How to really grow food in your backyard Here I share with you the secrets that have transformed me from a gardener with a not-very-productive vegie patch, to growing most of my family's fruit and veg.
A simple composting toilet Find out how to make a really simple but effective composting toilet for very little money.
About Asphyxia
Guide to this blog Read this to help you find the posts on my blog that will be most interesting to you.
Traditional Foods My health has dramatically improved after changing my diet for a more traditional way of eating, as advised by Sally Fallon.
Food Flower Poster Forget the food pyramid! It was developed by the agricultural industry, not by nutritionists. Instead, print this Food Flower poster, which shows a visual guide to choosing nutritious and satisfying traditional foods.
Sourdough bread Recipes I make delicious sourdough bread in my bread machine - recipes and tips here.
Raw Food Should we be eating a diet of 100% raw food? Here's what I found by way of "scientific proof".
Raw garlic to cure colds & flu If you feel a cold or flu coming on, eat a whole clove of raw garlic, three times a day - it works miracles.
• Breakfast (this is like eating a bowl of cereal with a spoon - I should have just fed myself two spoonfuls in the video, not three) • Lunch (this is like eating a sandwich) • Dinner • Dessert (this sign is also used for 'pudding' and 'porridge' and sometimes for 'breakfast' too) • Hungry (note: in some states this sign means 'sexy'! this is the Melbourne version) • Thirsty • Tea • Coffee (I should have done just two shakes of the 'c' in the video) • Sugar • Honey
Note: you already learnt the words for food and drink in the lesson for baby signs. The sign for 'eat' is the same as the sign for food.
A little while ago, some Auslan students asked if they could make a video about me and my life, for a school assignment. Here it is - a lil guided tour of my home, my art studio, my journals, and my life as both a Deaf person and an artist. Have a look if you fancy. I think Angelique and Kate did a great job. And thanks to Paula who did a voice-over for those of you who can't sign.
This blog has moved! A new and updated post about this can be found here. Please update your bookmarks as this blog will be taken down soon.
Here are some signs that describe emotions:
Vocab:
• Feel / feelings • Like • Don’t like (this is the sign for like but with your facial expression you show the opposite) • Happy • Sad • Cranky/bad mood • Cry • Confused • Angry • Enjoy • Smile • Love • Hate • Fun/funny • Laugh • Bored (for the handshape, touch forefinger and thumb together to make a ring) • Pissed off (same handshape as 'bored')
In Auslan, facial expression is very important. A conversation cannot be understood by watching the hands alone. You will see in the video my face changes with every sign. When you are using these signs in conversation, your face needs to show the emotion for the signs to make sense.
In fact, the facial expression can inform the meaning of the sign. The sign LIKE is used for both LIKE and DON'T-LIKE, depending on your facial expression.
It can be difficult for English-speakers to loosen up and learn to use appropriate facial expressions in Auslan - it can feel very over-the-top. However, for Auslan signers, it can seem bizarre that an English-speaking newsreader on television will describe terrible events using a perfectly bland face.
Practise signing the above vocab, using appropriate facial expressions.
This video is hilarious. Unfortunately, it's so true. It's not just interpreters who have these kinds of stupid, STUPID conversations with people who have never thought about what it means to be Deaf. Deaf people have them too... all the time. I can really relate to this. I couldn't count the number of times I've had to respond to people like this lecturer, while trying to remain polite and gracious. I wish we had some basic education about Deafness for all school children, so that by the time they are grown up, they have sorted out how to deal with Deaf people and interpreters without being complete #!@%wits.
Here are some more signs that are often used in conversation:
Vocab:
• Interesting • Clever (I show the handshape – thumb up) • Stupid • Dangerous • Little • Big • Give • Take • Fast • Slow/long • Enough • Wait
In the video, I'm a bit over-enthusiastic in signing 'dangerous'. Really, doing two shakes of my hand is more correct. Note, this is similar to the sign for 'sorry', but with 'sorry', your fingers are more spread out. Also, when I do the sign for 'enough' I should have just done two rotations.
Learn Auslan pronouns. In Auslan, pronouns are not gender-specific. Mostly, they involve pointing at a person or object.
Vocab:
• Me (use this for ‘I’ as well) • My • Mine • You • Your • Yours • You’re • Here • There • That/he/she/it (I show three examples of pointing.)
When using these words in conversation, point to the person or thing. If the person or thing is not there, invent a location for them them in space and make sure you continue to point to the same spot for the rest of the conversation.
You might notice that it can be pretty hard to understand sign language if you come in on a conversation in the middle. That's because often a speaker will set up spaces and words at the beginning of a conversation, and then just do a lot of pointing to convey meaning after that.
Here are some signs about being deaf and using Auslan (Australian sign language):
Vocab:
• Deaf • Hearing • Sign • Language • Auslan (Australian sign language) • Fingerspell/spell • Alphabet (A-Z) • Voice • Lock your voice/voice off • Oral (this is also the sign for lipread)
There are some words and phrases here that aren't commonly used in mainstream English.
People who aren't deaf are referred to as 'hearing'. Deaf people who don't use sign language, communicating with speech and lipreading, are described as 'oral'. I grew up oral and learnt to sign when I was eighteen - this is a common situation for Deaf people in Australia.
Fingerspelling refers to manually spelling out the letters of words. If you don’t know the sign for a word, fingerspell it. In Auslan, fingerspelling is commonly used for names and places. Some words, such as 'cream' are always fingerspelled, and the fingerspelled version becomes a sort of 'sign' for that word. There are some English words for which there is no equivalent Auslan sign. In this case, you could fingerspell the word, though more fluent signers will usually find a way to visually convey the meaning of the word using Auslan signs.
Lock your voice: since Auslan has its own grammar, trying to speak English while signing can be challenging, and also make your signs difficult to understand. It’s common in Auslan to refer to ‘turning off your voice’ or ‘locking your voice’ which means that you don’t speak – just sign. However, if you are speaking English with a group of hearing people, and there is a Deaf person present, it is polite to sign whatever words you can, even if it's not using correct Auslan grammar, so that the Deaf person can get an idea of what you are talking about.
• Walk • Run • Ride a bike • Car • Drive • Train • Tram • Bus • Taxi • Plane/fly • Airport (sorry, the subtitle says 'landing'. This sign is used for both 'landing' and 'airport') • Station
Other signs that kids often embrace are colours and foods - they are covered in other lessons. For our next lesson, though, we'll get back to signs commonly used by adults.
I was a bit over-enthusiastic when signing some of these. While signing like this is not really 'wrong' and Deaf people will still understand you, it would be correct to sign 'run' with just two rotations of my arm, and 'ride a bike' should also be two cycles of pedaling with my fingers, and 'car' should be two rotations of my fists. 'Bus' should be two twists of the steering wheel. My apologies that these videos aren't perfect - I hope they'll still help you learn.
