SPOKEN WITHOUT WORDS Materials List: All Lessons
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Materials List: - 1/14/19, 11:44 AM / 1 DIGITAL STORY TELLING | MODULE 7 | SPOKEN WITHOUT WORDS Materials List: All Lessons Materials: • Access to Youtube, and a method to play videos online with sound. (Projector/monitor, speaker(s), computer, internet access, etc). • Paper, Pencils for each student. • Pre-cut phrases (print out template provided in Lesson 1. Lesson 1: Speaking Without Words - 1/14/19, 11:36 AM / 1 DIGITAL STORY TELLING | MODULE 7 | SPOKEN WITHOUT WORDS Lesson 1: Speaking Without Words Lesson Overview: In this lesson the students will learn how to communicate without speaking or using written text to build a foundation for performative storytelling. The lesson begins with exploring cultural differences in everyday hand gestures, and how common it is to use hand gestures to communicate. Students will learn about the use of sign language as an art form, and be introduced to the fundamental skills needed performative storytelling including, using hand gestures, body movement, and facial expressions to communicate. Learning Objectives: • Build an understanding of how to communicate without audible words. • Exposure to various uses of hand gestures in multiple cultures. • Introduction to American Sign Language Poetry. • Introduction to skills for performative story telling. Teaching Summery: Activity 1: Hand Gestures 15 minutes-20 minutes Discussion: Brainstorm with the class the various ways that people use movement in everyday life to communicate. For example: nodding our head means yes,, putting a finger to your lips means be quiet, waving a hand means hello or good-bye, etc. Explain that these types of gestures are ingrained in our culture. Each culture has its own variety of hand gestures that are commonly understood. In some cases certain hand gestures have different meanings depending on the culture they are used in. Demonstration: Share the examples below by demonstrating them to the students, and explain how the meaning of the hand gesture is interpreted differently in each country. All fingers put together: (*image 1) Lesson 1: Speaking Without Words - 1/14/19, 11:36 AM / 2 ◦ Italy: What do you want? ◦ Turkey: Indicates that something is beautiful. ◦ Morocco: Be quiet. The “V” sign: (*image 2) ◦ USA: Peace. ◦ Australia, United Kingdom, and New Zealand: Used to signify defiance against authority. The “come here” curled index finger: (*image 3) Lesson 1: Speaking Without Words - 1/14/19, 11:36 AM / 3 ◦ Australia, USA, and Canada: Used to motion to another person to come over. ◦ Philippines: Considered offensive when used for a person, as it is only used for dogs Reflection: ◦ What hand gestures do you use in your daily life? ◦ Have you ever made up your own hand gesture? ◦ Can you think of any hand gestures that change meaning across cultures? Discussion: Gather the “cut out phrases” from the 3 Little Pigs story (see teacher preparation section). Explain that by using certain gestures we can communicate without using words, we can even tell stories without speaking out loud. Ask your students to stand in a circle with you. After taking the phrase labeled #1, pass out the remaining words in order, clockwise around the circle. When every student has their phrases, explain that they will be challenged to come up with a hand gesture or movement that will express the phrase they have been given. Reassure them that this can be difficult, and some words might be easier to express with hand gestures than others. Demonstration: 1) The teacher reads phrase #1 to the students out loud: “Once upon a time.” 2) The teacher then explains that they will use gestures instead of words to say “Once upon a time.” 3) Without words the teacher gestures the phrase: “once” = The teacher holds up the index finger on their right hand, with their left hand by their side. “upon” = The teacher then folds the finger in so the right hand makes a fist, then slowly and gently places it in the open palm of heir left hand. Lesson 1: Speaking Without Words - 1/14/19, 11:36 AM / 4 “a time” = The teacher holds out their right index finger, turns their left hand over and then points with their right index finger at the top of their left wrist, as if pointing at the face of a watch they are wearing. 4) The teacher repeats the hand motions while saying the phrase “Once upon a time” to illustrate how the hand motions express the ideas in the phrase. Student Engagement: 1) Give the students a few minutes to think of their own gestures to express the phrase they have been given. Remind them that this is practice and it is ok if no one understands your gesture. 2) Once everyone seems to have settled on a gesture for their phrase, the teacher explains that when they point to a student they will then act out their phrase using the hand gestures only, without saying a word. Go around the circle working clock wise, starting with the teacher until every student has had a turn to silently gesture. 