Sign language with Tom

Today, we received a very special visitor. Tom from Deaf Aotearoa, visited Room 7 to teach us sign language.

At first we hadn't known that Tom was deaf, when we did find out he was, it was quite hard. We tried our hardest to read his lips, but we still managed to find out what he was saying. The first part of sign language he taught us was how to sign the alphabet using 2 hands. We repeated the alphabet 2 times so we get used to the hand movements. Then we had to learn how to sign our names and these phrases "You name what?", and "My name is". We practiced for about 5 minutes, and within those 5 minutes I had nailed both lines and my name.

Later on we moved to learning how to sign colours. We repeated the signs 4 times to assure that we had the signs of the colours nailed. The colours we learned were the rainbow colours, pink, black and white.

Afterwards, taught us how to sign numbers, from 1 to 10. It was not the same finger movements we all knew. From the numbers 6 to 10 it was different but we all got the hang of it once we went over the signs a couple of times. During our number lesson we also learnt how to sign "rocket".

The next subject Tom taught us, was how to sign animals!. Some animals he showed us using pictures and  then signing the animals. Other animals, he wrote the name down and we had to guess the sign. It was so fun!, we learnt how to sign various of animals including Penguins, Lion, Snake, Monkey, Giraffe, etc. At the same time we learnt how to say 'What's you favourite animal", in sign language.

We then moved onto the next subject which was gender and family including man, woman, girl boy, sister, brother, baby, mum and dad. For me, learning the signs to these words were much harder to remember!.

Before Tom left, he spoke confidently "Before I leave, does anybody have questions", everyone was surprised that he could talk because through out the whole session he hadn't spoken a word. So we all assumed he couldn't speak, but according to Tom, he had lots of practice!. We asked our questions to him about being able to talk, the amount of time it took him to learn sign language, etc. As Tom was leaving we signed "good bye" and he signed back!.

At the end of day, everyone in class felt proud to know that they knew how to sign certain words. I then realized how hard it is for those who are deaf, how much time it takes for them to be fluent at sign language too!. I admire those who don't have the ability to hear and use sign language, because they're very skilled!. My friends and I are practicing everyday, so that once day we will be fluent at sign language.