ASL Bridge - Intermediate American Sign Language Course

Short Story - Wedding Cake Transcription

A while back I was at home working. My phone vibrated. My cousin texted me.

“Hey what’s up? I have an announcement, I’m engaged.” Read the text message from him.

I responded, “Wow! That’s wonderful! When is the wedding?”

He answered “Around summertime. But I need your help. You enjoy baking cakes. I need you to bring a cake.”

"Ok, will the cake be big or small? For how many people?”

“A large cake for about 150 people. I want it to be 3 tiered and vanilla. My fiancé wants her own separate, smaller cake.”

“Okay, but you owe me.”

After texting I set the phone down. He doesn’t owe me anything. I enjoy baking cakes. But I won't give him a wedding gift. My gift for him will be the cake.

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Short Story - California Vacation Transcription

Last week, I went on a trip to California for vacation. I've been looking forward and planning for months. The weather was perfect, and I couldn’t wait to see all the different places, especially the countryside.

The morning, I arrived, my mom and I went to a restaurant to eat. The food was delicious! After, we decided to walk around the city to see the sights.

Later, we visited a fancy hotel, where we met my boyfriend. He was already there, so we sat down and started chatting. He bought me coffee. We drank and talked about everything —work, travel, and even the difficult time I had packing a suitcase before the trip. In the evening, we went to a theater play, it was so good! After the play, we decided to relax and watch some TV at the hotel. My mom was a bit crabby because she was tired, but she felt fine after resting.

The next day, we took a trip to the countryside. It was very different from the city, but I liked it. We saw the beach, which was beautiful. The trip wasn’t exciting like other trips, it was chill. But I feel relaxed and refreshed after my vacation!

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Short Story - Ducks Transcription

This morning, I woke up smelling something good, I’m hungry. I got up and walked to the kitchen. Last night my mom made cookies, they smelled good. Last year, I bought my mom a duck shaped cookie cutter. The cookies were duck shaped, so cute!

I took pictures of them with my phone. Then I noticed the time on my phone. I’m late for my mechanic class. I realized that I haven’t finished my paper yet! I quickly wrote the paper. I quickly packed my backpack and grabbed a cookie and quickly headed out in my car.

I started driving and hit traffic. I’m stressed because I will be an hour late.

“Ok, calm down,” I told myself. “I can’t control this. It will be fine. Why are we waiting in this line of cars anyway?”

The cars slowly inched forward. A man was standing in the middle of the road. Oh, now I see why. A mother duck was crossing the road with ducklings. The man was stopping traffic to let them pass. They are so cute, just like the cookies from earlier. They finished crossing and I drove around the man.

Then I stepped on the gas pedal. I can’t be late!

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Short Story - The Event Transcription

I walked to a long line of people. I waited to enter the stadium. After entering I focused on the man on the stage playing the guitar. He had long hair and a fringe jacket. The music he played moved the crowd to dance.

Short Story - The Bus Transcription

I live in Mexico. Here there are many buses that are easy to get on and ride. One morning, a friend called me, she needed my help. I thought I could make coffee and bring some to her. So, I made some coffee and poured it into a thermos. I screwed on the lid and placed the thermos in my backpack. I then walked to the bus stop.

I waited for the bus to come. Here buses tend to be rickety. The ride isn’t smooth. I got on and paid the fare. The bus drove on. I walked to a seat, on the bumpy ride. Note that the bus was empty except for one other passenger, a woman with a white shirt. As I was walking the bus hit a bump. A drop of coffee from my thermos flew out and landed on the woman’s white shirt.

I was mortified. I apologized.

She said, “It’s not a problem.”

I offered to pay for her dry cleaning. But she refused. I was still embarrassed.

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Short Story - The Hockey Sticks Transcript

Long ago, I was at my house, sitting at my table. My cat was sleeping in a chair next to me. I took a deep breath in my chair. My house felt empty. I felt empty inside. I was recently laid off from my job. I had a lot of time to think about it, I kept dwelling about it.

