Open questions to ASL students

Reba

Reba

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How do you think people learned ASL before the advent of the Internet?

Even more to the point, how do students learn ASL without asking for homework help from AllDeaf members? Is it possible? ;)

Suppose you meet a Deaf person in public and have to communicate on the spot without getting web help--can you do it?

Training one's brain to think conceptually, to process in ASL is the key. Training one's brain happens thru repetition and trial-and-error. (Repetition seems to be verboten in today's education.)

That isn't to say that asking for help is completely out of the question. It means asking for help only for specific stumbling blocks, and only after making a serious attempt at self-resolution first.

Of course, it depends on whether or not you're seeking help just to get a good grade, or you really want to learn how to communicate in ASL.

One last question--I'm curious--when you (the student) need "help" writing an English paper or taking a math exam, do you ask strangers on the Internet to do your work for you?

:hmm:
 
Reba
I think you also need to find a way to get to the instructors that are assigning interviews. I know where I am I would have a devil of a time finding a ASL user to interview in person.
 
This made me remeber how many time I had to go over the times tables in fifth grade so I knew it my heart. And I only had flash cards to use. Do you think people brain will get smaller as the we get more advance in technology ?
 
Jane B. said:
Reba
I think you also need to find a way to get to the instructors that are assigning interviews. I know where I am I would have a devil of a time finding a ASL user to interview in person.
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Yes, the instructors should provide the contacts for ASL students to socialize with willing participants. I had one instructor who himself made arrangements for silent dinners for students and local Deaf people.

Of course, my question would be, why do instructors give as assignments interviewing deaf people in the first place, especially to beginning students?

That, and "song" assignments make no sense to me.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
This made me remeber how many time I had to go over the times tables in fifth grade so I knew it my heart. And I only had flash cards to use. Do you think people brain will get smaller as the we get more advance in technology ?
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I don't know if the brain would actually shrink but it certainly won't be functioning at its full potential if it doesn't regularly "work out."
 
Reba said:
One last question--I'm curious--when you (the student) need "help" writing an English paper or taking a math exam, do you ask strangers on the Internet to do your work for you?

:hmm:
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It does happen. The Wikipedia Help Desk (which is supposed to be for questions about using Wikipedia, d'oh!) gets questions like "please explain the relationship between the political turmoil in the civil war and the assasination of the sixteenth president of the United States" on occasion. They don't answer them, and the Reference Desk (the appropriate location for knowledge questions) won't outright answer anything phrased like homework, even though they may well give ways for the student to do it themselves.
 
purplewowies said:
It does happen. The Wikipedia Help Desk (which is supposed to be for questions about using Wikipedia, d'oh!) gets questions like "please explain the relationship between the political turmoil in the civil war and the assasination of the sixteenth president of the United States" on occasion. They don't answer them, and the Reference Desk (the appropriate location for knowledge questions) won't outright answer anything phrased like homework, even though they may well give ways for the student to do it themselves.[/QUOTE]

And that may be just what the student was looking for = where to go!
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Reba said:
One last question--I'm curious--when you (the student) need "help" writing an English paper or taking a math exam, do you ask strangers on the Internet to do your work for you?
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Ooohh yes...You should see the computer programming forums! Tons of people asking for somebody to do, I mean 'help' them with, their homework. I know I've asked questions but usually because I've been stuck on a issue for a while. Same goes for solving online riddles- there are forums out there that give away the answer in 'walkthroughs' (same for a majority of point n click games) or full of people crying just give me the damn answer! Where is the fun in that? You learn nothing that way.

Even people you KNOW will ask for 'help', can't tell you how many times I've helped from proofreading to practically re-doing English papers, book reports, resumes (shocking considering I really don't think I'm THAT good with resumes lol).
 
