Told by Ben Bahan and Sam Supalla, the best of the current generation of ASL storytellers, Bird of a Different Feather & For a Decent Living are combined in a video text accompanied by a workbook. Used in tandem outside the classroom, these tools will enhance students’ ASL comprehension.
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Bahan’s fable, Bird of a Different Feather, is about the different-looking bird within a family of eagles. Instead of accepting the bird’s differences, the eagle family tries to apply a pathological approach to raising it. This is an odyssey familiar to many Deaf people.
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In Supalla’s For a Decent Living, the protagonist is a deaf boy on a journey to find his deaf identity. Escaping from his unsympathetic hearing family, the boy faces the continuing dilemma of proving himself to his family, the Deaf community, and society at large.
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The workbook guides students to retell the stories and recognize the linguistic and cultural aspects of the ASL narratives. Linguistic and cultural notes provide students with background information leading to greater appreciation of events in each narrative.
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