"Signing Time"

Interpretrator

Interpretrator

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I just saw this show for the first time, and I have to admit I find it kind of puzzling. The show is clearly aimed at hearing kids, which is fine, but the point of the show seems to be just teaching random signs (TREE, FATHER) and not including any kind of context. The episode I saw had the host singing a little song using the signs she just taught, but her sim-com is strongly skewed towards English (many signs are dropped). The editing is odd in that sometimes there will be a cut to something where there is no signing (like a kid waving and smiling) while the song is playing, so a lot of signed input is missed. I do get that it's aimed at hearing kids but wouldn't you imagine deaf kids would also watch? And captions are probably not much help as kids of the target age of the show likely don't know too much English yet.

I was also curious to see that never once was the word "deaf" uttered. There was a little deaf girl, but her signs were English and not ASL, and they never put the language in context. I would imagine a little kid thinking "why does that girl talk funny?" without the needed explanation that she is deaf, and uses signs to communicate. It seems like many, many good opportunities for educating kids were lost in the shuffle of simply using a kindergarten-like approach to teach single signs. It's fine by me that they had the deaf girl talk and not just sign, since kids will encounter deaf people who do talk, but why even bother teaching signs if you're not going to help kids in their awareness of deafness?

Those of you who have seen it, what do you think? Normally I'd say any exposure to sign language is positive, but this show seems so unconnected to what signing is all about, and it also seems to underestimate its audience by oversimplifying the content. Kids can understand so much more than most people think they can. They could do a whole segment on different sign languages in different countries, for example, and cut down on the number of people PER DAY who ask me "is sign language universal?"
 
As a hearing parent of a deaf toddler, I love it. So does Lilly. We do not know ASL. Any sign is better than no sign. I have learned alot of signs through Signing time and other kid based sign stuff. I also wondered about the captions. They are probably there so the adults can follow along if they are new to signing. Or so a deaf adult can follow along since they are apparently not using ASL.
Most people I talk to love signing time. It is a great way to introduce your toddler to sign language. Besides, I wouldnt think the context would be all that important. Most toddlers dont listen to the entire sentence anyway. They play off the main words. Kids cant even sign properly, the sasme as pronounce words. They learn with practice and time.
 
Lillys dad said:
I also wondered about the captions. They are probably there so the adults can follow along if they are new to signing.
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I saw the show on PBS and it didn't come with captions. I assume the option was there but I have to go through all these steps on my TV to turn on captions so I was too lazy to turn them on. My point about that was if you don't use the captions, so that there is no English on the screen, it is highly unfriendly to deaf people because the signed input just randomly stops. I don't know why they couldn't have had the signer in a little box in the corner when they wanted to cut away from her.

Most toddlers dont listen to the entire sentence anyway. They play off the main words. Kids cant even sign properly, the sasme as pronounce words. They learn with practice and time.
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I guess my point is that as a language learning tool, sign or otherwise, I think this show really falls short. And as a sign language learning tool I was kind of shocked by how far it fell short, especially since I had heard good things about it. It isn't just toddlers who might watch this show but older kids as well, and there's nothing wrong with throwing in more advanced material for the older kids that will go over the heads of younger kids, who will simply learn how to sign "TREE."

I think about a show like Sesame Street that is aimed at about the same age, but is able to teach language (English and other), culture, social norms, and all kinds of other things, along with being clever and funny to attract adults. I suppose as a Sesame Street (and Electric Company) child, and as a student of linguistics, I have high expectations for children's television. If this were a program for learning Spanish and they did it the same way, I also wouldn't be impressed.
 
As someone who does not know ASL, and is trying to learn sign, I enjoy watching it. So do others here.
There are many different ways to learn, this is just one of them.
 
I like signing time! Its positive and bringing awareness to our children. A very close friend of mine has a baby who was born with hearing loss, and this is new to all of us. My six yr old was excited that he had some way to connect with her. It may not be perfect signing, but its a start!








