Making Major Decisions - Discussing

Housing and Cars

Unit 23ASL III

IntroductionLife is full of decisions that range from as simple as what to eat at a restaurant to as complex as where to live. For major decisions people make lists of pros and cons, gather information, and solicit the opinions of experts or of family and friends. Making major decisions is a process. Everyone can describe what they went through to make a decision like choosing a college or a career, moving to another city or state, getting married, getting a divorce, having a baby, buying a car, finding an apartment, or buying a house.

Goal of the UnitThis unit is to help you expand your vocabulary and develop conversational fluency by encouraging you to discuss your experiences. You will develop skills enabling you to talk about the choices you had at the beginning, the criteria you used to evaluate options, what you chose, and how you felt about the decisions you made. Then you will use those same skills to retell information told to you by others. You will rehearse conversation skills such as asking for clarification, elaborating, and sharing opinions.

Preparing Your Narrative: Telling about

a Major Decision In order to prepare to sign a narrative about a major life decision you have made, use the following Narrative Structure:

1.Explain the situation. 2.Explain the problems/issues. 3.Tell what experiences/information

you drew on to plan the next step. 4.Tell how you arrived at your decision. 5.Tell how you feel about your decision

now.

Discussing Housing: Vocabulary

Discussing Housing:

COUNTRY+AREA - “in the countryside, rural”

VIEW - “having a nice view”

QUIET - “peaceful, quiet”COOL - “wonderful, neat,

swell, cool”L+(initialized) -

“landlord, landlady”AREA - “neighborhood”LARGE - “roomy or a

comfortable size”LARGEalt. - “extremely

large or huge”

Discussing Housing: Vocabulary

Comments about Lack of:

NOT+ENOUGH - “not having enough of”

SCARCE - “to make the best of what little you have”

Discussing Housing: Vocabulary

Comments about Cost/Rent:

CHEAP - “inexpensive, cheap”

MEDIUM - “reasonable, average for that area”

NOT+BAD - “not bad, within range”

EXPENSIVE - “expensive, costly”

Describing a House (basic objects)

Watch this video of a cute Deaf girl explaining the main rooms and features of a house. Take notice of the signs and classifiers she uses to describe different rooms and objects. Also take note of the energy and expression in her signing (big, exaggerated signs).

*Note: captions are available in this video. Just click on the ‘cc’ icon in the lower right hand corner.

Describing a House (furniture classifiers)

Watch this video as a review of some basic classifiers you can use to describe furniture and objects in the house. Notice that each handshape can represent a variety of different objects, based on the characteristics of that object.

*Note: captions are available in this video. Just click on the ‘cc’ icon in the lower right hand corner.

Describing a House (details and features)

Watch this video of a man describing a nice house. Take notice of the signs and classifiers he uses to describe different objects, features, room height/shape, etc. Also take note of the directional signs he uses to go to one room to the next, in an order that makes sense (i.e. starting on the outside of the house, rooms left-right (or vice versa), then moving upstairs, etc.).

*Note: You can adjust the speed of this video by clicking on the settings (gear) icon.

“Looking for a House”1. What 3 criteria did Ken and his

wife agree on when searching for a house?

must be located in Riverside, a city near Los Angeles; the house must have 4 bedrooms; and the area must be safe enough for their children to play outside

2. What advice did Ken’s father give him? Why?

to buy a used house so he would not need to buy new appliances, window coverings, fence, paint and light bulbs that he would need to buy had he purchased a new house

3. Why did they decide against buying a 2-story, 4 bedroom house they saw and liked?

it would have been a hassle to climb up and down the stairs especially when they get to be older

4. What did they finally decide on?a brand new 1 level 4 bedroom house

5. How did he feel about his new home?

he loved it, however, now that they have 4 children, the house is getting cramped

In this video, Ken tells about his experiences searching for a new house in Riverside, California. Read the questions before viewing the video. Then, see how much information you understand and view the answers.

Discussing Cars: Vocabulary

Parts of a Car:

ENGINECLUTCHTRANSMISSIONCYLINDERSSTICK SHIFTAUTOMATIC

(transmission)

*The words “tires” and “brakes” are fingerspelled. “Air conditioning” is abbreviated “fs-AC”.

Car FeaturesCar Features• engine

number of cylinderskind of driveautomatic or stick shift

• gas mileage• tires• brakes• additional features

windowssideview mirrorssteeringlocksseatsroofinstrument panel

air conditioning/heating

radio/tape or CD player cup holdersdigital or analog

Car FeaturesMore Car Features

SMALL

CHEAP

EASY PARK

FAST

LARGE

FANCY

ROOMY

COMFORTABLE

ALL-INCLUSIVE

Talking about Car Problems: Vocabulary

Problems with Cars:

BARE - “bald or bare tires”

EAT-FAST fs-GAS - “uses up a lot of gas”

STALL - “engine repeatedly stalls”

CAR BREAK-DOWN - “car breaks down”

“blow the engine”

Talking about Car Problems: Vocabulary

Here are some examples of signs used to evaluate the function of car parts and features.

