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[sunnyspot]

I'm Kouhei Sugihara, and I'm a tutor and student at Recollé U. I mostly offer tutoring for basic subjects, but lately, a few of my friends have been asking me to teach them sign language. I don't use it much in my daily life, but since I've had hearing problems since I was young, I'm fluent in Japanese sign language and pretty comfortable with American sign language. I don't mind teaching it, since it's something I know a lot about, and everyone keeps telling me that other people might be interested too. So...

Just in case, if I offered sign language tutoring, would anyone be interested? I don't really have a way to get the word out aside from Retrospec, and I'd feel more comfortable offering it to a smaller number of people first. I've been thinking of going for my ASL teaching certification anyway, so... If you want to learn anything, whether it's fingerspelling (letters) or basic signs or something else, I can help you.

Sorry if this isn't the right place for this or something. Thanks.

Comments

[compendiem]

There is, but I will take advantage of free lessons. The finger spelling ones.

[sunnyspot]

It's something I've never had anyone take interest in before, so just getting to teach someone is enough for me.

Fingerspelling is the most beneficial thing to learn, too. If you memorize those 26 signs, you can say anything with only your hands, even if it takes a while.

[compendiem]

Finger spelling is only one hand too, right? Double useful for multitasking.

[sunnyspot]

It is, at least in ASL, which makes things easy. And some of the signs look like the letters, too. You can probably guess C, L, and O without looking them up.

[compendiem]

All I need is a T, D, or K and I'd have a full word. Cool.
Do the C's and L's face me or the person I'm signing to?

[sunnyspot]

I'm pretty sure you won't be needing to sign "clot" to anyone, but you never know.

They face the person you're signing to. It's standard to fingerspell with your right hand, but some left-handed people use their left instead.

[compendiem]

I could be having a heart attack or stroke, unable to speak through the pain. "Clot" would get the point across.

Alright. Was hoping to use my left, but I can do my right too.

[sunnyspot]

Huh... I won't deny that it could be useful then.

There's nothing wrong with using your left. I'll have to read up on it, since I'm right-handed, but I can't imagine it's much different.

[compendiem]

It's alright. I don't want to make more work for you. I'll learn using my right, and work with my left.

[sunnyspot]

I know that you mirror everything, or at least most things, so it shouldn't be hard to learn with your left. Learning with your right and then switching sounds much more difficult.

I have plenty of books that I'm sure cover it, and the internet is an even better resource, so I don't mind at all. It won't be much extra work, so leave it to me.

[compendiem]

Being able to sign with both would be useful, so learning one and then teaching myself the other... it doesn't matter the order. Especially if you're teaching a group. You go with what's most convenient for the majority, and don't bother with the extra cases.

[sunnyspot]

You should really choose one or the other, but I'm not going to stop you if you're set on it.

Did you want to learn with a group? I don't mind either way, but since most people were more interested in individual lessons, it would be a small group of maybe three or four.

[compendiem]

I don't mind either. Whether it's right hand or left, large groups or individual, you're the one offering lessons and putting in the work and time of teaching everybody, so it should be up to you. Otherwise you'll tire yourself catering to every little thing from every single person. I don't want that.

[sunnyspot]

Tire myself out?

...No one's ever told me something like that before. Are you sure it's okay for me to make such significant decisions without asking for input?

[compendiem]

You can ask for input, sure. You should. But don't forget that in doing "what's best for everyone," you're also part of that "everyone."

[sunnyspot]

You're a good guy, Minato.

[compendiem]

oh no

[ two seconds later- ]

Typo. I meant "No."

[sunnyspot]

Sorry. I didn't embarrass you, did I?

Either way, I'll take your advice to heart. I'm looking forward to teaching you.

[compendiem]

You sure did. Let me know when everything's set up. See you later.