American Sign Language
American Sign Language is a series of gestures, motions, hand positions, and facial expressions used to communicate visually. It is a separate, distinct language with its own vocabulary, grammar, dialects, idioms, expressions, and more. American Sign Language is NOT simply replacing a spoken word with a sign.
The technique described in this website is a great way to learn spelling, but it's not a good way to learn American Sign Language. As with any language, there are many wonderful nuances that can't quite be conveyed by a website. While my hope is that this website will help you learn to use fingerspelling to teach and reinforce spelling, I encourage you to learn more about American Sign Language from the people who are best qualified to teach it - the people who use the language on a regular basis.
The ASL Alphabet is a set of hand positions used to respresent the letters of the alphabet. The sketches you see on this site are from font-on-disk software that I purchased at a teacher supply store. You can find these readily available at teacher supply stores, in catalogs, and on American Sign Language websites.
For more information on American Sign Language, see my LINKS page.
The technique described in this website is a great way to learn spelling, but it's not a good way to learn American Sign Language. As with any language, there are many wonderful nuances that can't quite be conveyed by a website. While my hope is that this website will help you learn to use fingerspelling to teach and reinforce spelling, I encourage you to learn more about American Sign Language from the people who are best qualified to teach it - the people who use the language on a regular basis.
The ASL Alphabet is a set of hand positions used to respresent the letters of the alphabet. The sketches you see on this site are from font-on-disk software that I purchased at a teacher supply store. You can find these readily available at teacher supply stores, in catalogs, and on American Sign Language websites.
For more information on American Sign Language, see my LINKS page.