TOS Interviews Marty Noretsky About Teaching Sign Language
By Christine Field
The Old Schoolhouse—the Magazine for Homeschool Families, Summer 2005
CHRISTINE FIELD (TOS): I have always been captivated by the beauty and gracefulness of sign language. Many homeschoolers are learning sign language as a ministry to the hearing impaired or even for their language credits in high school. That is why we are so excited to have as our guest this month Dr. Marty Noretsky, president of Ready! Set! Sign!! LLC.
Dr. Noretsky, this self-teaching, comprehensive sign language course is awesome! Presented on five CD-ROMs, the instruction is clear, enjoyable and memorable. My children had fun previewing the CDs with me! Tell us about your journey. What led you to the development of this resource? It sounds like your work in this area has been your life’s calling.
NORETSKY: Thirty years ago, Daniel Burch and Sharon O’Brien, hosts and instructors of Ready! Set! Sign!!, and I, the writer and producer, first met each other as graduate students in the Department of Education at Gallaudet University, the leading educational institution of higher learning for deaf people and provider of programs preparing people, deaf and hearing, who wish to become teachers of the deaf. All three of us graduated and became teachers and close friends. Just a couple of years after graduation, I was hired by Gallaudet University, our alma mater, to work as an instructional designer, helping faculty to create educational products for their students. Daniel followed his first love, interpreting, and ultimately became president of the National Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. Sharon followed her love of theater by becoming an actress in community and regional theater, deferring full-time employment to devote her time to raising her three children. In the mid-‘80s, Sharon and I were asked by T.J. Publishers, Inc., a leading publisher and distributor of sign language products, to design and write a sign language book, From Mime to Sign, based on the lifetime instructional experiences of Mr. Gilbert Eastman, a famous deaf actor and personality. The insights gained from this experience led to the conceptualization by Sharon and me, in conjunction with Daniel, of Ready! Set! Sign!! We submitted proposals to the U.S. Department of Education and received major funding for the design and production of Ready! Set! Sign!! The name of the company, Ready! Set! Sign!! LLC, is indicative of the company’s current primary objective: to create products that will result in the effective learning of sign language to promote increased direct communication between hearing and deaf and hard-of-hearing people.
TOS: Educate us. What’s the difference between ASL (American Sign Language), Pidgin Signed English, and whatever other kinds of signing are out there?
NORETSKY: American Sign Language (ASL) is a manual language with its own syntax and grammar. Pidgin Signed English (PSE) or Signed English (SE) is also a manual language, but differs most from ASL in its syntax, which for the most part follows English word order. However, ASL and PSE/SE have much in common. First, the vast majority of ASL signs are also PSE/SE signs, and, a large core body of ASL grammar concepts are typically integrated into PSE/SE communication. The signs taught in Ready! Set! Sign!! are all ASL-based and are totally accurate for use in communicating through ASL and through PSE/SE. The grammar concepts that are taught focus on core skills necessary for communicating in both ASL and PSE/SE, although many additional grammar concepts and sign idioms are needed for further fluency in ASL beyond the intermediate level. The Ready! Set! Sign!! instructional content allows hearing beginning sign language learners to defer making major distinctions between ASL and PSE/SE until after learning the beginning content shared by them all, which may also result in a greater acceptance of diverse sign language approaches. Later, after learning this significant body of skills common to ASL and PSE/SE, learners can make philosophical and pragmatic decisions about whether to pursue further knowledge of ASL, PSE/SE, or both.
TOS: Learning sign language is primarily a visually oriented activity. How does the teaching on these CDs work with other learning styles?
NORETSKY: It’s true that learning sign language is primarily a visually oriented activity. As such, all learners must tap into their abilities as visual learners. We have organized the content of our lessons, 1-24, in an order that we feel is most effective for learning all of the instructional content. And, it would be this order that should be followed, for the most part, in order to learn two years of foreign language content equivalent to intermediate-level sign language skills. However, the Ready! Set! Sign!! format is flexible, enabling learners to review previous content, explore content included in future lessons, and learn valuable information about deafness, deaf people, and deaf culture in whatever order is of interest to the learner and the learner’s instructors or learning facilitators.