Interpretrator said:
I just saw this show for the first time, and I have to admit I find it kind of puzzling. The show is clearly aimed at hearing kids, which is fine, but the point of the show seems to be just teaching random signs (TREE, FATHER) and not including any kind of context. The episode I saw had the host singing a little song using the signs she just taught, but her sim-com is strongly skewed towards English (many signs are dropped). The editing is odd in that sometimes there will be a cut to something where there is no signing (like a kid waving and smiling) while the song is playing, so a lot of signed input is missed. I do get that it's aimed at hearing kids but wouldn't you imagine deaf kids would also watch? And captions are probably not much help as kids of the target age of the show likely don't know too much English yet.

I was also curious to see that never once was the word "deaf" uttered. There was a little deaf girl, but her signs were English and not ASL, and they never put the language in context. I would imagine a little kid thinking "why does that girl talk funny?" without the needed explanation that she is deaf, and uses signs to communicate. It seems like many, many good opportunities for educating kids were lost in the shuffle of simply using a kindergarten-like approach to teach single signs. It's fine by me that they had the deaf girl talk and not just sign, since kids will encounter deaf people who do talk, but why even bother teaching signs if you're not going to help kids in their awareness of deafness?

Those of you who have seen it, what do you think? Normally I'd say any exposure to sign language is positive, but this show seems so unconnected to what signing is all about, and it also seems to underestimate its audience by oversimplifying the content. Kids can understand so much more than most people think they can. They could do a whole segment on different sign languages in different countries, for example, and cut down on the number of people PER DAY who ask me "is sign language universal?"
Click to expand...
 
I read an article about the woman who created Signing times yesterday.. she's a single mother who's oldest daughter is deaf and she created these videos to help hearing and deaf children and their families learn sign langauage.. I believe she meant it to be a "starter" video for those who don't know ASL or SEE. Signing time basically teaches how to sign certain words.. Then once you know the words in all the dvds, you can move on to more complicated tapes that will teach you how to use the signs you learned in an ASL way. If you know what I mean.

At least, that's my understanding.
 
signingtime.org

My son is hearing and is learning already. The only reason kids are waving because they were dancing with music. Read the background about the woman who is doing the teaching of signing time:
Signing Time Foundation


And it does come with closed captioned. It did for me.
 
The signing time on pbs is cute but I dont think it teaches people much when it comes to asl grammar, classifiers, ngm, idioms, etc.
 
It's either that or nothing at all. Hearing parents will let their kids watch it, but they will not take them to a sign language class.
 
nightcrickets said:
It's either that or nothing at all. Hearing parents will let their kids watch it, but they will not take them to a sign language class.
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You try learning sign at my age like I am doing, its near impossible. You either learn it at an early age or you do not learn it at all.
 
jasin said:
You try learning sign at my age like I am doing, its near impossible. You either learn it at an early age or you do not learn it at all.
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I don't know how old u are but u r right, learning ASL at an older age is hard whether deaf or hearing.

I finally started learning ASL at the age of 28 and I am profoundly deaf. At first, I took ASL classes but by level 4, I wasn't fluent. It wasn't until I finally attended Gallaudet that I became fluent due to being around it all day. If I didn't go to Gally, I probably would be as fluent as I am now.

However, I do not sign like people who were exposed to it as children. My brother learned at the age of 5 and his use of classifiers are very advanced. I probably cud never sign like him but that's ok.
 
jasin said:
You try learning sign at my age like I am doing, its near impossible. You either learn it at an early age or you do not learn it at all.
Click to expand...
How old are you?
 
nightcrickets said:
It's either that or nothing at all. Hearing parents will let their kids watch it, but they will not take them to a sign language class.
Click to expand...
There are other video resources available.

Also, I know one AD mom in the past mentioned signing play groups for kids. Maybe that's an option?
 
sure if it is on TV and it's free. Most hearing parents with hearing kids will not waste their money on ASL video. And I think alot of hearing kids like to watch fun videos. Signing time is one of the fun video. Beside, I think this video was aimed mostly for babies, toddlers and kids who have severe disabilies and can't communicate.
 
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