Family and People
sooo. food and drink last time, and hopefully you can order your own life now, or at least ask for milk without holland showing up to correct you.
this lesson is family and people. who's in your life, basically. this is the stuff you actually reach for at a family party or when you're introducing your kid to somebody, so we're keeping it practical, not exhaustive. i'm not gonna teach you the sign for "second cousin twice removed." if you need that one, honestly, spell it.
the core people signs
start with these. you'll use them constantly:
- mom — thumb on your chin
- dad — thumb on your forehead
- sister — the "girl" handshape (thumb on your chin, kind of an L shape) then the sign for "same," pinky sides tapping together
- brother — same idea, but starting with "boy" (flat hand tapping your forehead like touching a cap brim)
- baby — arms rocking like you're holding one
- friend — index fingers hooking together, then flipping. do it both directions and it means the same thing, nobody's fully sure why, i just do it
that mom/dad thing where the location moves up the face — chin for the "girl" side of the family, forehead for the "boy" side — carries through a bunch of other signs. sister, brother, grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle all follow that same little pattern once you notice it. it's one of the first times asl grammar clicked for me, honestly. the language is doing something logical and nobody warns you it's coming, it just starts making sense one day.
kids, spouses, extended family
- son and daughter — combine "boy"/"girl" with the sign for "baby" resting in your arm, basically "boy-baby," "girl-baby"
- husband and wife — a handshake-ish motion, husband starts up near the forehead side, wife near the chin side, same "male side/female side" logic
- grandma — same as mom but with a little forward bounce
- grandpa — same as dad, same bounce
i'm not going to pretend i've got aunt and uncle memorized cold every single time. i look them up more than i'd like to admit. that's fine. this isn't a test, it's a toolkit.
the opinion part
here's the thing i keep telling this class: fingerspelling is a tool, not the goal. names of actual family members — your kid's name, your spouse's name — you're gonna spell those, every time, because there's no sign for "kade" or "toni." that's normal. that's what spelling is for. you're not failing at asl by spelling a name, you're using the language correctly.
what trips people up is trying to sign generic categories AND specific names the same way. sign the relationship ("this is my son"), then spell the actual name. two different tools, both needed.
bathroom, again
okay, family lesson, but i want to circle back to something because it fits right here. remember the first sign i ever taught this whole class? bathroom. i learned that one first, on purpose, years ago, because i had a kid at work who needed it and i just stood there blank, no idea what to do with my hands. went home and drilled it in the mirror that night like a total idiot, my own kids watching me from the hallway wondering what dad was doing now.
why bring it up again in the family lesson. because this is exactly the situation where you need it fast and you need it right. you're at a family gathering, your kid or your niece or somebody's toddler tugs your sleeve, and you want "bathroom" to come out smooth, not fumbled. same reason, new context. nobody wants to be caught not knowing bathroom, especially in front of family who'll absolutely give you grief about it at thanksgiving for the next four years.
practicing this at home
point at people. i mean it. sit at dinner and go around the table signing "mom," "dad," "sister," "brother," whatever fits your household, pointing at the actual person each time. holland used to do this unprompted and it's honestly the fastest way any of my kids picked stuff up. context sticks. flashcards don't stick nearly as well as a real face attached to a real sign.
and go slow. i know i say this every single lesson but it's the whole ballgame. mushy fast signing on family words is exactly where you'll get "brother" and "same" tangled up and confuse everybody at the table, including yourself.
before next time
pick five people in your life and practice signing who they are — relationship sign, then spell their name. do it in a mirror, do it at dinner, do it in the car like a weirdo, i don't care, just get your hands moving on real people you actually know.
~terry