1. Interact with the Deaf community!!! There is nothing that can substitute for seeing the language in use by fluent signers. Immersion in the language setting is acknowledged by all as the best way to learn a language. Take advantage of every opportunity you can.
2. Review your videotape and workbook.
   1. The purpose of your videotape is to provide experience with the language in natural settings. Follow the directions in the workbook to complete the exercises. Remember, your purpose it to exercise your eyes and mind, not to understand every sign and nuance the first time. Recognize the familiar and use context to fill in the blanks.
   2. After completing the workbook, review the videotape several more times. Sign along with the tape or stop the tape at the end of a sentence and sign what you have just seen. Practice not only the hand shapes, but the posture, facial expressions, and phrasing. Or, after seeing a sentence or dialogue, stop the tape and invent one of your own following the same format just observed. These are good partner activities, where you can get feedback on your accuracy.
3. Practice fingerspelling and numbers.

   1. Do not go straight through the alphabet, or say the letters as you spell. Practice spelling letter or word combinations: bat, cat, sat, mat, hat, attic. Many games can be played with fingerspelling rather than spoken or written words: Boggle, Password, Scattegories, etc.

   2. Make sure that you work with a partner to practice reading fingerspelling, which is much more challenging than producing the letters yourself. As you improve, begin fingerspelling within phrases and sentences.

   3. To practice numbers, play bingo or math drill games. Look up phone numbers in the yellow pages. List birthdates. Fingerspelling and number comprehension are among the most difficult skills for the sign language learner. To become proficient you must practice with others routinely.

   (Hint: If it is impossible to get together with a partner on a regular enough basis, consider making videotapes for each other. For example, fingerspell the names of restaurants, movies, streets in Atlanta, the 50 state capitals, the names of people at the Oscar broadcast, etc. These categories make it easier to think of items to add to the list, and give the reader context in which to comprehend the word that is fingerspelled. A study group could easily make enough tapes to rotate and practice with all semester. Then, the tapes could be donated to the department for use by future students.)

4. View sign language videotapes. The Clarkston campus library has a large collection of sign language and interpreting videotapes for viewing and checkout. Public libraries may be another source.

   1. Watch the videotapes and note new vocabulary items.

   2. Notice the natural "accent" of ASL. What is the signing space? What expressions and body movements are used? Try to copy what you see on the screen. First the expressions and movements, then the signs, then the two in combination.

   3. Notice the sentence structure. You may want to take notes and see how the word order in ASL differs and resembles English.

   4. Watch a selection, signing along with it, until you feel familiar and comfortable with it. Then, videotape yourself signing the material, and compare your production to that of the original tape.

   5. Look for one specific feature of ASL while viewing a selection. For example, you might want to find instances where the verb is modified to show who is acting and what is being acted upon (directionality). Or, find instances where a classifier is used to describe a thing or an activity. Note use of a specific classifier (for example, the vehicle classifier) and list how it is used. Watch the signer's mouth movements and note what movements accompany what signs, and for what purpose. Select features you have discussed in class.

   6. Retell the story you have watched. Videotape it for completeness and accuracy.

Remember: you are training your brain to new ways of thinking and your body to new ways of communicating. It takes time, repetition and concentration. But, you can do it! And the rewards are tremendous, when you find yourself communicating with a new friend in a new language.