American Sign Language (ASL) has been around for some three centuries. It has taken root across the entire republic and became one of the USA’s most popular languages. ASL has its unique vocabulary, word order, style, and grammar that don’t necessarily reflect English wordings because it originated from France. But despite its popularity, ASL is still considered a foreign language.
But how do you retain what you learn in your American sign language courses online?
Answering this question is critical since learning is just the beginning. The harder task is retaining and applying what you learn. Thus, you need strategies to retain what you learn to apply it effectively. This discussion shares leading hacks and tricks to help you retain what you learn in your ASL course. Stay on this page to learn and retain more.
- Get a Learning Buddy
Getting a learning buddy is an effective way of retaining what students learn in their American Sign Language courses online. You can use this trick to retain most of what your instructors teach you. Get a friend to learn with you or a family member interested in sign language. This collaboration becomes a better way of fostering strong family and social bonds with your buddies and family members.
Remember, you can run faster alone, but together, you can go farther. Getting a trusted buddy with whom you exercise what you learn motivates you to move forward. For example, if they are ahead of you, they motivate you to want to be like them. Having someone looking up to you also encourages you to work harder to avoid disappointing them.
- Practice Your Fingerspelling
You can also retain more of what you learn by practicing fingerspelling. It enables you to communicate with the deaf without memorizing all the words. Remember, communication is the goal of all your studies.
- Be Consistent
Consistency is another key to retaining what you learn in an ASL college. You should keep at it progressively and daily. Go ahead, create a simple exercise and study program you can easily follow. You need to determine which concepts, sentences, or signs you want to focus on at a given time. Keep practicing fingerspelling, grammar, and facial expression. Eventually, you will progress and retain what you learn.
- Rewatching and Reviewing Your Videos
Did you watch a given video, but you seem not to understand what the instructor said or meant? If you have difficulties retaining a video’s contents, take your time to watch it again. Remember, scientists say that your chances of never forgetting something are over 80% if you hear or watch it at least fourteen times.
Just take your time and review those instructional videos one at a time and in small manageable stages. Eventually, you will discover that some of the things that evaded your memory during the third or fourth watching will start sinking.
- Optimize Real-life Situations
Do you want to retain what you learn in your ASL classes? Then try optimizing real-life situations and see the difference. Create chances to talk to ASL-proficient people or the deaf to retain what you learn. Remember, you are least likely to forget things you practice than those you don’t.
- Watch Yourself Doing It
Watching yourself speaking ASL is another fun-packed way of memorizing and retaining your lessons. Yes, you can create videos of yourself exercising sign language. Also, you may do it in front of a large mirror. These actions may seem fun, but they can motivate you big time to focus on and retain what you learned.
- Join a Practice Group
Joining a practice group is another way of retaining your lesson contents. You can join other sign language students and practice with them. The group will keep in focus what you learn. Eventually, you will retain more of your lesson contents because your group members will be raising them during practice.
- Join a Deaf Club
Joining a deaf club is another trick to help you retain your lessons. Many prominent American cities have deaf groups or clubs where the deaf meet to communicate. Spending time communicating with the deaf, polishes your skills and makes your lessons sink deeper.
- Ask the Right Questions
Finally, you can enjoy higher retention by asking the right questions. Ask questions regarding signs you don’t understand. Ask the right questions without fear because this open discussion can help increase your precision and retention.
There you are with nine leading tips to help you retain more of what you learn in your ASL lessons. You can try to integrate them into your retention strategy.