Korean Job Discussion Forums

[articulate_ink]

Hi Tomato. I'm sure you were waiting with bated breath for my comments on the use of sign language(s) in an ESL setting.

If you're "forever getting the two [Korean Sign Language and American Sign Language] mixed up," then why presume to try to teach them? Sure, you're not likely to go wrong with elementary school basics like the alphabet and the signs on the level of eat, drink, sit down, stand up... but if you're attempting to teach anything more sophisticated than that, then you're opening a big ugly can of linguistic worms.

I'll cut to the chase: If you're not fluent in these signed languages, you have no business teaching them. If you have to check a sign language dictionary when you don't know the sign for something, the odds are high that you're not going to get an accurate visual representation of the sign, and will end up teaching it incorrectly. Signs formed in three-dimensional space (since they can incorporate time, you can argue that they are four-dimensional constructs) cannot be fully and accurately drawn on paper. believe you said someone should look up words he or she didn't know, and my advice would be the opposite: don't even think about it. Stick with what you know. There have to be other ways to incorporate kinesthetic activities into ESL instruction without teaching botched sign language.

There are not two competing sign languages in the US, as you stated. American Sign Language meets the criteria of being a language, one of which is being connected to a culture. Signed English is a catch-all term to represent a number of sign-based systems invented in an attempt to express the English language on the hands. These systems were invented by various educators, instead of evolving naturally as ASL did. As artificial constructs, absent culture, these sign systems don't quite pass the test of being languages. It's a fine distinction, but it's there. (New research suggests that Signed English systems should be looked at as a subset of ASL.) As with any language, signs in ASL carry culture-based connotations. For example, two separate signs can be used to convey the meanings of "to take advantage of" -- one means to take unfair advantage of a person or situation (and in certain contexts, this sign can also refer to sexual molestation); the other means to sieze an opportunity. Another example: the letter T in ASL is a vulgar gesture in certain other cultures, similar in meaning to the middle finger. One difference between the International alphabet and the ASL version involves a modified T, to avoid the insult. This is the kind of information that needs to be taught, when you're teaching language. Otherwise, you're doing your students a disservice. Now, I doubt you're teaching either of these signs to small children, but my point is, ASL is a language, and should be respected as such.

Signing "this is your chair" would probably involve using one of the Signed English systems, since in ASL the verb to be is usually implied in the present tense and not expressed via a distinct sign. Directional signs like "this" and "that" are used situationally in ASL, and articles are not used except when quoting names or titles in English. Teaching Korean youngsters verbatim English signing from one of systems I've discussed (and there are several, by the way, so there's not even the safety net of standardization to fall back on) is introducing them to a language they will never come into contact with unless they happen to move to the US or Singapore.

I agree with Scott in HK and will go a step farther: using elements of three signed languages (ASL, KSL, and International Sign Language) as tools for English instruction is adding a lot of decoding to the students' cognitive tasks. To say the least.

What happens if a subsequent ESL teacher from one of the UK, Australia, or New Zealand wants to teach the kids sign language from their own countries, with the same ideas in mind? Then what? Those three countries use the two-handed BSL alphabet. Auslan is very similar to BSL, NZSL perhaps less so, and neither of them resemble ASL very much at all. And none of them look a thing like Korean Sign Language. Grammatically, they're different.

Honestly, I wouldn't take a couple of Spanish classes and then teach my kids Spanish words, somehow thinking it would be helpful to them because some Spanish words have English cognates. I speak Spanish but not well enough to handle more than the basics, and I don't pretend otherwise. If you're getting the short-term results you want, it's hard to argue with that, but overall I think using a mix of signed languages in the ESL classroom is not an effective approach.

[gang ah jee]

[tomato]

I'm not going to try to beat Articulate Ink in a logical debate.
If he wants to sniff his nose down on me, I won't stop him.