Join me in my back yard this time to learn some nature signs. My current office/video studio is a corner of my unfinished basement. Last week I started doing some work to build walls so that I don’t freeze to death this winter while trying to make videos for the website. I enjoyed being outside to shoot this video, but I had to hurry before the sun came up and blinded me. Because of hurrying to get ready and shoot the video before the sun came up, I just grabbed a shirt and ran out the door. It wasn’t until we started editing the video before I realized that I was wearing the same shirt as I was in the last lesson.
Rain, snow and rainbows are included in this list of nature words.
Words learned in this lesson:
Nature
Tree
Flower
Sun
Moon
Star
Earth
World
Dirt
Land, Property
Rain
Snow
Rainbow
Animal
Project: Using the information you learned in lesson 11, write out the description for the word GRASS in your area. This is a word that changes quite a bit from region to region in the United States. Write your description in the comments below.
This was actually the second take of this video. There were two major problems with the first video. I didn’t have something set right on my audio recorder and the sound was awful. The second problem was the swarm of mosquitoes that attacked my bald head. I did a good job of not swatting at them the whole time I was recording, but by the time the video was done there were several that could be seen feasting on my skull.
The video above is captioned for those needing captioning. Be sure to click on the [CC] logo on the video player to see the captions.
My office in the basement of the house is being worked on right now, so I decided to do the video from outside the house. And, it is not too cold yet. Also, I am going to be talking about NATURE. NATURAL things in this video.
NATURE, NATURAL this is also the sign for NORMAL. You take the N, or it is a modified N—really the letter U. And you give it a little wiggle and this is more to say, “Hey, I am about to do something here.” Then you drop it down. Sometimes you will see it from underneath or above it. But just a little movement to show that this hand is about to do something. NATURE
TREE – You have your horizon and then your TREE is on the horizon. It wiggles. You can do several TREES. Give it a movement there. TREES
FLOWER – It’s all your fingertips are together and you are going to touch one side of your nose and you go to the other side. FLOWER
SUN – You draw a circle and then you show the sun shine. Shining down. SUN
MOON – Can be done a couple of different ways. The way I like to do it is what I call the little C. It is the C made with just the thumb and index finger. You put it right here by your eye. MOON. Sometimes you will see it done with the big C. But then, some people use this to mean SUN. So the biggest separation, for distinction purposes, is to do SUN like this. And then MOON with just the index finger and the thumb. MOON. SUN. MOON.
STARS
STAR – It is your Gs and you are going to bump them together as you rub up. STAR
EARTH or WORLD
This is EARTH. You take your thumb and your sensitive finger and you are going to pinch your wrist and you give it a little wiggle. EARTH EARTH
WORLD – Is with the Ws. And you do just like you do YEAR, but you do it with the Ws. WORLD
EARTH and WORLD
DIRT – Take your, like you would do the word money. This is not the real sign for money. But this is what we call a natural sign—the way people do it. Money. Now you do it with both hands with your palms up. DIRT. DIRT. You can take and do that and spread it out on the GROUND and that would be LAND or a piece of PROPERTY. So, DIRT, or EARTH meaning DIRT or SOIL. Then you spread it out and that would mean LAND or PROPERTY.
RAIN – Comes down. And it comes down kind of in sheets. SNOW is a little different. It is softer. You can do RAIN it is hard. Windy and RAINY.
SNOW – You take and you touch your shoulders and then you flick it off and drift it down. You can make it pretty. And the way I think of it is you are brushing off the dandruff and it flakes down. SNOW
RAINBOW – This is the sign for COLOR. You take your 5 and you wiggle it right there by your lips. And then you do the bow. COLOR and then the RAINBOW. Now you can just do this, RAINBOW. It is like with your 5 or your 4. You can do this and that it is sufficient if in context it is understood. But if you do the whole thing, COLOR and then RAINBOW then it is very clear as to what you mean.
ANIMAL – Take your B-hands or your mitten hands and you put them right here on your shoulders. And you wiggle in and out. It is like the lungs are expanding and contracting. ANIMAL. That is the generic sign for ANIMAL. There are lots of ANIMAL signs. I will do a video about just ANIMAL signs later. But this is ANIMAL in general.
Alright, so lets go through those again.
NATURE, NATURAL, NORMAL
TREE
FLOWER
SUN
MOON
STAR
EARTH
WORLD
DIRT – This is also LAND or PROPERTY if you do it out like that. So, DIRT or EARTH meaning SOIL, LAND or PROPERTY
RAIN
SNOW
RAINBOW
ANIMAL
Alright, and I have a project for you. The word GRASS, which is a NATURE sign. The word GRASS is a sign that changes around the United States. Different regions have different signs for it. So your assignment is to find out how GRASS is used in your area. What the sign for it is. Many places just spell it. But I want you to see if you can find a sign for the word GRASS and then in the comments of lesson 13, LearnSigns.com/13, if you will write out the description of GRASS using the information you learned from lesson 11 which gives you the 5 different elements for how to write out a sign. Use that information and write for us how GRASS is done in your area and we can see different ways GRASS is done. Tell us where you are from and the way you do GRASS in your area. Or, the way the Deaf do GRASS in your area.
Thank you for watching. This is LearnSigns.com lesson 13. So, LearnSigns.com/13.
Missionary working with the Deaf. Started learning sign language in 1988 and have spent much of my ministry training others in how to minister to the Deaf through local church ministries.
I asked my ASL teacher about the sign for “grass”. She said that there are two options. 1) With an open hand and relaxed fingers, rub the palm of your hand against your chin in a forward motion. This is a repetitive motion.
2) With the hand signing the number 4, rub the back of the hand against your chin in a forward motion. This is a repetitive motion.
Thank you Michelle. I appreciate the feedback.
The first way you mention is one of the more common ways to do GRASS. What is funny though, is that it is also one of the two most common ways to do the word TRASH that I know of. And, recently in Maryland, we met Deaf who use that exact same sign to mean TRUCK! I had never seen truck done that way. They told me that it was an older way to do TRUCK and many of the younger Deaf don’t use that anymore. I think the lady told me that was the way they did the sign when she was growing up in the MD School for the Deaf in Frederick.
I have seen the second way you mentioned used some.
First one, is the same sign here in FL. Though I say it more of an upwards motion on bottom of your chin. I could just have that wrong. I at times grow a beard, so it “feels” like grass to me when I press up on it. It’s how I remember the sign. 🙂
3 replies on “LearnSigns 013: Nature”
I asked my ASL teacher about the sign for “grass”. She said that there are two options. 1) With an open hand and relaxed fingers, rub the palm of your hand against your chin in a forward motion. This is a repetitive motion.
2) With the hand signing the number 4, rub the back of the hand against your chin in a forward motion. This is a repetitive motion.
Thank you Michelle. I appreciate the feedback.
The first way you mention is one of the more common ways to do GRASS. What is funny though, is that it is also one of the two most common ways to do the word TRASH that I know of. And, recently in Maryland, we met Deaf who use that exact same sign to mean TRUCK! I had never seen truck done that way. They told me that it was an older way to do TRUCK and many of the younger Deaf don’t use that anymore. I think the lady told me that was the way they did the sign when she was growing up in the MD School for the Deaf in Frederick.
I have seen the second way you mentioned used some.
First one, is the same sign here in FL. Though I say it more of an upwards motion on bottom of your chin. I could just have that wrong. I at times grow a beard, so it “feels” like grass to me when I press up on it. It’s how I remember the sign. 🙂