3) After everyone has had a turn, ask the students to do one more round of gestures, except this time ask them to speak the words they are conveying as they gesture. After everyone has a turn speaking while they gesturing, allow your students to go back and sit in their places. Reflection: ◦ Could you understand each other? ◦ Which gestures were easy for most people to recognize? ◦ Which words were most challenging to communicate? ◦ Was it easier to understand the gesture when you could also hear the words? Why or Why not? Activity 2: Gesture as Language (American Sign Language Poetry) 25-30 minutes Discussion: For the deaf and hard of hearing community communication is most often entirely silent and relies on gestures called “signs” to speak. In the United States the deaf and hard of hearing community use American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate. In other countries different variations of sign language are used; in Spanish speaking countries and regions, Spanish Sign Language is the customary sign language. Sign language is used primarily with one’s hands, but often includes facial expressions and body motions to create mood and emotion when signing. According to the Oxford English Dictionary there are 171,476 words in the english language currently in use today. In order to keep up with creating signs for all these words, sign language is expressed through a combination of “signs” and “fingerspelling.” Define “fingerspelling” and “signs” for your students. • “fingerspelling” spelling out a word letter by letter with the American Sign Language Lesson 1: Speaking Without Words - 1/14/19, 11:36 AM / 5 Alphabet. • “signs” specific gestures, are assigned to a specific word. Demonstration: 1) The teacher shows the students how to spell “c-o-w” by “fingerspelling” the word using the ASL alphabet. ASL Alphabet Used for Fingerspelling: (*image 4) 2) The teacher can show the students how to sign the word “cow” in ASL. (*image 5) Lesson 1: Speaking Without Words - 1/14/19, 11:36 AM / 6 Reflection: ◦ What is the difference between “fingerspelling” and “signing?” ◦ Which is more expressive “fingerspelling” and “signing?” Why? ◦ If you were telling a story a story, which would convey the most emotion “fingerspelling” and “signing?” Why? Discussion: Just as there are accents in speech, there are regional accents in sign. People from the South typically sign slower than people in the North—even people from northern and southern Indiana have different styles. Like all forms of language, culture and location shape the way we express ourselves, share ideas, and communicate. In many cultures poetry, with written or spoken, is a customary form of using language as an art form. The deaf and hard of hearing community is no exception when it come to poetry. In the 1960’s ASL evolved with the birth of sign language poetry. Deaf and hard of hearing poets developed a unique form of art by altering traditional ASL by adding gestures to express emotion, rhythm, scale, and emotion. ASL Poetry uses body movement and facial expressions to communicate in three dimensional space, to tell stories, and make sign language into an art form. Example: Spoken Without Words: ASL SLAM (Video) Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRcwVRf5BS8 Lesson 1: Speaking Without Words - 1/14/19, 11:36 AM / 7 ASL Poetry Performance: (*image 6) Reflection: ◦ What was different about signing and sign language poetry? ◦ What did it mean when the video said “the face accounts for 50% of the grammar?” ◦ How does using facial expressions, body movement and hand gestures help convey emotion, size, mood, etc.? Student Engagement: 1) Divide the students into groups of 2 or 3. Ask the students to think of a very short story, or a part of a short story everyone in the group knows. Example excerpt from Spider Man: Peter Parker discovers his spider powers for the first time, and he becomes Spiderman. 2) Ask the student groups to create a visual way of telling the short story by only using hand gestures, body movement, and facial expressions. Each student should come up with at least one gesture. Allow 15 minutes for coming up with their gestures. Remind them to consider how their facial expressions alter the mood, how the speed of their movements alter the pacing, etc. 3) After each group has developed the gestures to tell their short story, invite them to take turns sharing it with the class. Reflection: ◦ What was it like to tell a story without using audible words? Lesson 1: Speaking Without Words - 1/14/19, 11:36 AM / 8 ◦ What is it like watching a story, instead of listening to a story? ◦ Can you think of other ways stories can be told without using words? Teacher’s Guide: Materials, Research, and Preparation Materials: • Access to Youtube, and a method to play videos with sound.