TOS: We especially enjoyed the “Cultural Moments” feature of the teaching. Tell us about that.
NORETSKY: Learning the vocabulary and syntax of a foreign language is very important. But equally important is learning about the people who are native speakers of the language and aspects of the culture within which they live. The “Cultural Moments” provide valuable information about deafness, deaf people, and deaf culture, acquainting the new sign language learners with a context within which their newly acquired language skills will be used. Examples of “Cultural Moment” segments include “The Americans with Disabilities Act,” “How the Ear Works,” “Cochlear Implants,” “Adaptive and Assistive Devices,” “Benefits of the Information Age,” “Communicating with Non-Signers,” “How Deafness Is Portrayed in the Media,” and “Sign Language Interpreting.” These approximately four-minute segments provide basic knowledge of the topic and are intended to be a “jumping-off point” from which learners can do additional investigations of the topics.
TOS: After the student has mastered the 24 lessons, what will be their level of competency? Will they be able to hold their own with experienced signers if they have been diligent in their study and practice?
NORETSKY: The extensive content covered in the 24 lessons should provide learners with intermediate-level sign language skills and an ability to communicate with experienced signers. Of course, it would be best for learners to seek out deaf, hard-of-hearing, and even hearing signers with whom to practice their skills as they are being learned rather than waiting until completing Lesson 24. The feasibility of the recommendation is clearly beyond our control.
TOS: What are the benefits or applications of learning sign language for homeschoolers?
NORETSKY: Ready! Set! Sign!! covers up to two years of high school foreign language requirements and therefore can meet high school foreign language requirements. Learning sign language will help you communicate with people in your own church and community. It can lead to a rewarding and profitable career. And, all this can be achieved as a fun learning experience.
TOS: Is this an appropriate program for the parent of a hearing impaired child to learn to effectively communicate with that child? I know of at least one adoptive situation where the mom had to learn to sign pretty quickly!
NORETSKY: Of course, it is important for parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing children to take advantage of any and all support personnel available through their local school systems, government agencies, and medical facilities as well as assistance and guidance from others who have faced similar challenges, such as other parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing children. That said, if sign language (with or without simultaneous speech) is determined to be the best method of communication with the deaf or hard-of-hearing child, then Ready! Set! Sign!! will be a very effective learning tool for the child’s parents.
TOS: Your literature stated that learners did better if they had an iconic element that they could connect with each sign. What does that mean?
NORETSKY: The organization of the signs in the lessons and the related visual aids are based on a body of research that indicated that signs were learned quicker and remembered longer if learners had an iconic element that they could connect with each sign. The literature indicated that learners did better if they could see a relationship between the sign and its meaning, such as a part-whole relationship (indicating the whiskers of a “cat” is the sign for “cat”), a functional/use relationship (opening a “drawer” is the sign for “drawer”), a representational (classifier) relationship (showing an index finger represents a person from head to toe doing something like “appearing,” “disappearing” or “escaping”), or an association (between “hospital” and the Red Cross armband—indicating the cross on the armband is the sign for “hospital”). Our vocabulary lessons are organized to facilitate this iconic learning strategy to the greatest extent possible.
TOS: You also suggest that learners might visualize their own visual aid to remember the sign, substituting it for what is presented in the program. How does this work?
NORETSKY: We also indicate in both the first lesson and in the manual (p. 15) that “After you view a visual aid we provide, you might decide it doesn’t fully help you to remember the sign. In this case, you may wish to ‘visualize’ your own visual aid and substitute it for the one we offer.” This is consistent with the literature that indicates that the iconic element/visual aid needs to be meaningful to the learner, whatever it is.
For example, to sign “coffee,” we suggest the learner visualize an old-fashioned coffee grinder and how it works. “Coffee” is signed by forming two fists and positioning one over the other. The lower fist stays stationary as the base of the coffee grinder. Then the signer circles the upper fist around the stationary lower fist (staying above the lower fist) as if grabbing onto the handle of the grinder and turning it to grind the coffee. Can you visualize this? However, the research indicated that it did not matter whether the sign reflected the meaningfulness we suggested or some other meaningfulness. What was most important was that the sign was meaningful to the learner. Returning to the “coffee” example, perhaps the new learner is visualizing stirring the coffee. Regardless of how the learner established meaningfulness, it was his or her own meaningfulness of the sign that had a strong effect on his/her memory of it.
