ASL Texts for Consecutive Interpreting Practice

My Friend the Mouse

In this text, Debbie explains about staying at her friend’s house and meeting another friend of the mouse variety.

Step 1:  Complete Text

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 13 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

My Friend the Mouse

Debbie tells a story of staying with her friend Diane Holte for a short time when she moved to Minnesota to work with a federal grant. Diane was upset because of a mouse infestation in her home. The mice were chewing her wooden forks and spoons and leaving droppings all over. Debbie was there a week before she had to start work to get settled. During that time, Diane asked Debbie to get some mouse traps. Debbie went to the store, got directions on how to set them up, but wasn’t able to set them up—leaving it up to Diane. Diane finally did set the trap, but the mice must have been too smart because none were caught over night. One morning, Debbie felt something on her pillow only to discover a cute, little mouse. She was too soft-hearted to kill the mouse, so she put some cheese in a shoe box and trapped it. Then she drove out to a grassy area to set it free. But after letting it go, she felt guilty because it was a dewy, cold morning. So she turned around, put it back in a box and took it to a nearby restaurant with a large dumpster. When she told Diane about this, Diane was furious with her and wanted to know the name of the restaurant. Debbie told her, and Diane pledged to never go to that restaurant. Debbie wasn’t too concerned about Diane’s anger because she just couldn’t get the look of that cute, little mouse out of her mind.


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.