Vonda Bland Hamilton 
Letting the Cat Out of the Bag 
Learning ABC Idioms with ASL

Learn the secrets about idioms. For children and ESL speakers some phrases have less literal meanings and can be difficult to understand. Letting the Cat Out of the Bag – Learning ABC Idioms with ASL explains the meaning behind an idiom for each letter of the alphabet, along with scripture to help guide our understanding and behavior.

‘My Deaf daughter, Cloudi, learned the meaning of the idiom, ‘cold feet.’ ‘Mom, ‘ she said, ‘if someone has ‘cold feet ‘does that mean they are afraid to get married? I signed yes. ‘So that must mean that ‘hot feet’ means they are excited to get married, right?’

Smart girl, except ‘hot feet’ doesn’t normally mean a person is excited. This is but one the problems children with audible hearing difficulties face. Our vocabulary and idiom may seem clever, sometimes even funny, but for young children learning their unique language idioms only add to their confusion.

Letting the Cat Out of the Bag – Learning ABC Idioms with ASL wants to ‘let the cat out of the bag’ – let the secretes be known – about idioms and how they add to the building blocks of a child’s ABCs.

Vonda Hamilton is certified in Deaf Studies and has taught deaf children int the Iowa and Nebraska school systems. She has a degree in Deaf Communication with an emphasis in Biblical literature. In addition to teaching Biblical studies, she guides an interpreter training program, works in the studies of deaf culture and holds a deaf internship from Honolulu.