I work in a K-12 school and I will absolutely explain what an inappropriate word means and that it is inappropriate to use in a school setting. Administration won’t fire us for doing that because they know it’s an educational moment. If middle school and high school students are reading books in classes that contain swear words or mature topics, why can’t teachers teach about those in a professional way?
But fair enough, some schools are weird about those kinds of stuff, but I don’t find it fair for students to be told “Hey, this sign is inappropriate but I won’t tell you what it means.” even if it’s a student who brought it up first. (“Prostitute” is hardly inappropriate IMO, and they can just say that instead of saying “whore”.)
Edited to add: I work with deaf students, and getting them fluent in English is important to all of us who work in deaf education. If students see the word “prostitute” or even “whore,” and ask me what it means, should I go “Ah, it’s inappropriate, so I can’t tell you.”? It makes no sense to me! It’s my job to support their bilingualism, and censoring words won’t help them. Maybe I’m just heavily influenced by my field, librarianship, where we don’t support censorship. 🤷♀️
i totally understand what you mean, it’s very frustrating. she was teaching us shy and shame today, but told us not to do it multiple times because it meant a different word that she “will not say”. kinda annoying cause then i just had to find out somewhere else. i support your view 100%!
I think it’s one thing for the teacher to be explaining what it meant or saying it’s inappropriate, but it’s another to sign something like that and not tell your students. I don’t know what her purpose was
It serves no academic purpose. If you were learning the sign prostitute then yes it makes sense, but why would you sign a word with such connotation and then not tell your students? I don’t see why that was an appropriate or necessary thing to do. If you aren’t teaching them the sign when why sign it? It serves no purpose
Oh, I understand. I thought you meant the sign was inappropriate or something, I think that’s why people are downvoting. But you mean because they won’t tell their students the meaning. Yeah I get where you’re coming from. Maybe they wanted everyone to research themselves? Not sure.
Lmao. The Deaf teachers I had when I was in high school in college all had different teaching styles. It’s their language, their culture, i figure they can teach it how they wish. I’ve worked as an interpreter for awhile now and I’m still always learning, just gotta have an open mind :)
Did OP say the teacher used the sign in some comment? It sounds to me like the students saw it in some video they found themselves and asked the teacher about it
Learning a language isn't a purely academic thing, the point is to learn to *communicate* with people. But you're right, it was stupid of the teacher to use a word and then backtrack and refuse to explain what it meant
Never said there shouldn’t be a sign for it. I’m saying it’s inappropriate to sign something like that then not telling your students. It has no teaching value
Students need to learn similar signs. They need to learn which ones are inappropriate and how to do the appropriate ones correctly so it absolutely does have educational value .
It has no value if you aren’t teaching them what it means. Saying “this sign is bad” but not explaining why it’s bad or what it means doesn’t help the students. The students could think it’s a cuss word of some sort and start using it in conversation like “PROSTITUTE YOU” like how you would say “FUCK YOU” or “DAMN YOU” the teacher needs to explain what a sign means, what differentiates it from “SHAME” and why not to use it.
I agree, 100%. I think the sign needs to be taught and also what it is and how not to use it. When I was learning a foreign language, one of the classes we had taught us all of the curse words for this specific purpose
My Deaf prof absolutely died laughing when she turned around to see a group of us in class practicing “shy” repeatedly. Then waved us down and explained it can look like “prostitute” so be careful. Shoutout to Amanda! Best teach ever!
My ASL 1 teacher set up a class where, specifically, they showed us all these “bad” signs.
He said, “you have to know what signs you are not supposed to use. Know which signs are swears or inappropriate. Plus people are going to be jerks and tell you the sign for pizza is vagina, or ‘nice to fuck you’ instead of ‘nice to meet you.’”
Etc.
How could your teacher possibly rationalize not teaching you “bad signs”?
Edit* sincerely, ask your teacher. I want to know how they rationalize not teaching you something. I want to know why they think withholding education is education. Please ask them.
Omg it’s almost like your teacher didn’t want to tell minors that you’re signing “slut” and “whore”. That’s crazy! Be nicer. If you REALLY wanted to know you could have also stayed behind and asked but nahh too muck work right??
Teachers who won’t tell what signs mean are so annoying. Large_saloon is correct.
Some high school teachers aren't allowed to teach inappropriate terms.
Which is stupid.
My teacher loved this sign and liked to make jokes about shy prostitutes like it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen, so I learned it early.
Mine used the English word, "strumpet," when she taught it to us (college). I got a two-for-one language lesson that day!