Excellent condition!GOOD!!SWELL!

Somewhere in the middleBADLOUSYTROUBLE

Not functioning at allBREAKDOWNBROKEN#NG (no-good)

Talking about Car Problems: Vocabulary

BAD - describing something whose quality is so bad or defective that it can be dangerous to use or operate, e.g., brakes that are so seriously defective it is unsafe to drive the car, tires that are so bald it’s unsafe to drive, etc.

LOUSY - referring to something that doesn’t work well or is of poor quality, e.g., lousy brakes, car chair, paint, etc.

TROUBLE++ - referring to something that has caused problems repeatedly, requiring you to send the car to the shop for repairs often, e.g., windshield wipers not working right, problems with the brakes, etc. Note: When we say “I’m having problems with my clutch,” or “my starter is giving me problems,” the sign TROUBLE++ is the best translation for the word “problem.”

Talking about Car Problems: Vocabulary

Here are some examples of signs used to evaluate the function of car parts and features.

car engine• ENGINE !GOOD! • ENGINE !SWELL!• ENGINE BREAKDOWN• ENGINE, ENGINE-STALLED++,

ME TRY #FIX, SEND-TO fs-SHOP, JUST-THE-SAME ENGINE-STALLED++. TROUBLE++

• The sign TROUBLE++ would be used for these types of engine problems as well.

• CAR HARD START• CAR SCL:B“jerky”• CAR (2h)LCL:B “sides of

car vibrating”

*We can’t use either !BAD! or !LOUSY! to describe the condition of an engine. • !BAD! - an engine that is not

functioning properly or continues to stall is not considered dangerous. Instead, it is seen as a nuisance so this sign should not be used for “engine.”

• !LOUSY! - an engine is either functioning adequately or not at all, so it is unlikely we would consider engine problems a result of “poor quality.”

(teacher’s book p. 200-202)

Talking about Car Problems: Vocabulary

Here are some examples of signs used to evaluate the function of car parts and features.

tires• TIRES !GOOD! • TIRES #NG (no good)• TIRES DCL “bald” ANY+TIME

EXPLODE. !BAD!

*We can also use !LOUSY! or TROUBLE++ to evaluate tires in specific instances. • !LOUSY! - when complaining

about the quality of the tire, e.g., buying cheap tires.

• TROUBLE++ - possible when talking about a tire with a slow leak that requires one to put air in the tire regularly.

Talking about Car Problems: Vocabulary

Here are some examples of signs used to evaluate the function of car parts and features.

windshield wipers• WINDOW (2h) LCL:1 “wipe

windshield” !GOOD! • WINDOW (2h) LCL:1 “wipe

windshield” BROKEN

• WINDOW (2h) LCL:1 “wipers move erratically” !LOUSY!

*We can also use !BAD! or TROUBLE++ to evaluate tires in specific instances. • !BAD! - when discussing a

windshield wiper that doesn’t wipe away the water. The driver can not see the road, creating a dangerous situation.

• TROUBLE++ - when the windshield wipers behave erratically, and attempts to repair the problem are unsuccessful.

Describing a Car (basic objects)

Watch this video describing some basic car signs, names for some popular models of cars, and other car features. Take notice of the signs and classifiers she uses to describe different vehicles and their features.

“Buying a Car”1. Why did Byron decide to buy a new car?

His old truck had a V-8 engine, it was a gas guzzler and it was getting more expensive to purchase gas for the truck.

2. What specific things did Byron want in a new car?A small car, economical with gas, has automatic transmission, power windows, sunroof, power seats (?), cup holder, and the car has to cost less than $15,000 or require no more than $250 a month to pay.

3. Where did he go look for cars?Chevrolet, Toyota, and Nissan

4. Why didn’t he like the one model they showed him at Chevrolet?

You had to crank up the windows manually, the car didn’t have a sunroof, and the air conditioning wasn’t strong enough

5. Which car did he finally decide on?A Nissan model

6. Why did he choose that Particular car?

This car has everything - it has good power and most importantly, he only has to pay $250 a month.

7. How did he feel about the new car?

He love it very much… it’s a good car!

In this video, Byron explains why and how he arrived at his decision to buy a Nissan model. Read the questions before viewing the video. Then, see how much information you understand and view the answers.

ReviewThroughout this presentation, you have learned the following:

• Narrative Structure:

1. Explain the situation. 2. Explain the problems/issues. 3. Tell what experiences/information you drew on to plan

the next step. 4. Tell how you arrived at your decision. 5. Tell how you feel about your decision now.

• Discussing Housing

• Discussing Cars