ASL Texts for Consecutive Interpreting Practice
Step 2: Text in Parts
The video below has been separated into sections. Watch the entire section. Then, when the movie is done, produce an interpretation. When you are finished with your interpretation, click the arrow on the right of the video screen to go on to the next section.
This video is divided into 17 sections.
Step 3: Work with Complete Text Again
Now that you have gone through this process and worked with the sections edited for consecutive practice, try interpreting the complete text again. If you wish, you can also review the English summary of the text to support your comprehension. It is below.
The complete video is at the top of this page. Click here to return there.
English Summary
Learning about the World
Debbie tells of her experience living in Seattle and going through an earthquake. It happened sometime in the end of February. She was in her office grading papers when everything started to move. She was confused as she saw water sloshing in a class and realized it was an earthquake. She looked around a wall to see her co-worker looking out at her. She hadn’t had any experience with earthquakes and many of her students were upset. One was even kneeling and
in tears. She decided that she needed to get the students outside (although she admits she didn’t know any of the protocol for dealing with earthquakes.) She brought them out to stand between two buildings. After the quake stopped, a security officer, or someone like that, ran up to her and laid into for having done the wrong thing. Standing between a building like that could lead to bricks or other debris falling off and hitting someone. The best thing to do, she learned, was either
to stand under a door frame or to move to an open area away from any buildings.
After the quake stopped, people’s pagers started going off as everyone was trying to make sure their loved ones were all right. The earthquake had been featured on many media outlets, and the way the coverage focused on the few areas where there was damage, and not the vast majority of the city which was untouched, it made it seem like it was much worse than it really was.
Debbie at first thought it was like 10 300-lb people running down her hallway though she quickly realized it was an earthquake. It was quite an experience for Debbie to add to her list, having already been in a hurricane and blizzard. Though she still has yet to experience a tornado.
These summaries are offered for support in comprehension. They are written in third person to provide the information contained in the text, rather than a model interpretation. Use them only as a stepping stone for your own analysis and interpretation.