Getting Started
- Online sign language dictionaries
- We like the ASL Dictionary app by Software Studies LLC. The reasons we like this app are that (a) it works for iPhones, iPads, and Android phones and tablets; (b) it can be used offline (without an internet connection, meaning you don’t need to drain your data or search for a signal out in the forest); and (c) it allows users to mark and save “favorites,” which is very useful for teachers planning their next lessons.
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Our Latin-teaching pal Natasha has provided us with a list of her top five online ASL dictionaries:
1. www.ASLSearch.com – You may have to pay $20 for a year’s subscription for this site, but it is definitely worth it. It has great videos, and most importantly, it has a very easy way to search for words (much easier than the rest of the sites).
2. www.aslpro.com – This site often has vocabulary that the first site does not, but it is not as search friendly and sometimes the videos are a bit faster than I’d like. But it is free & easy to use!
3. lifeprint.com – This site doesn’t have as many signs as the other two, but the author often includes varies signs for the same thing & explanations as to what might be preferred in the deaf community or how the sign originated.
4. www.signingsavvy.com – This site is useful for when you can’t find a particular word on one of the other sites. I’m sure if you become a member there are additional resources that would prove very helpful, but that is not something that I have explored yet. I don’t find this website as easy to navigate as #1 because you have to search by letter and then by word, which takes longer.
5. www.handspeak.com – I really only use this site when the others let me down or disagree about a particular sign. I think it’s probably a pretty decent site, but it was the last one I found, so I don’t use it as often. We humans do love familiarity, after all.
- Technique descriptions
- Our Techniques Handout provides a one-page list of 21 WAYK techniques that are great for new players to start with.
- Universal Speed Curriculum
- Our Universal Speed Curriculum Description is a document designed to guide teachers and language teams to help determine which high-mileage vocabulary, grammar, and question-answer sequences may be followed—and in which sequence—to quickly move learners into basic conversations in the target language. Please note that this document is a guideline and not a prescription; languages are different and many will have grammar or vocabulary that should be substituted in or out of the document we have provided. Part of the fun of WAYK is figuring out what is needed for your target language!
Planning Documents
- Charter for Where Are Your Keys? Language Fluency Game Workshop, February 20th and 21st, 2010, Portland, OR
- This charter is a sample of how a language team might set goals for their time together.
Universal Speed Curricula Samples
Community-maintained Resources
These resources are not maintained by WAYK staff, but instead, by our wonderful community of WAYK players around the world!
- The WAYK Google Group is a forum where WAYK players around the world post questions and provide feedback to each other on how to play the game. If you have a specific question about how to play WAYK, this is the best place to ask it.
- The WAYK wiki is not always available, but when it is, it’s a great place to find Universal Speed Curricula and other documents for a wide range of languages.
Nice collection!
Are these guides maintained (errors corrected, additions made)?
If so, the Spanish curriculum has these errors/omissions:
Page 2: “¿Es esa una piedra?” (top of page) has a blank space between “un” and “a” in “una”
Page 5: The rectangle of “have” has no “you all have”
Page 12: The rectangle with “trade” blocks out part of the headline.