Trix Bruce (Washington) ASL Idol, Trix Upon a Time:  An ASL Storytelling Handbook, The Whats, Whys, & Hows of the Classifiers in ASL, ASL Extreme Makeovers:  The Art of Personification, Empowerment Through Signing Skills, ASL Semantics:  Precision of Expression Series Focus Word: RUN, Close-Up Views:  Classifiers Under the Microscope, English Idioms:  PSST .. How Do You Interpret That, Signs Gone Wrong:  ASL Bloopers

Peter Cook (Illinois) Creativity and ASL, Personal Experience Narrative in ASL Storytelling, Third Person in a Deaf Walk:  The Implication of Deaf Space in Visual Arts, Discourse in ASL

Donna Flanders (Georgia) There’s No Sign for That! – Strategies for Finding ASL Equivalence, There’s No Word for That! – Strategies for Finding English Equivalence, KID FRIENDLY ASL! – Interpreting for Children’s Theatre, The Healthy Signer:  De-Stress with Yoga and Stretches

José Granda (Florida) Polish Up on Fingerspelling and Numbers, Getting a Picture in the Mind, Signers vs. Interpreter, The Challenge of Classifiers, ASL Whispering, Signing Categories

Laurie Harbin (Florida)  Fingerspelling Ackkkkk!, Pictionary Fingerspelling Game, Fingerspelling Fun with Scatigories

Laura Jacobsen (Florida) Beginning ASL, Where Do I Put My Hands?, Fingerspelling and Introducing Yourself, What’s Your Phone Number?  Numbers and WH Questions, Facial Expressions and More Conceptual Accuracy, More Vocabulary and Grammar, Deaf Culture, What you Need to Know

Faith Powell (Georgia)  Multi-Faceted ASL, Semantic Clusters, ASL “Read Alouds”, “Do You See What I See?” – Prosody, Pragmatics and Receptive Skills

Bill Ross (North Carolina)  Interpreting Like Deaf People Talk, Developing Receptive Skills 1, Transliterating-Interpreting:  A Practical Comparison, English to ASL:  Dropping the Form, Incorporating Expansion Techniques in Your Interpreting

Crom Saunders ( Pennsylvania )  Making Faces, I Need My Space!, But I Don’t Even Know It in English!, Creating Classifiers

Keith Wann (Florida)  Two Guys and a Play (costarring George Costa, Jr.), Music and ASL – Performing for Our Own Audience, Improv, Games for Users of ASL, How do I get my ASL stuff on YouTube?

Lynne Wiesman (Alabama) Language & Interpreting Self-Analysis, DECIDE:  Ethical Decision-Making:  NIC Test Preparation, DECIDE:  Ethical Decision-Making: Legal

Workshops descriptions updated May 5, 2010

But I Don't Even Know It in English -- submitted by Crom Saunders for 2 hours for advanced/interpreters
      How do you interpret a surgical procedure if you’re not an intern? How do you interpret classic literature if you weren’t an English major? How do you interpret computer lingo if you can’t even set the microwave clock? This workshop will help participants develop general tools for dealing with specialized vocabulary, and to broaden the use of their already developed skills to turn jargon into understandable and sign-able concepts.

Challenge of Classifiers, The -- submitted by Jose Granda for 2 hours for intermediates and advanced/interpeters
      For (hearing) non-native signers, classifiers are difficult to comprehend and to execute.  Jose Granda, a master at playing with this unique ASL feature, will discuss the various speaker goals in using classifiers.  The types of handshapes employed will be demonstrated along with their positioning in the signing space.  Participants will have opportunities to construct their own classifiers when provided with various pictures and short stories. Finally, Jose will demonstrate how their creations can be improved.  This is a hands-on workshop so come ready to sign!

Classifiers…Making ASL So Much Easier:  Part I -- submitted by Patricia Chun FOR FLEDGING SIGNERS ONLY (One of a series of 12 classes)
     In this class, you will learn what a classifier is and how to utilize the most common classifiers.  You will cut down on your signing time and learn to sign much more clearly.  And to top it all off, it looks so much better!!!!!!!

Classifiers…Making ASL So Much Easier:  Part II -- submitted by Patricia Chun FOR FLEDGING SIGNERS ONLY (One of a series of 12 classes)
   This class will be an extension of Part I.  You will learn more classifiers and in what situations to use them.  You will also get practice using classifiers in conversation. 

Close-Up Views:  Classifiers Under the Microscope -- submitted by Trix Bruce for 2 hours for advanced/interpreters
     Get a close-up 3-D view of life under the microscope with classifiers.   Clearly translate ideas from English to ASL with real objects and the human body as a focus of description. Zoom in on learning to use classifiers effectively.

Construct Language: Stop Telling Me and Show It -- submitted by Francisco Olivera
     Linguistic Pollution is a real problem. English just manages to creep into our signing product no matter how hard we try. Deaf people agree: some of us just need to "act it out." Are you having trouble letting go of the English? Come and learn some tips on giving your signing a more picture-like quality.

Conversational Sign… Signing without talking or mouthing!!!!! -- submitted by Patricia Chun FOR FLEDGING SIGNERS ONLY (One of a series of 12 classes)
      This class will focus on conversational ASL.  We will try to incorporate all the things you learned in the previous classes.  You will get individualized practice signing with a partner and plenty of time to ask questions. 

Creating Classifers -- submitted by Crom Saunders for 2 hours for advanced/interpreters
      This is classifiers discussion and development- how to create new classifiers for new images -- The use and variety of classifiers go beyond the standard ones taught in ASL classes- true fluency in ASL includes the ability to create new classifiers that are syntactically correct, and the meaning of such new classifiers clearly conveyed. Attendees will learn models for classifier creation opportunities, and how to think in 3-D/Visual linguistic style, and a greater understanding of classifier use. Attendees will also learn how to describe actions and objects without using standard ASL vocabulary or reliance on PSE.

