Welcome to the web site for
Kent State University's
Bachelor of Arts Program
in
American Sign Language!
A message from Ashley Greenawalt
(Ashley is a senior in the ASL program. We were all sad to hear that her mom passed away after a long battle, but too short life. )
Hello everyone!
Just a reminder that the WALK TO D'FEET ALS is nearing...It will be held at the Warren Trumbull Campus of Kent State University (same as the past walks) on Sunday October 12th. This year we will be walking in memory of my mother Robin Greenawalt.
Robin recently lost her battle with ALS and had always recieved much support from the ALS Association. Please sponsor/donate/walk, to help others and their families with their fight against ALS.
For more information or to Sign Up to walk/Donate/Sponsor please visit the "TEAM PAGE" link at the bottom of this message.(2nd link) Here you can sponsor a team walker. If you do not have a specific person to sponsor, please sponsor under "Robin Greenawalt". NOTE: All donations made to a team member of the Robins Nest team will go to the ALS Association under the memory of Robin Greenawalt.
At the same site (TEAM PAGE link, 2nd one below), you can sign up to walk if you want to participate. When you click on the 2nd link... scroll down and you will see all of the team members listed. Click on where it says : JOIN TEAM at the top of that list. You are looking to JOIN TEAM ROBINS NEST.
Thank You all for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Ashley Greenawalt
Captain of Team "Robins Nest"
Click here to visit my personal page.
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://web.alsa.org/site/TR/Walks/NorthernOhioWalk?px=1282082&pg=personal&fr_id=4183&et=xPjz1zuHdR6cdYYx4deVZw..&s_tafId=53041
Click here to view the team page for Robins Nest
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://web.alsa.org/site/TR/Walks/NorthernOhioWalk?team_id=86700&pg=team&fr_id=4183&et=cAvyTuCsmc5h3YsX8CTuDg..&s_tafId=53041
Pearson Prentice Hall and ASC Direct
co-sponsored by
www.DiscoverLanguages.org
2009 Student
PODCAST Contest Announcedby ACTFL,
the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign LanguagesThe contest is also supported by CLEAR (The Center for Language Education and Research) and MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching).
www.DiscoverLanguages.org
Contest theme: Languages for Life!
Students will develop a video public service announcement that promotes language learning and provides the audience with compelling reasons why students should be developing proficiency in more than one language! For specific contest rules, go to
www.DiscoverLanguages.org.
Contest Theme:
Languagesfor
Life!
PODCAST
ACTFL is sponsoring a national student podcast contest to celebrate
Discover Languages month duringFebruary 2009! This effort is part of the sustained public awareness campaign
Discover Languages…Discover the World!
which is designed to bring media attention to the critical need for all students to have theopportunity to learn a second language.
Students across the country, from elementary school through college age, will be encouraged to submit
video podcasts how language learning has been important in their lives. The podcasts will be judged for
originality and creativity by a celebrity panel of judges and cash and product prizes will be available to the
students who produce the winning podcasts.
For more information go to: www.DiscoverLanguages.org
Contest Deadline:
December 1, 2008Cash/product prizes worth up to $500!
OCTOBER 2008...
KSU ASL STUDENTS AND INSTRUCTORS
ARE THE
BEST!
(and we also seem to be....um...incredibly unique!
)
KSU-Trumbull's RED TEAM's Long-Suffering Scarecrow...
and awed spectator.
(I am SURE this will inspire the little boy to grow up and enroll at Kent!)
Deaf Awareness Day Picnic
Sept. 27, 2008
ASL I, Main Campus, Cathy V's 5:30 pm class!
Dr. Luft and Ms. Resh hit the playground!
Deaf Awareness Picnic
Sept. 27, 2008
ASL Lab Sept. 2008
WOW!! What a GREAT month September has been!! ASL I students have conquered colors, numbers, letters, and LOTS of vocabulary! ASL III students have done some nice work with space and syntax! Linguistics students have made the big move from phonology to morphology, Design students and ASL student teachers are moving into working with students (I hear Patrick G. was already on his own and taught all of his high school's ASL classes for a whole day when his supervising teacher became ill! ), and students who plan to apply for Individual Investigation next year have begun to write their research proposals! FANTASTIC!
September has also been a BUSY month!! See scenes of September for yourself:
KSU-Geauga's ASL I class give their opinion of their instructor, Idris Dodo!! Looks like it's thumbs-up!
Know who? IDRIS DODO, teaching ASL I at KSU-GEAUGA!
ASL I Geauga learning noun-verb pairs....
and working on dialogues.
GREAT nonmanuals!
Meanwhile, in Cathy V's ASL I at Kent-Main, students have been working on using spatial relations and lots of vocabulary:
Hmmm.....ASL I 5:30 learns the sign for "CHEATING" while playing a memory grid game....I wonder why??!
"One up, two over, color it purple..." -it can get a bit confusing at times but students persevere!
During September, Steve's ASL I class has been learning about family relationships.... by being introduced to a family of stuffed animals and bobble-heads! (I'm pretty sure that although the bobble heads attend class, they don't pay tuition, smile.)
Also during September, KSU-Trumbull's ASL I class has been working on communicating about time and activities:
Nancy Resh clarifying vocabulary.
Meanwhile, students in Linguistics were experimenting with how to change citational signs to productive signs by using morphemes:
No matter WHAT sign this might look like, Justin and Jesse were trying to modify "cup" to "demi-tasse."
And of course, work in the old lab and the new lab goes on.....
Working on vocabulary in the old lab....
...discussing presentations....
