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28 October 2021
28 October 2021
ASL Club Primary Teaching
ASL Club Primary Teaching
Learning Outcomes:
1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
5: Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively
There have been many changes around the world due to COVID-19, and that has been the case in my life as well. Most of those changes are unlikely to be considered positive, though. The class I used to have every day was also conducted online and this time, I was able to discover a new advantage of online learning. One day, an Instagram direct message came from our ASL club group chat, asking about participation in primary students' online teaching activities. As a member of the club, I immediately expressed my intention to participate because I really enjoyed and was grateful while learning sign language from my seniors. Hence, I also wanted to make someone feel the excitement and impression I felt before. Although the period of learning sign language was not very long, I still wanted to help spread the quiet charm of sign language because it is so astounding that we could understand each other with their movements, body postures, eyes, and facial expressions as humans to humans.
Some ASL club members, including myself, taught basic sign language words to Wells Bangna Campus primary students several times by using the online meeting application called “Zoom”. Starting from alphabets to represent each of their names, we covered various topics including fruits, vegetables, places, and emotions. Through these classes with primary students, we were able to get closer by sharing each other's names, tastes, and feelings. Although I might not have been the best teacher for them, they were the best students for me. The corners of my mouth went up whenever I saw students who participated as much as my passion. Also, there were things I learned while teaching children from the standpoint of still learning sign language such as expressing the moon in ASL. Following the curiosity of younger students, there was always a new experience waiting. Despite teaching ASL words of each topic using the presentation slides we prepared, we also had an activity at the end of the class. For me, the most interesting activity was to design our own sign language to describe each of us as a person, which could be anything. Seeing their creativity allowed me to get a step closer to the beauty of sign language. A sign language by a girl expressing a ‘promise’ is clearly in my memory until now. This club activity was a great motivation for me to learn a new language. Not only did I get a heart to work harder on sign language, but I also became interested in teaching someone other than myself, and I learned a lot about how to make it more effective and interesting to teach classes. 30 minutes is not a long time, but at the same time, it is also not short to learn something new. For these 30 minutes that were either short or long in a way of thinking, I made materials for use in the class by having a conversation with sisters and brothers in the other grade. In addition, we shared many opinions with each other for smooth class progress. With the full preparation of all of us, we were able to spend time enjoying all the club times teaching primary students.
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