Learning American Sign Language: ASL 2 – Unit 9 Sample

In this unit sample as you are learning American Sign Language, you will be learning how to sign room descriptions.

Room Descriptions

A good way to practice giving directions and using classifiers is to describe where things are in your house.

In order to do this, you will be using classifiers and pointing/indexing. You will also be showing the location of objects in relation to other objects. This may take a little while to get used to, but you will learn how to visualize what you are discussing and use your signing space and both hands to describe objects and show where they are located. The goal is to paint a picture for the person you are talking to–so they are able to visualize what you are discussing.

To describe the layout of objects in a room, you need to:

• Identify the room you are going to discuss (i.e. bedroom)
• Describe the room as if you are standing in the doorway
• Describe the shape of the room (if it is necessary for your description)
• Identify and describe the furniture/features of the room and where they are located, starting with either the most prominent feature or piece of furniture (i.e. bed) or in a logical sequence (i.e. right to left or left to right)

You can describe the shape of a room, the color of walls, the angle of ceilings, furniture, windows, artwork, lights, objects on tables, rugs, etc. You can go into as much detail as necessary for what you are discussing.

Room Description Examples

In the video, watch our signers describe the rooms from the images below:

You can view the bedroom and living room images in our full course.

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