The American sign language alphabet

Sign language alphabets are used commonly among the deaf community, and people dealing with the deaf can also make effective use of this form of communication.It is being widely used by many, and continues to develop further. Sign language alphabet, Introduced by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc at the American School for the Deaf in 1817. It is greatly influenced by the French sign language, and is very similar to it. It is termed as a 'natural language', and includes many aspects of spoken language, like syntax, pragmatics, morphology, phonology, etc. Sign language is used as a primary language by over 500,000 people in the US. Sign language alphabets, also known as Manual Alphabets, are alphabets conveyed through finger signs. They are used to convey or manually spell out letters of a word, that cannot be conveyed otherwise. For example, the title of a book or the name of a person.

Certain normsare followed while using the sign language alphabets.The hands should remain in place, and should not bounce in between letters. The hands can bounce to indicate the repetition of alphabets.The Use of a brief gap between two terms should be made to signify the start and end of the terms.The hand used for signing the alphabets should be placed at shoulder height.While signing acronyms, the alphabets should be moved in a small circle, so that they are not spelled as one word.

The Use of long fingernails and jewelry should be avoided.

Text Description 

 

A: Fold all fingers against the palm, make a fist, and hold the thumb straight.

B: Hold all fingers straight, and fold the thumb against the palm.

C: Hold all fingers in an inward curled position to form a backward 'C'.

D: Hold the index finger straight, pointing upwards, partially fold the middle, little and ring fingers, and touch the tip of the thumb to the middle finger.

E: Fold the thumb across the palm, and touch the tips of the middle, index, and ring fingers between the knuckle and tip of the thumb.

F: Hold the middle, ring, and little fingers straight pointing upwards, and touch the tip of the index finger to the tip of the thumb.

G: Fold the middle, ring, and little fingers down. Hold the thumb and the index finger straight, pointing forward.

H: Fold the ring and little finger down, and fold the thumb over them. Hold the index and middle finger straight pointing forward.

I: Fold the index, middle, and ring fingers down, and fold the thumb over them. Hold the little finger straight pointing upwards.

J: Fold the index, middle, and ring fingers down, and fold the thumb over them. Hold the little finger straight pointing upwards, and twist the hand inwards to form a 'J'.

K: Fold the ring and little fingers down, and hold the index and middle fingers straight, little apart. Hold the thumb to the middle finger pointing upwards.

L: Fold the middle, ring, and little finger down. Hold the index finger and thumb at an angle of 90 degrees.

M: Fold the little finger down, fold the thumb across it, and fold the index, middle, and ring fingers over the thumb.

N: Fold the little and index fingers down, fold the thumb across them, and fold the index and middle finger over the thumb.

O: Partially fold all the fingers, and touch the tip of the thumb to the tip of the index finger to form an 'O'.

P: Fold the ring and little fingers down, and touch the tip of the thumb to the center of the middle finger. Hold the index finger at an angle of 90 degrees to the middle finger, and twist the hand towards the left.

Q: Fold the ring and little fingers down, hold the thumb straight in front of the index finger, and hold the index finger straight pointing forward and parallel to the thumb. Bend down the middle finger across to the thumb, and turn the hand towards the left.

R: Fold the ring and little fingers, and hold them down with the thumb. Cross and hold the index and middle finger.

S: Clench the fist by folding all the fingers down across the palm, and hold the thumb across the index and middle fingers.

T: Clench the fist and hold the thumb between the index and middle fingers.

U: Fold the ring and little fingers, and hold them down by the thumb. Hold the middle and index fingers straight together, pointing upwards.

V: Fold the ring and little fingers, and hold them down by the thumb. Hold the middle and index fingers straight apart, pointing upwards.

W: Touch the tip of the little finger to the tip of the thumb, and hold the index, middle, and ring fingers straight apart, pointing upwards.

X: Fold the middle, ring, and little fingers, and hold them down by the thumb. Hold the index finger slightly bent in a curve.

Y: Fold the middle, ring, and index fingers down across the palm, and hold the little finger and thumb straight wide apart.

Z: Fold the middle, ring, and little fingers down, and fold the thumb across the middle and ring fingers. Hold the index finger straight, and move it in a motion from right to left, then left to right, and forward, and then from right to left.

 

XIV. Прокомментируйте следующие высказывания (100-150 слов):

1. Lots of people would like to have one language on our planet. However, scientists think that having only one language is a disaster.

2. The best way to learn a foreign language is to speak with native speakers.

 

XV. Напишите письмо личного характера (100-140 слов).

ü This is part of a letter from your German pen-friend.

… I find it a bit difficult to understand English grammar. What about you? Do you do grammar exercises? Do you think it`s necessary to remember all grammar rules? Have you got any plans for the summer I was thinking of going to a language school in the UK to improve my English. It would be a lot more fun if we went together. What do you think? Anyway, I have to go now as I`m helping my Dad in the shop.   Hope to hear from you soon. All the best, Kerstin.

Write back to Kerstin. In your letter:

ü answer her questions;

ü ask 3 questions about the trip to the UK.

 

ü This is part of a letter from Jenny, your English pen-friend.

…I`m getting ready for my exams at the moment. It`s rather difficult for me to remember all the necessary rules. And when do you have exams in Russia? Do you find it easy to revise? Do you study at night? Is there any advice you could give me? And another thing! My parents say you could come and visit us in summer. Would you like to?...

     Write back to Jenny. In your letter:

ü answer her questions;

ü ask 3 questions about the trip to England.

 

XVI. Составьте письмо с просьбой о приеме на работу (100-140 слов).

You`ve seen the following advertisement in The Student News.

