Master Fingerspelling with #1 Free Fingerspelling Practice: Emphasizing Word Shapes

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Free Fingerspelling Practice

Introduction

Fingerspelling is an important aspect of American Sign Language (ASL) and a challenging skill to master. Many learners struggle with fingerspelling comprehension and production, even after years of ASL study. However, with the right practice and strategy, learners can improve their fingerspelling skills and communicate more effectively with the ASL community. ASL Interactive’s Free Fingerspelling Practice is designed to provide learners with the tools they need to improve their fingerspelling comprehension and production.

Fingerspelling Tutorials

The Free Fingerspelling Practice course includes short tutorials that introduce learners to the basics of fingerspelling. These tutorials cover the handshapes and movements used in fingerspelling, as well as common fingerspelling rules and conventions. By mastering these basics, learners can develop a strong foundation for further fingerspelling practice.

Fingerspelling Word Lists

The course also includes a variety of fingerspelling word lists that allow learners to practice fingerspelling in context. These word lists include common words and phrases used in everyday conversation, as well as specialized vocabulary related to different topics and fields of study. By practicing with these word lists, learners can improve their fingerspelling speed and accuracy while also expanding their ASL vocabulary.

Receptive Practice Exercises

To help learners improve their fingerspelling comprehension, the course includes receptive practice exercises. These exercises are designed to help learners recognize fingerspelled words by shape, rather than by individual letters. This strategy emphasizes the shape and movement of the fingerspelled word, which can help learners recognize and comprehend fingerspelling more quickly and accurately.

Double-Letter Word Production and Comprehension

In addition to receptive practice exercises, the course also includes double-letter word production and comprehension exercises. These exercises challenge learners to produce and comprehend fingerspelled words with double letters, such as “apple” or “cookie.” By practicing with these more challenging words, learners can improve their fingerspelling accuracy and speed.

Benefits of Improved Fingerspelling

Improved fingerspelling comprehension and production can significantly impact a learner’s ability to communicate with the ASL community. By mastering fingerspelling, learners can more easily recognize and comprehend fingerspelled words used in everyday conversation and specialized contexts such as academic or professional settings. Additionally, improved fingerspelling production can help learners communicate more clearly and reduce misunderstandings when fingerspelling with other signers.

ASL Interactive’s Free Fingerspelling Practice course is a valuable resource for anyone looking to improve their fingerspelling comprehension and production skills. With its comprehensive tutorials, fingerspelling word lists, and receptive practice exercises, learners can develop the skills and strategies needed to master fingerspelling. Whether used as a supplement to a formal ASL class or for independent study, this course is open to all learners who want to improve their ASL communication skills and connect with the vibrant ASL community.

Prerequisites

Learners can take any of the ASL interactive courses, but we suggest starting with ASL Newbie materials and working up to harder materials. The Newbie materials will introduce key concepts and grammatical principles which help set up learners for long term success. While fingerspelling is a beginner skill we do recommend new learners start with ASL Newbie Materials. Suggested Prerequisites are ASL Newbie materials

Introduction Tasks List

The course begins with a tasks list that guides learners through each element in this series. This makes a great checklist to ensure nothing is missed while navigating the course. Learners are welcome to browse the list, or print it to keep a checklist of their progress.

Introduction Video

The free fingerspelling practice introduction video provides learners with basic rules and principles for fingerspelling, such as where to hold your hand, appropriate motions and stability for maintaining clarity, and general tips for becoming a good fingerspeller. Following these tips and advice help set learners up for success.

Free Fingerspelling Practice Word List

This list provides examples of commonly fingerspelled words to help new learners begin with a strong base of words they may encounter in everyday situations.

Fingerspelling Memrise Community Group

This links learners to the Fingerspelling Memrise Community Group to participate in the learning activity on Memrise. Memrise uses space repetition to help learners remember new and key vocabulary. This activity is extremely helpful and more effective than traditional flashcards. This list includes fingerspelled words users are likely to encounter in everyday situations.

The repetition strategy used provides numerous chances to test comprehension of words presented. The words in this list are also helpful for other free fingerspelling practice series available on our site. Not all the words in this activity will appear in this series, but the fingerspelling Memrise course will be helpful for other activities as well. So, if words presented do not appear here, rest assured they will be helpful in other related series we offer.

Mini Lectures

This free fingerspelling practice series includes two mini lectures:

• ASL Mini Lecture: Fingerspelling Recognizing the Shapes of Words
• ASL Mini Lecture: ASL Fingerspelling Double letter Words

Receptive Practice

This free fingerspelling practice series includes 4 receptive practice activities that get progressively more challenging:

• Receptive Practice Double Letter Words- 4 letters
• Receptive Practice Double Letter Words- 5 letters
• Receptive Practice Double Letter Words- 6 letters
• Receptive Practice Double Letter Words- 7 letters

Want more? Check out some of our popular learning activities!

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