Microteaching

Masters Portfolio
Applied Linguistics and English as a Second Language
Jonathan Shive
This workshop was presented to the Forsyth County School interpreters in
Cumming, Georgia on May 29, 2014. The workshop is related to the American Sign
Language grammatical feature of Classifiers. Classifiers are a feature in the language
where a handshape is established and represents various parts of speech and can be acted
upon in the 3D environment. These can represent nouns and then be used to depict its
action, manner and location in space. Classifiers can also be used as descriptors, as
adjectives, detailing and describing objects. Classifiers are a critical aspect of the
language and enhance the three dimensionality of the language. The use of space in ASL
is sometimes a difficult concept to grasp for non-native users of the language and
workshops on the subject are highly sought after.
For the workshop, the presentation was conducted in American Sign Language.
Presentations about a specific language are best conducted in that language for the benefit
and learning of the attendees. The whole presentation was 7 hours long. This
microteaching is only a snippet of 22 minutes of the first portion. For equal access to the
language, I have replayed the video and made an ASL to English interpretation of myself,
so those who do not understand ASL can still understand the microteaching. Here is the
URL for the YouTube website page https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=7BWiDX3zS7k&list=UUgfiCEtQY_z6Ro8KsZf8R2g
Below you will find a Viewers Guide to the video. It is divided into time frames for easy
access to content and topics for quick reference.

Viewers Guide
0:00-2:17

Introduction to Classifiers, Group discussion

2:18-8:05

GLOSSING; Writing in ASL, How to notate a 3D language in writing

8:06-11:34

Definition of Classifiers, The use of Classifiers, Handshape variation,

Variation of one Handshape and Multiple translations

11:35-16:16

Grammar use of Classifiers, Word order

16:17-19:03

Classifiers and their parts of speech (N, V, ADJ, ADV, PRON, and PREP)

19:04-22:09

The 8 Types of Classifiers, 1) Descriptive