“Surrogates, Buoys, Tokens and Depiction”
Presented by Dr. MJ Bienvenu
This year’s main workshop will have participants reviewing and refining their knowledge and skills with certain portions of American Sign Language, presented through the expertise of Dr. MJ Bienvenu! We will be looking at how we incorporate role shift – presently known as surrogates. Surrogates are divided into two categories: constructed action and constructed dialogue. It helps users of the language understand when to be the “other person” in your action or be the “other person” in her or his communication with you or others. Correct usage of ASL takes advantage of the signing space in front of you so next we’ll focus on Buoys and Tokens. These concepts are probably best described as how to use the space in front of you and how to retain that specific space. It also describes the use of your passive hand to identify characters in your narration. Depiction is how one describes or portrays things, people, etc. People tend to call them classifiers. We look at how ASL depicts these objects and actions. Throughout the lecture of this workshop, there will be small group activities to practice the concepts being taught. Dr. Beinvenu will work with us to critique and clarify our work.
“ASL in an Academic Setting”
Presented by Dr. MJ Bienvenu
In our second workshop during the Weekend, we will discuss and review how to use ASL in a more formal environment or in a meeting. There is some confusion on the term “academic ASL”; we will learn more about this and clarify what this term means. The choices of signs, pacing, and use of space will be impacted when you move towards an academic setting when using ASL. The structure of using complex ideas, introducing new concepts, etc. will be discussed. Examples will be shown throughout the workshop.