Time, Days, and I'm Done Let's Go
sooo. this is the last lesson in "signs for real life," and it's the one i probably use the most in an actual week. time, days of the week, and the sign that started this whole thing for me and toni, which is "i'm done, let's go."
not glamorous. just useful. which, if you've been in this class a while, you know is basically my whole philosophy.
time
let's start with clock time, because it comes up constantly. what time, my appointment, see you at three.
the sign for TIME is simple: point finger, tap the back of your other wrist, like you're tapping an imaginary watch. that's it. that's the base sign.
once you've got TIME down, you can build on it: - WHAT TIME — sign TIME, then ask with your eyebrows up and your head tilted forward a little. remember, your face is doing grammar work here, not decoration. if your face is flat, it just looks like you're announcing time, not asking about it. - LATER — flat hand, palm facing you, flips forward. easy one, and you'll use it constantly with kids. "later" is basically a full sentence when you're a parent. - NOW — both hands drop down together, short and sharp. this one has attitude built into it. sign it soft and it barely registers. sign it with a little snap and people know you mean now, not eventually.
practice at home: every time you check your phone for the time today, sign TIME first, then read the number off your phone. sounds silly. it wires the habit in fast.
days of the week
here's the thing about days of the week — most of them are handshape letters that move. so all that fingerspelling work from a few lessons back is finally paying rent.
- MONDAY — M handshape, small circle
- TUESDAY — T handshape, small circle
- WEDNESDAY — W handshape, small circle
- THURSDAY — this one's the odd duck, kind of an H-T blend, took me embarrassingly long to get smooth
- FRIDAY — F handshape, small circle
- SATURDAY — S handshape, small circle
- SUNDAY — both hands flat, palms out, small circles, like you're presenting something. no letter handshape here, which always throws people.
go slow with these. i say this every lesson because it's true every lesson: slow and clear reads as fluent, fast and mushy reads as lost. nobody's impressed by a blurry Wednesday.
the sign that changed my life a little (i'm not being dramatic, mostly)
okay, real quick story, because it fits here. i was at costco a while back, cart loaded up, and a deaf man behind me in line waved me ahead since i only had a few things. instinct kicked in and i signed THANK YOU at him. just that. and he signed something back, quick, friendly, and we had this tiny ten-second exchange right there by the register. i don't even remember exactly what he said. i just remember floating out to my car afterward. made my whole week. over a checkout line.
that's the pitch for this entire class, honestly. you don't need fluency to have a real moment with somebody. you need enough.
i'm done, let's go
so this is the one i actually taught toni years ago, specifically so we could bail on parties without a whole spoken announcement across the room. it's become one of our most-used household signs, and now she uses it on me more than i use it on her, usually when i'm stuck in my third side-conversation of the night and she's ready to leave.
it's two parts. sign DONE — both hands, palms facing you, flip out and down, like you're shaking something off your fingers. then point where you're going, or just tilt your head toward the door. add the eyebrows down, mouth set, and people read "we're leaving" loud and clear without you saying a word.
try this at home: pick one low-stakes moment this week — dinner's over, bedtime's here, whatever — and use DONE instead of announcing it out loud. see if your family catches on. mine did, faster than i expected, and now i regret teaching it to toni a little.
a caution, gently
fast fingerspelling for days of the week is where people get sloppy fast, especially THURSDAY. if somebody signs a day at you quick, don't panic if you lose it. i still lose fingerspelling by the third letter most of the time, and i've been doing this a while now. ask them to slow down. that's a completely normal, completely fine thing to ask for.
before next time
practice signing the days of the week out loud to yourself this week, in order, slow, like you're reciting them for the first time in kindergarten. and try the DONE sign on your family at least once. let me know if it works as well on yours as it did on mine.
~terry