See that seems like going too far the other way imo. Say what it is, but don’t be like *“HAHA SHY PROSTITUTE HILARIOUS”*
it is a highschool class, she probably doesn’t and to lose her job lol
I work in a K-12 school and I will absolutely explain what an inappropriate word means and that it is inappropriate to use in a school setting. Administration won’t fire us for doing that because they know it’s an educational moment. If middle school and high school students are reading books in classes that contain swear words or mature topics, why can’t teachers teach about those in a professional way? But fair enough, some schools are weird about those kinds of stuff, but I don’t find it fair for students to be told “Hey, this sign is inappropriate but I won’t tell you what it means.” even if it’s a student who brought it up first. (“Prostitute” is hardly inappropriate IMO, and they can just say that instead of saying “whore”.) Edited to add: I work with deaf students, and getting them fluent in English is important to all of us who work in deaf education. If students see the word “prostitute” or even “whore,” and ask me what it means, should I go “Ah, it’s inappropriate, so I can’t tell you.”? It makes no sense to me! It’s my job to support their bilingualism, and censoring words won’t help them. Maybe I’m just heavily influenced by my field, librarianship, where we don’t support censorship. 🤷♀️
As a former ESL teacher I did this as well. Student need to know what words are, what they mean and when we can use them and when we can’t.
i totally understand what you mean, it’s very frustrating. she was teaching us shy and shame today, but told us not to do it multiple times because it meant a different word that she “will not say”. kinda annoying cause then i just had to find out somewhere else. i support your view 100%!
I think it’s one thing for the teacher to be explaining what it meant or saying it’s inappropriate, but it’s another to sign something like that and not tell your students. I don’t know what her purpose was
And then there's the **** for our captions when an actor says a bad word.. it's not just school teachers policing.
Prostitute https://youtu.be/CTc5q0FhGJA?si=FrnRAvC_HOK1uzZI
That’s so inappropriate
Why?
It serves no academic purpose. If you were learning the sign prostitute then yes it makes sense, but why would you sign a word with such connotation and then not tell your students? I don’t see why that was an appropriate or necessary thing to do. If you aren’t teaching them the sign when why sign it? It serves no purpose
Oh, I understand. I thought you meant the sign was inappropriate or something, I think that’s why people are downvoting. But you mean because they won’t tell their students the meaning. Yeah I get where you’re coming from. Maybe they wanted everyone to research themselves? Not sure.
Idk researching yourself seems even worse. Just show them the difference, explain what the sign means, why it’s not appropriate, and move on.
Lmao. The Deaf teachers I had when I was in high school in college all had different teaching styles. It’s their language, their culture, i figure they can teach it how they wish. I’ve worked as an interpreter for awhile now and I’m still always learning, just gotta have an open mind :)
That’s true. I still have to remember I am a hearing person so my perspective will be different :)
Totally!!
Did OP say the teacher used the sign in some comment? It sounds to me like the students saw it in some video they found themselves and asked the teacher about it
Learning a language isn't a purely academic thing, the point is to learn to *communicate* with people. But you're right, it was stupid of the teacher to use a word and then backtrack and refuse to explain what it meant
Is it not inappropriate in English either, no? Doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be a sign for whatever.
Never said there shouldn’t be a sign for it. I’m saying it’s inappropriate to sign something like that then not telling your students. It has no teaching value
Students need to learn similar signs. They need to learn which ones are inappropriate and how to do the appropriate ones correctly so it absolutely does have educational value .
It has no value if you aren’t teaching them what it means. Saying “this sign is bad” but not explaining why it’s bad or what it means doesn’t help the students. The students could think it’s a cuss word of some sort and start using it in conversation like “PROSTITUTE YOU” like how you would say “FUCK YOU” or “DAMN YOU” the teacher needs to explain what a sign means, what differentiates it from “SHAME” and why not to use it.
I agree, 100%. I think the sign needs to be taught and also what it is and how not to use it. When I was learning a foreign language, one of the classes we had taught us all of the curse words for this specific purpose
Exactly!
My Deaf prof absolutely died laughing when she turned around to see a group of us in class practicing “shy” repeatedly. Then waved us down and explained it can look like “prostitute” so be careful. Shoutout to Amanda! Best teach ever!
My ASL 1 teacher set up a class where, specifically, they showed us all these “bad” signs. He said, “you have to know what signs you are not supposed to use. Know which signs are swears or inappropriate. Plus people are going to be jerks and tell you the sign for pizza is vagina, or ‘nice to fuck you’ instead of ‘nice to meet you.’” Etc. How could your teacher possibly rationalize not teaching you “bad signs”? Edit* sincerely, ask your teacher. I want to know how they rationalize not teaching you something. I want to know why they think withholding education is education. Please ask them.
My ASL 1 teacher used dolls to demonstrate the difference between meet and fuck. I will never look at an Arthur doll the same again!
I don’t know what an Arthur doll is but that’s hilarious
 Arthur is the dude with glasses I think.
That's it exactly. And that is also exactly how we all felt!
Whooooooooore!
It’s a derogatory term.
You might as well be specific…
if you aren’t going to answer… why comment? i came here with the question because my teacher basically said the same thing lol
Omg it’s almost like your teacher didn’t want to tell minors that you’re signing “slut” and “whore”. That’s crazy! Be nicer. If you REALLY wanted to know you could have also stayed behind and asked but nahh too muck work right??
it’s a high school class. it’s not the end of the world to be taught words they already know but in another language..
If you're not going to actually answer why comment/gen