Good ASL storytellers use specific tools to better convey the story and engage their audience. Consider what you have learned about good storytelling and what specific techniques are used. There are eight main elements discussed in this unit, some of which are particular to ASL. Choose a short popular story you enjoy and pretend you’re preparing to tell it in ASL. For each ASL storytelling technique discussed, explain in which scene or part of the story you would use each of the techniques to make your narration more engaging. Being able to understand the meaning of a conversation that contains unfamiliar words or expressions is not an easy skill but is one that will certainly be useful to you in your day-to-day life. To determine the meaning of an unknown expression, you must logically think about the information you have, the context in which the sentence is said, and how the expression fits in with the dialogue. Following are some lesser known idiomatic expressions highlighted in bold. Try to develop a plausible meaning for each of them based on logic, reasoning, and context clues.
The girl sat in silence for what seemed like hours. Her sister finally grew impatient and asked, “You haven’t said a word. This situation is very strange for me too but I would like us to talk about it. A penny for your thoughts?”
Terry struggled to get the machine working for a good half hour. Finally, he gave up and asked for Marie’s help.
“I thought you’d never ask! You just need to put this here, that there, rotate this one and…Bob’s your uncle!”, Marie explained while tweaking a couple of things in the machine.
“Just like that?!” blurted Terry, almost resenting the easy way in which she’d fixed it.
The three friends looked around. They were officially lost. There was nothing but abandoned houses and empty streets ahead of them. Suddenly they hear a voice. “Well, well, what do we have here? I don’t often see visitors. What brought you to my neck of the woods?” The figure of an old man slowly emerged from one of the houses.

Carefully watch the video and then re-tell it from the mother’s point of view. Describe exactly what happened and what the mother saw when she entered the room. Provide as many details as possible.
Based on everything you have learned about ASL and language, explain how you can differentiate between statements, questions, rhetorical questions, and commands in ASL.
Bea is writing a story about a school girl who has straight As and a perfect life. As she reads the story to a friend, she notices that the story falls quite flat and doesn’t evoke the type of connection and emotions she was hoping for. How could Bea improve her story? What elements could she add, remove, or tweak to get readers interested in the story and invested in the character?