Using the alphabet, fingerspell the months of the year. Each month has an abbreviation. The abbreviated form is the preferred way when used in a signed conversation. Your signing skills will be strengthened when you see these abbreviations as a whole word. Seeing an abbreviated sign as a whole sign means you aren't looking to read each letter, but rather you are seeing the shape of the whole sign. This skill is an important part of beginning to recognize initialized and loan signs. It is a skill that takes time to master and that will require patience on your part. Here are a few practice tips. Look at the shape that the abbreviation creates rather than the individual letters. Remember to do your hand warm-ups before you fingerspell.

Variation: Any month that has five letters or less can be fingerspelled in its entirety.

The next thing to learn is the days of the week. Once again, you will borrow from the alphabet and “initialize” nearly all the days of the week. There are three well-known variations, which are only in the movement, that are the result of regional and geographical differences. Here are the different ways these signs are made:

MONDAY — FIRST Varia tion: The palm is facing you and your arm moves in a small circle, as if swinging a lasso.

MONDAY — SECOND Varia tion: The palm is facing you and your arm moves in a small circle, counterclockwise.

MONDAY — THIRD Varia tion: The palm faces the reader/receiver and moves in a clockwise motion.

These three variations are used throughout the country, and it is best that you are familiar with all three. However, following the rules of finger-spelling, which says the palm must face the reader/receiver, the chart on the following page gives you instructions for the third variation.

Signing “Sunday” is a little different.

SUNDAY: Use the “open five” hands, with your palms forward, move your hands in opposite circular motions.

It is easy to remember how to sign the days of the week because you are simply initializing the first letter. There are only two exceptions. Thursday uses the letter “H” because we have already used “T” for Tuesday, and Sunday is not an initialized sign at all. Instead, the sign represents a “wonderful” day.