SADeaf Conclusion
Again because of scheduling issues, i hardly had any time at all to be part of this CAS but I did manage to learn some basic Singapore Sign Language. I can sign months, days of the week, some places in Singapore and the alphabet. So whenever i use SL, i tend to just sign words in alphabets. However, i think i did quite well considering i only went for 2 out of 4 of the sign language classes. I wish i could have gone for more but it always conflicted with my theatre rehearsals. But I really gave it my all during those two days and i managed to learn and retain a lot. I still practice the alphabet and i’ve gotten quite fluent in signing and reading words being spelt out. It’s actually a lot harder to read it than to sign it, i still can’t read it that quickly but its a lot better than it used to be. I always practice with my friends when we’re out just for fun to see if the other can guess what we’re trying to say. I think the attitude is the most important. If I went in without the intention of learning and retaining the information, i would have learnt nothing and i wouldn’t have learnt this useful skill. I remember once we met a couple who were signing and we had to take the same bus as them so we tried signing to them as we waited and it was so difficult. Not only because of our rudimentary grasp of Sign language but also because they weren’t Singaporean and therefore the sign language they knew was different from ours. It wasn’t extremely different so we could guess certain words but it was so difficult to converse. Although we did converse and it was a great experience to sign to others, it also opened my eyes to how sign language is different in different places and that even though you know sign language, it doesn’t mean that you can converse with others. There will always be a barrier between us and that just motivates me to learn all the different types of sign language out there so there wouldn’t be a barrier. I want to get to know people and once i have the time (After IB) i will definitely be picking sign language up again.