DeafDucky said:
Ooohh yes...You should see the computer programming forums! Tons of people asking for somebody to do, I mean 'help' them with, their homework. I know I've asked questions but usually because I've been stuck on a issue for a while. Same goes for solving online riddles- there are forums out there that give away the answer in 'walkthroughs' (same for a majority of point n click games) or full of people crying just give me the damn answer! Where is the fun in that? You learn nothing that way.

Even people you KNOW will ask for 'help', can't tell you how many times I've helped from proofreading to practically re-doing English papers, book reports, resumes (shocking considering I really don't think I'm THAT good with resumes lol).
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I regard proofreading as a valid request. I know when I have written something (not as a student anymore) when I go over it I am inclined to see it as I thought I wrote it.
 
Reba, amen!

That is so annoying for me. They must think that some of us are kind of the rat lab here. We are not. I still cant believe that they came to deaf forum for doing their homework. That is even more annoying for me. :aw:
 
Good points, I find it ironic that some hearies come in here and say they want to learn about deaf culture and all and yet the only posts they make are introduction posts. They don't participate in any other threads.
 
Frisky Feline said:
Reba, amen!

That is so annoying for me. They must think that some of us are kind of the rat lab here. We are not. I still cant believe that they came to deaf forum for doing their homework. That is even more annoying for me. :aw:
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The English grammar way to say it is "lab rat". They might understand you better if you tell them you are not a lab rat.
 
DeafDucky said:
Ooohh yes...You should see the computer programming forums! Tons of people asking for somebody to do, I mean 'help' them with, their homework. I know I've asked questions but usually because I've been stuck on a issue for a while. Same goes for solving online riddles- there are forums out there that give away the answer in 'walkthroughs' (same for a majority of point n click games) or full of people crying just give me the damn answer! Where is the fun in that? You learn nothing that way.
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Exactly! Some of my on-line class text books include answer keys for the quizzes. I never look at the keys until I'm done with the quiz, and then check the answers. (BTW, I've found errors in answer keys, too, so it's best not to be dependent on them.) Even with school work, I don't like "spoilers." :D

Suggestions as to where to find help, or giving similar examples I think are OK.

Even people you KNOW will ask for 'help', can't tell you how many times I've helped from proofreading to practically re-doing English papers, book reports, resumes (shocking considering I really don't think I'm THAT good with resumes lol).
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Proofreading is OK, and getting another person's viewpoint on a paper is OK.

That's why I also say it's OK for an ASL student to have someone review their work and give pointers. However, that's after the student has done most of the work first.

This business of showing up at AD, and first post is asking for "help" doing a school project (often last minute) without any indication that the student has first made a serious attempt at it, is unsat.
 
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Jane B. said:
The English grammar way to say it is "lab rat". They might understand you better if you tell them you are not a lab rat.
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Or maybe if we all just write in ASL structure, the people who don't really need to be here will just wander off if they can't understand...
 
And, technically, AD does feel like a rat lab at times. :)
 
Reba said:
Proofreading is OK, and getting another person's viewpoint on a paper is OK.

That's why I also say it's OK for an ASL student to have someone review their work and give pointers. However, that's after the student has done most of the work first.
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That's true. For the most part I proofread to catch errors etc and/or make suggestions on words or sentences (replace or remove etc). It's when they start saying "please write a conclusion for me" that piss me off.

My aunt once took an ASL class at Gallaudet when she lived near there (practically on the doorstep). She said she interacted mostly with her classmates- I don't remember if she ever interacted with any deaf people (besides me). Ironically she does not use ANY ASL/sign now-- my parents do-- Dad does fair and knows a few, Mom does a mix lol. I know I should sign more but old habits are hard to break in lapsing back to what I grew up with :(. Sister knows a bit of sign too- she took an ASL class in college (the foreign language requirement)- only thing I remember her doing is having to write a paper on a prominent/well known deaf person- that she asked for suggestions on lol.
 
Frisky Feline said:
Reba, amen!

That is so annoying for me. They must think that some of us are kind of the rat lab here. We are not. I still cant believe that they came to deaf forum for doing their homework. That is even more annoying for me. :aw:
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