ASL for School and Home






In Christopher Brown's The Art of Sign Language, many examples and common phrases are given for a number of different scenarios and situations. In the next chapter, Brown delves into common phrases used around the house or at school. I can be seen performing a few of the many gestures learned from this chapter below.

1. "Would you like a toothbrush, toothpaste, or towel?"
2. "The telephone is on the table under the window."
3. "The paper, pencil, scissors, and crayons are in the basket."
4. "The letter came in the mail today."

I have stated in previous posts how Brown has provided a number of step by step pictures for each of the signs he shows. However, in this chapter, as the signs got more complicate, he began providing arrows on this images. This helped me greatly for sign like "Fire Alarm", where the arrows greatly aided me in understanding the sign (Brown 112). In addition, the instructions below each step that previously had little impact have grown to be a valuable asset in this chapter. For example when understanding the word "came" for the sign "The letter came in the mail today", Brown's instruction helped clear up something that could not be portrayed through motion arrows, "Index fingers rotate around each other in motion towards the body." (Brown 110). This is just one example of how the instructions were of great aid.

Muscle memory played a big roll in learning a lot of ASL. How big of a role do you think muscle memory has in numerous other things, like playing instruments of engaging in sports?

Brown, Christopher. The Art of Sign Language: Phrases. Vol. 2, Thunder Bay Press, 2003.

By Noah Crissey