....using VRS during a meeting presentation in the old lab....
....and being impatient with construction in the new lab, so going ahead and using it as-is, with structured activities starting October 1....and instructors using it for data collection at other times!
September ended with an absolutely FANTASTIC event - the Deaf Awareness Week Picnic!
"It sure was fun yesterday!" - Phyllis
Bethany - "I had a great time at the festival!!!!"
Forty-seven students attended (not counting children and significant others), along with 7 faculty who actively participated.
It was an AWESOME time.... well, maybe a LITTLE less-awesome for the group of students caught half-way around the lake from the shelter when rain showers hit!
Two rather wet members of Trumbull's Red-And-White Team...
their team spirit in the face of adversity helped their team win
the TEAM SPIRIT AWARD!
There were four teams - Trumbull's Red-and-White Team, Trumbull's All-Red Team, Main Campus's Red Bow Team, and Main Campus's Brown SUPER HEROINES (who were MY all time favorite pick for ENTHUSIASM and MAJOR CONFIDENCE!).
Members of the ever-growing Red Bow team plan their team cheer!
The Red-and-White Team complete their hunt around the lake!
(Falling down was not a planned event.)
Trumbull's Red Team finds a solution to the hole-in-a-paper puzzle!
and....
Is it three planes? Is it three trains? No - It's three ASL SUPER HEROINES! Ready to solve a three-penny puzzle, jump giant picnic tables in a single bound, stop speeding clues with a single handshape, retreat under the shelter when it starts to rain just as they start their hunt around the lake...
KSU MAIN'S ASL SUPER HEROINES SHOW "CAN-DO SPIRIT!":
The teams were all GREAT!
There were four challenge stations.....penny puzzle, hole-in-the-paper puzzle, tallest scarecrow, and hunt-around-the-lake.
The Red Bow Team pose, after the scarecrow station, with their newest member!
The Red-Bow Team's ScareGirl.
The Red-and-White Team works on their ScarePerson...
With VALIANT team effort, their scareperson STANDS
(followed quickly by their scareperson loses its head and it rolls on the floor, sigh... 
.)
The Red Team works on THEIR Scarecrow.....
which ultimately proved to be the most CREATIVE and most LIFE-LIKE:
It was just AMAZING what the Red Team could do with ONLY paper and tape! I absolutely LOVE the team work, cooperation, and COMMUNICATION that went in to producing this marvelous work of art!
Meanwhile, back at the hole-in-the-paper puzzle, the ASL SUPER HEROINES come to the rescue and fearlessly conquer the task!
Faculty was also having some fun....:
There was LOTS of food for lunch...and lots of people to share it!
ET had a good time working the uniform table and getting a chance to chat with some of the students!
During lunch, the team presentations occurred. There was the TEAM CHEER:
KSU-Main's Red Bow Team did a VERY nice cheer!
But....KSU-Trumbull's Red-and-White had the cheer, the uniforms and the energy!
The Trumbull Red-and-White Team also swept the Deaf Culture presentation, with a well-done presentation involving Clerc and the differences between ASL and English:
THEN came a bit of competitive contention....
Two ASL IV main campus students did a presentation of a cookie recipe, complete with REAL cookies to pass out, and a spatial description of their kitchen:
They did a very nice job...but, the plot...or maybe the dough, thickens....
KSU-Trumbull ALSO had a cooking presentation to offer - an ASL I student did a great job of describing how to make Buffalo dip (with two ingredients that Robbie absolutely loved: OLD cheese....and CLEAN cheese! 
Old, CLEAN cheese is even BETTER than ORANGE or CREAM cheese!! A small change in parameters can make a BIG difference in a sign!)
KSU-Trumbull did a great job with a lengthy recipe and won, by vote of the audience. CONGRATULATIONS!!! And KSU-Main's hard-working (SATURDAY working) instructor made them feel better by staying later to see a private repeat performance 
(I do believe Phyllis may have been praying for the performance to end?)
Or maybe for a change of vote?
All together, the day was mermorable and fun! KSU Trumbull walked away with THREE trophies:
COOKING...
.....DEAF CULTURE.....and....
TEAM SPIRIT!
CONGRATULATIONS KSU TRUMBULL!!!!!!
You all did a WONDERFUL job and your hard work, planning, and practice really showed!
KSU Main ALSO won a trophy! The Red Bow Team won the trophy for ASL CHAMPIONS!:
CONGRATULATIONS KSU-MAIN!
EVERYONE did an AWESOME job, and it was absolutely wonderful that almost everyone got in the spirit and participated!! KSU ASL students and faculty are the BEST!!!
Instructors of CHAMPIONS!
(And I hear that the Main Campus ASL SUPER HEROINES are ALREADY changing clothes in a telephone booth somewhere and plotting to conquer all the events NEXT year!)
In addition to congratulations to the winning teams and campuses from the Deaf Awareness Day picnic, congratulations also are due to Larry Nehring, Stark Campus ASL adjunct. One of his short plays is going to be published! FANNNNNNTASTIC!! And congratulations to David Stewart, ASL adjunct at KSU-Twinsburg. He will be coordinating a Heights High - Kent State collarboration which will support a preprofessional program for high school students who show promise in ASL! Wow!!! (Also congratulations to David Stewart for his recent presentation on literacy!). And congratulations to Christina Haslage - she gave a brief presentation on the importance of folktales and story telling at the September Ohio Foreign Language Association Literacy Workshop!
And don't forget - there's still a LOT of events to look forward to this autumn, including Silent Weekend, the ASL Expo, and the OAD General Assembly! Hope to see you there!
