentee concentrates and finds examples of non-manual markers (expressions on the mouth that have meaning) while the mentor is signing.
•  Mentee makes a note of signs that the mouth marker is replacing. Example: “cha” can
replace the sign “large” or “huge,” and the mouth marker “ee” can replace the sign “right there” or “so close”
•  Mentee spends time on own watching ASL vlogs and finding examples of nonmanual
markers and practices using them in a story and then showing it to Mentor.
•  Mentee provides a list of sentences that the mentor can sign with non-manual markers in it, and mentee can shadow/copy.

Practices

•  Mentee repeats mentor’s story including the non-manual mouth markers.
•  Mentee signs a story about learning to drive a car, (or use other ideas in the above categories) and instead of some signs, replaces them with the non-manual mouth markers.

Sentences to Practice

•  Every house on this block is average size except the one on the end, is a mansion!
•  At Thanksgiving, the table is loaded with food!
•  When I removed the gas pump from my gas tank, the gas kept pouring out and spilled everywhere.
•  That kid is a genius!
•  Look at that gorgeous red corvette!
•  There’s a really hot guy just down the row from us.
•  When I pulled out of my driveway, I just barely missed hitting another car coming down the street!
•  I live way out in the country.
•  Making a cake is easy.
•  That poor dog looked so thin and sickly.
•  Oh. I ate way too much.

Practices

•  Mentee practices ASL sentences using specific facial expression. Mentor models correct facial expression. They repeat the process until the facial expression is correct ASL to the
mentor.
•  Use a child’s storybook from the classroom the mentor works in, to practice the correct facial expressions to tell the story.

Games

•  Play “20 questions” and use the correct facial expression for asking questions.
•  Play the board game “Guess Who” and use the correct facial expressions for questions.
•  Play “If Then” in which the mentor states a cause and effect sentence like, “If I eat too much chocolate, then I will get sick.”

Then the apprentice takes a turn starting with “If I get sick, then I will have to call in to work.”

Then the mentor continues with “If I call in to work, then they will have to call in the crazy substitute.” and on and on for a while to practice the correct facial expressions for “if . . . then.” Pay close attention to transitions within the mentor’s conversation and pause the mentor to repeat what they said with the transition facial expressions.