Fall 2025 Schedule:
Language Dinners:
Monday: 7-7:30 pm
Tuesday: 6-6:30 pm
Wednesday: 7-7:30 pm
Thursday: 6-6:30 pm
Friday: Signing Lunch @ 1:00 pm in Newcomb Pav
Language Corner:
Tuesday: 6:30-7:30 pm
Welcome to Shea House's American Sign Language (ASL) Pod!
2025-2026
Week 1: Painting Door Decorations!
Week 2: Speed Friending
ASL pod members paired up and answered random rapid-fire prompts using sign language to get to know their fellow pod members more!
Week 3: ASL Game Night!
Pod members gathered together to play a variety of games using sign! (HeadBandz, Bingo, Telephone, etc.)
Week 4: Kenyan Global Exchange Program
Pod members become "video pen pals" with deaf children in Kenya, learning more about Kenyan Sign Language!
Week 5: International Sign Charades
In honor of International Week of Deaf People, we learned international signs and brought them to life through a Charades-style game where pod members guessed each one.
Week 6: Baking Cookies!
ASL pod members test their receptive signing skills by following signed instructions for a chocolate chip cookie recipe!
Week 7: ASL Karaoke!
The ASL Pod hosted an ASL Karaoke Language Corner, where participants signed the lyrics to popular songs instead of singing them. The event encouraged expressive signing, creativity, and fun while celebrating Deaf culture through music.
Week 8: Signing Lunch Semester Event!
The ASL Pod at Shea continues the ASL department’s weekly tradition by hosting a signing lunch at Shea! Current ASL students and staff as well as former ASL students and Shea House pod members gathered in the Shea lobby to practice their expressive and receptive signing skills while eating yummy food.
Week 9: Guest Speaker Erin Moriarty Visits Shea!
ASL department’s newest professor Erin Moriarty joins Shea House pod members and ASL students in the Shea classroom to discuss her research and experiences as a deaf professor since teaching at UVA.
Week 10: Halloween: ASL-Theme!
Shea pod members gather to learn Halloween-related signs, play scary bingo with their new-found vocabulary, and answer spooky would-you-rather questions in celebration of this terrifying holiday!
Week 12: Jeopardy!
This week, the ASL pod played Jeopardy, using their knowledge and signing skills to answer questions about American Sign Language, UVA's ASL department, and Deaf history!
2024-2025
Week 1: Painting!
2023-2024
Week 1: Baking in ASL!
ASL pod members baked chocolate chip cookies (vegan, of course) together!
Week 2: Game Night!
ASL pod members played Headbanz as a group, guessing and giving clues in ASL.
Week 3: Sign Languages Across Cultures 2.0!
ASL pod members learned French Sign Language (LSF) and Mexican Sign Language (LSM), fingerspelling their names and practicing basic signs.
Week 4: ASL Valentines!
ASL pod members made and exchanged valentines, some in the "I love you" handshape!
Week 5: ASL in film!
ASL pod members watched the 1986 film Children of a Lesser God and discussed how ASL and Deaf people are depicted.
Week 6: ASL in film, cont.!
ASL pod members continued watching Children of a Lesser God and discussed what they liked and disliked about the film's portrayal of Deaf people.
Week 7 (SPRING RECESS: NO LANGUAGE CORNER!)
Week 8: ASL telephone!
ASL pod members played telephone, practicing receptive and expressive ASL skills.
Week 9: ASL Semester Event!
ASL pod members brainstormed conversation topics and reviewed ASL etiquette for Friday's Signing Lunch @Shea!
Week 10: Slang in ASL!
ASL pod members learned ASL slang words and phrases.
Week 11: Funny stories/jokes in ASL!
To celebrate April Fool's Day, ASL pod members shared funny stories and jokes in ASL.
Week 12: Charades!
ASL pod members played charades with a catch — no signing — to review gestures.
Week 13: Thank you cards!
ASL pod members made thank you cards for ASL department faculty.
