Animate, Elaborate…

Class last night was dreadfully hot - no air conditioning or fan, and the windows did not even open. Being stuck on the 4th floor of an old building with poor ventilation made it really hard to concentrate on the 3 hours of material presented.

We are working on classifiers in story telling. Mr. G's parting words were that we all needed practice. We need to be more animated when we describe situations and tell stories. We need to elaborate more and paint a colorful picture for our deaf viewers. Since they cannot hear the tone of voice or oral emphasis, we need to show this with our movements. This makes perfect sense, in theory. It is the execution that I struggle with.

I am generally an introverted person. You will never catch me as the center of attention in any situation. I hate it when people sing to me at restaurants on my birthday and I never speak in front of crowds. I have always tried to "blend in" and work better "behind the scenes" in situations. I clam up if more than 3 people are listening to me. It makes me very incomfortable to have all those eyes on me. I feel exposed and analyzed. I hate it.

Therefore, the thought of over-exaggerating my movements and facial expressions is something I struggle with. I am getting better with facial expressions. It is the body animation that I will struggle with. It is natural for deafies, but for a shy hearie it is all new. All part of personal growth I guess…