Creativity and ASL -- submitted by Peter Cook for 2 hours for beginners
    This workshop will introdeuce the participants to explore their creativity through American Sign Language literature.  At the beginning, there will be a lecture on the relationship between Deaf Culture and Literature.  He will demonstrate all technical aspects of ASL storytelling and poetry.  There will be LOTS of hands on activigties for the participants to create their own works.  This workshop is a MUST for those who are interested to know more about playing with ASL.  Great for any classroom tools!

CUTE MEAN WHAT? 5 Signs With Alternate Meaning -- submitted by Francisco Olivera
Does CUTE always mean something adorable? When does BORED mean something else? Come to this workshop to learn advanced usage of common vocabulary along with sign-to-voice and voice-to-sign strategies when facing these concepts. 

Deaf Culture, What You Need to Know --  submitted by Laura Jacobsen FOR FLEDGING SIGNERS ONLY (one of a series of 12 classes)
     Basics about Deaf/deaf culture that most people don’t know

Getting a Picture in Your Mind (Visualization Mapping) -- submitted by Jose Granda for 2 hours for intermediates and advanced/interpreters
       This workshop will help develop strong receptive skills that will teach participants to create a picture and walk through the picture, this workshop will develop those visualization skills. The participants in challenging activities like drawing a home floor plan, describe a car in detail, and learn signs of characters to interpret children’s stories.

Incorporating Expansion Techniques in Your Interpreting -- submitted by Bill Ross for 3 hours for intermediates
      The language differences in American Sign Language and spoken English require that interpreters employ various expansion and compression techniques to achieve message equivalency.  Expansion techniques are used in order to make implicit information in the source language more explicit in the target language.  If an interpreter is unfamiliar with expansion techniques, the resulting interpretation develops errors, unnatural phrasing, and incorrect grammatical structures.  The goal of this workshop is to expose interpreters to various expansion techniques and apply (3-4) specific techniques as found in American Sign Language.

Medical Interpreting – What Do You Need to Know to Be Effective in These Roles?  -- This 8-hour track is proposed by Mike McKee, M.D. from Rochester, New York and Lani Crosby from Interlachen, Florida

 We will: 
1) Discuss interpreting for specific situations (ex., high visual patients, children, mental health, situational conflicts and how to handle professionally)  The participants will demonstrate a working knowledge of  5 specific and complicated situations and how to approach each in a professional manner and have a successful outcome. Participants will be divided into groups and recreate each scenario and role play effective solutions. 

2) Discussion on being realistic with the seriousness of interpreting in the medical setting.

Participants will be encouraged to take a personal analysis of their medical knowledge base, their ASL skills and the emotional fortitude the field of medical / mental health interpreting requires.  The participants will be making a personal and private list of strengths and weaknesses for them to take home and build upon. This journaling will continue the self evaluation process and assist to establish personal goals for improvement..

3) List the 5 steps of the medical care process.  We will then compare and contrast the Doctor, the Deaf and Interpreters perspectives and expectations in each step. Participants will be able to identify each of the 5 steps in the process. The participants will be able to demonstrate their understanding of each perspective and expectation by applying it to sample scenarios to better facilitate the interpreting process..

4) Teach English medical terminology and what each word means.  The participants will demonstrate their knowledge by playing a vocabulary game designed to evaluate their personal growth in this area.  They will then have a working vocabulary base from which to take home and build on.

5) Examine the ASL signs and concepts for the English words.  The participants will be able to contrast and compare 20 or more ASL signs and concepts with English words.

6) Examine and teach the medically based ASL signs and how to weave them into ASL structure and visual pictures and not just “match” English with signs. The participants will be able to take 5 medical scenarios and convert each into an accurate interpretation using ASL structure including all the visual information necessary for a complete ASL translation.

Signing Categories -- submitted by Jose Granda for 1 hour for intermediates
      Did you ever wonder why there are often so many ways to sign the same concept?  And why is one sign used in one situation but a different one used in another, when both seem to convey the same general meaning?  To help non-native signers understand the differences between various signs for the same meaning, Jose Granda has placed many signs into four categories: modern, classy, traditional and old.  These will be demonstrated and discussed to give participants a better understanding of when, where and why to use a particular sign.  Come learn the subtleties of the language from an insider.

Signs Gone Wrong:  ASL Bloopers -- submitted by Trix Bruce for 1 hour for advanced/interpreters
     Over the years, interpreters, students and teachers have shared with Trix some of the unintentionally funny things they’ve signed. We’ve all had this kind of experience. Let’s help each other make it through as we laugh at our ASL bloopers!

 “There’s No Sign for That!”: Strategies For Finding ASL Equivalence -- submitted by Donna Flanders for two hours for intermediates  
      What’s your sign for OPAQUE?  DOWNSIZING?  SIDELINED?  How often do you search for a sign for the specific word or concept you want to express and find yourself stumped? Often, there isn’t one sign for a specific word, so you need to be able to create a sign string to convey the meaning and intent (and not get too far behind the speaker!). This workshop will focus on the strategy of creating and incorporating “sign strings” to deal with complex ideas and concepts. Come and participate in this stimulating brainstorming session!

“There’s No Word for That!”: Strategies for finding English Equivalence -- submitted by Donna Flanders for 2 or 3 hours for beginners
      SICK-ME! GULP! CLOSE-THROAT! CHA-HEAD! Great signs! But what are the English equivalents? As with any language there’s not always a one-to-one translation. This workshop will review a body of ASL vocabulary generally considered “un-translatable!” We’ll investigate the meaning of the sign and learn how to brainstorm the most appropriate word or words for different situations.