Suddenly, my phone alerted me with a text message. I checked it. It was from my friend Mark.

The message said, “When I finish going to the store, I’ll visit you. See you soon.”

“Ok,” I replied. I didn’t feel like having visitors. It was fine though. Eventually, Mark’s car arrived at my house. He walked towards me and said, “Remember the bar near the courthouse?”

“Yeah.” “We should go.” I didn’t feel like spending money. He saw my face looked unsure.

“Hey, I’ll pay for you, it’s fine,” He said.

“Thank you.”

We got into his car, and I put on my seatbelt. I noticed 2 hockey sticks in the back seat.

Mark noticed, “I will donate those later.”

“Really why? Did you stop playing?”

“Yeah, no one to play with. They don’t have time.”

“I have time. Maybe we can go Thursday night and shoot pucks into the net.”

Soon, we arrived at the bar, which was empty. We sat on stools at the counter. The server or waiter, brought us drinks and sat down a bowl of peanuts in the middle. We watched the hockey game on the TV above us as we drank. For one happy moment I could forget the troubles.

Short Story - Camping Transcription

It was a cold winter morning when my dad and I decided to go camping. We drove from Chicago all the way to a forest where we wanted to enjoy nature. We set up our tent next to a big tree and built a small fire. My dad put a bottle of wine by the campfire, and we all sat down to drink from our cups.

As the sun began to set, the sky turned orange, and we decided to go for a boat ride on the river. My dad rowed the boat across the calm water. I looked around, watching the trees sway along the riverbank it was beautiful.

We finished as the sun completely set and was now dark. We disembarked near the campsite, and we walked toward the tent.

"Wait." My dad said, “stop, don’t move.” He looked worried.

What was it? I looked and saw huge a bear. I felt my heart race as I stared at the bear. My dad quietly reached for the knife in his bag. He didn’t want to hurt the bear, but I could tell he wanted to protect us. He said, “I’m going to make some noise to scare it away.” My dad grabbed a fork and spoon and started tapping them together. The bear stopped walking for a moment and looked at us, confused. The noise was loud enough to make the bear pause. Then, to our relief, the bear turned and walked away.

Next time we will camp near the city. Also, our food will be tied up in a tree. That night I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned because I thought the bear would come back and get us. But we woke up in the morning totally fine.

Short Story - Grandma’s Cookies Transcription

One of my favorite memories when I was young at my grandma’s house and baking cookies. She opened the fridge. It was full of ingredients for baking. Flour, sugar, eggs, and butter.

She preheated the oven, and gave me a bag of chocolate chips.

“Your favorite recipe is here on the back.” She showed me.

I grabbed a step stool so I can better see the counter. She showed me how to carefully measure the flour and sugar and crack the egg. Her secret was to melt the butter in the microwave and stir it into the sugar. She mixed the dry ingredients with the wet and I helped.

We scooped the dough on to a tray. Then she placed the cookies in the oven. She closed the door.

“Are they ready, Grandma?” I asked.

“Not yet, you have to wait.”

I started to play. When the timer went off I ran back to the kitchen. “Are they ready?” I asked again.

“Not yet, they are hot and need to cool.”

I pouted and ran off to play outside. Later, Grandma opened the door and called out.

“They are ready!” I ran back in. She handed me the largest cookie, ready to eat but still warm. I took a bite and tasted the love.

Short Story - Video Rental Transcription

I grew up in the city of Lansing, MI the capital city. I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters. My oldest brother is named Kevin, next brother is Matt. My 2 sisters are younger than me. Their names are Sue and Sharon. We grew up on a street called Maple between a Blockbuster Movies and a Walgreens.

The Blockbuster is now closed but I remember being younger and renting a tape of Toy Story. My family would watch movies together Friday nights. Each of us got to take turns choosing a movie. My brothers would choose action movies, like Spiderman. My younger would choose movies that involved actors Mary Kate and Ashley. But I would always choose Toy Story.