TOS: The teachers who appear on the CDs have some interesting and impressive backgrounds as well. Can you tell us a little about them?
NORETSKY: Although I described the host/instructors of Ready! Set! Sign!! a bit in our first question, let me elaborate on Daniel’s and Sharon’s backgrounds and also provide some information about Mary Lou Novitsky, who also has a significant role in our instructional product.
In additional to a master’s degree in education of the deaf from Gallaudet University, Daniel Burch also has a Ph.D. in Education of the Deaf from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He has more than 30 years of experience in the field of deafness with extensive experience as an interpreter, an educator of deaf children and adults, and an advocate for deaf people. He is the immediate past president of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf and has interpreted in every conceivable setting, from the classroom to the delivery room to the courtroom to the boardroom to the theatrical stage. Daniel has taught numerous sign language courses throughout his career through both face-to-face and distance education instructional strategies. Daniel and his wife, Priscilla Burch, operate Sign Language Services International, providing interpreter services in Louisiana, Mississippi, and beyond.
Sharon O’Brien has a master’s degree in education of the deaf from Gallaudet University. Sharon is a coauthor and co-producer of the book and videotapes From Mime to Sign, which provided the foundation from which Ready! Set! Sign!! evolved. She is an accomplished actor, having performed in numerous stage productions in northern Virginia; been an on-air host for General Media Cable Television in Fairfax, Virginia; and completed Advanced Actor Training at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. Sharon was a teacher of Theater Arts for the Fredericksburg Academy and is currently both a teacher of Theater Arts for Fairfax County Public Schools and a teacher of ASL. Sharon received her interpreting and transliterating certification from the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf and regularly interprets in the State of Virginia. In 1988, Ms. O’Brien, along with Mr. Timothy Mcarty and Mr. Donald Jewler, coauthored the original story and lyrics for Reluctant Heroes, performed at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf at Gallaudet University.
Mary Lou Novitsky is also a graduate of Gallaudet University with a bachelor’s degree in television. Mary Lou was a staff member in the Department of Television, Photography, and Digital Media at Gallaudet University for over fifteen years with varied responsibilities, including producer, writer, and camera operator. While a staff member in that department, she was the co-host (with Gilbert Eastman) of Deaf Mosaic, the long-running Emmy-award winning magazine program featuring stories about deaf people from all walks of life, involved in all kinds of unique, as well as ordinary, activities and pursuits, for which Ms. Novitsky has received Emmy awards. Since the completion of Ready! Set! Sign!! Mary Lou has left Gallaudet University to raise her two sons.
TOS: How can our readers learn more about your company and your product?
NORETSKY: To learn more about our product, go to www.readysetsign.com, to explore all the different instructional components we offer. While there, take some time to play some of the grammar, fingerspelling and numbers games.
TOS: That was really interesting. Just to let our readers know a little more about you, Marty Noretsky has a master’s degree in education of the deaf from Gallaudet University and a Ph.D. in Educational Technology from the University of Maryland. Marty is a full professor at Gallaudet University in the department of Educational Foundations and Research, where his primary responsibility is to teach K-12 teachers of the deaf and hard-of-hearing students how to integrate technology into their classrooms. All of the courses taught are done completely over the Internet. Marty was a full-time Instructional Designer in Gallaudet’s Instructional Development and Evaluation Center, after which time he became a full-time teacher of courses in the Department of Educational Technology and later the Department of Television, Photography, and Digital Media. Marty has just completed a four-year assignment as the Faculty Liaison in Gallaudet University’s Academic Technology Unit, where he was responsible for teaching faculty how to use Internet-based course management systems effectively.
Thank you so much for teaching us about your passion! I hope some of our readers catch the vision and goon to Ready! Set! Sign!
