Signing Comprehensibly… What does that mean?

About 8 weeks ago, I was scrolling through Facebook as I normally do to catch up with friends, family and colleagues. I had previously joined a Facebook group for ASL teachers using Comprehensible Input (CI) strategies without really knowing what those particular strategies were. That night nearly 2 months ago, I saw a post by one of those ASL teaching colleagues about “un-targeted” CI. Un-targeted meant no vocabulary lists, no explicit grammar teaching and no textbooks. I must admit that my first thought was that it was crazy!! Just crazy enough for me to do some research.

That post lead to me spending hours watching videos and reading blogs of teachers using these strategies to teach a second language. Most of them being Spanish and French teachers, but all of them were spoken language teachers. It definitely was informative and made me fall in love with CI. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any ASL teachers using these particular strategies and sharing how they adapted for a language that isn’t spoken or written.

Enter my YouTube channel, “Signing Comprehensibly”. Just before our Fall Break, I finished up my current unit and decided when I returned that I’d jump in to using this un-targeted CI ways of teaching that I’d been obsessing about. So that’s what I did and as I did I threw my phone on the wall and started videoing. I figured that maybe other ASL teachers could watch me struggle and learn through trial and error.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZJfQOTww4jhbXGOjTQRKgw

This blog is also born out of my desire to share my successes and failures as I try things in a completely different way than I have for the last 6 years. I know I’m opening myself up for some criticism. I am hearing and not a native signer. I did interpret for 7 years before teaching and have 2 college degrees in ASL and interpreting. However, I in no way claim to be an expert or a perfect teacher or signer. I am open to constructive feedback, but please BE KIND! 🤟🏼