ENGLISH SCHOLARSHIPS Manchester International College is offering ten scholarships for students of English living outside the UK. The scholarship covers the fees for a three-week summer course. Courses are run in July and August. The offer is open to students with a language level between intermediate and advanced. Applicants should be between 12 and 18 years old. To apply give a description of yourself and tell us why you would like to visit the UK. Manchester International College, 425 Wilmslow Road, Manchester, UK

Write a letter to answer the advertisement.In your letter:

ü explain why you decided to write;

ü describe your education and experience;

ü ask about accommodation and the timetable.

 

 

Theme 2.The image of modern life in Russia and abroad

I. Переведите текст и выберите наиболее подходящий для него заголовок:

a. Full-time education.

b. Information Technology.

c. Lifelong learning.

Twenty years ago, many university students believed that once they had graduated, their education was complete. They would get a job and all they had to do was to work hard with the same employer until it was time to retire and rest after long years of work. Today, work isn’t like that. In the modern world, most young people must expect to change employers several times in their working lives. Many of them will possibly become self-employed, running their own businesses. Th It means that throughout people’s lives they will need to acquire new knowledge and skills from the time they leave full-time education until after they retire. This lifelong learning is necessary because the world of work is changing a lot faster than it used to. For example, nowadays employers often employ staff only on short-term contracts to complete a certain job. This keeps their costs down. Once the job is over, the employees have to look for another organization to employ them on other jobs. Aisha, who is married, has two teenage children. She has a BSc in Information Technology (IT) and she would like to go back to work when her children leave home. She wants to catch up with the latest developments in IT and wants to get a Master’s degree in the subject. She can’t leave her family and become a student at a university abroad. What can she do? The answer for Aisha is “distance learning”. Aisha heard of an organization that offered distance learning to students all over the world. The teacher and student are in different places. She enrolled on one of its MSc courses and was delighted with the teaching methods. Aisha’s professors communicated regularly. In the next two years Aisha hopes to get her Master’s degree via using e-mail and video conferencing to get her degree.

Ø Are these sentences TRUE or FALSE? Justify.

1. People won’t have the same job all their life.

2. Employers save money by recruiting workers for a limited period of time.

 

Ø Answer these questions.

1. What is “distance learning”?

2. How does Aisha interact with her teachers?

 

Ø Complete these sentences from the text.

1 __ is learning that goes on for life, from the time you leave full-time education until after you retire.

2. Aisha is studying again so as to __and __.

 

Ø What do the underlined words in the text refer to?

a. they (p.1) ……………

b. the subject (p.3)……………

 

Ø Find words in the text that mean the same as:

1. Think or believe something will happen (p.1)

2. Be a member of a course, college (p.4)

 

II. Исправьте ошибки и обсудите:

- Why people choose to use mobile phones and some are against them?

- Is it a good idea to bring phones to school\university?

- What other means of communication are popular nowadays?

COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Much has been said about how anti-social the internet and mobile fones are. The truth arehowever, according to new research, comunicationteknology is bringing peoples closer together. A study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found family members were keeping in regular contact today more then ever before. And these is all due to e-mail, chat, our cellphones and SMS messaging. It make sense. Years ago, it took a long time to write a letter, then find an envelope and go to the post ofice to buy a stamp and post it. Today we write mails while we wait for our change in the convenience store and they are send in an instant. Having free Internet telephone calls also helps us to stay in touch more often and for longer. Everyone is at it, from five-year-olds to tech-savvy grandparents.

Acording to the Pew survey, technology has a very positive effect on communication within families. Researchers asked 2,252 adults weather new technologies had increased the quality of communication with their family. Fifty-three per cent said it increased communication with family members they did not live with, two per cent said technology decreased this. Numbers were similar for those living in the same house as their family.

The project derector Lee Rainey said: "There's a new kind of connectedness being built inside of families with this technologies." Survey co-author Barry Wellman agreed: "It used to be that husbands went off to work, wives went off to a different job or else stayed home… and the kids went off to school … and not until 5.30, 6 o'clock did they ever connect," he said.

III. Заполнитепропуски: numbers, problems,missing letters,treatment,month, understand,lives

The British love sending text messages. They send more than 2.5 billion every month. And most people now __ the language of text, with its __ and __. Although texting is a convenient and cheap method of staying in touch with your friends, it can also bring __. In 2005, a British teenager became the first person in the world to receive __ for an addiction to text messaging. In one year, the nineteen-tear-old spent about £ 4,500 on texts. He was also addicted to e-mail and sent 8,000 messages in one __

from his computer at work. The treatment is working well, however, and now he spends no more than

£ 10 a week on texts. For some people, text messaging has changed their __. For example, James Trusler from England travels around the world taking part in texting compwetitions and TV shows.

IV. Примитеучастиевопросе. Дайтеполныеразвернутыеответынавопросы.

Electronic assistant: Hello! We`d like to find out the role of the mass media in the life of modern students. We kindly ask you to take part in our survey. Please answer six questions. The survey is anonymous. So let`s start. What kind ofmass media do you know?

Student: ____

Electronic assistant: How often do you watch TV? Which programs?

Student: ____

Electronic assistant: If you want to know the news, where do you learn it?

Student: ____

Electronic assistant: Can we trust all information we get on TV and Internet?

Student: ____

Electronic assistant: How many hours a day do you use the Internet? For what purposes?

Student: ____

Electronic assistant: Do you think modern generation has got the Internet addiction?

Student: ____

Electronic assistant: This is the end of the survey. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

 

V. Выберите нужное слово и дополните текст: