Form your dominant hand into a flat 'B' shape with your fingers together and your palm facing down. Start with your hand raised near your shoulder or head level. Move your hand forward and downward in a smooth, swooping motion, mimicking a glider flying gracefully through the air.
Sign 'I', 'SEE', then use the swooping flat hand motion to show the glider. You can place the sign higher up in your signing space to indicate that the glider was flying high up in the sky.
Sign 'GLIDER' using the smooth descending motion. To emphasize the landing, you can bring your dominant flat hand down to rest gently on top of your non-dominant flat hand, showing the exact moment it touched the ground.
Sign 'YOU', 'EXPERIENCE', 'FLY', and then 'GLIDER'. Since this is a yes/no question, remember to keep your eyebrows raised and lean forward slightly while holding the final sign to prompt the other person for their answer.
Sign 'I', 'SEE', then use the swooping flat hand motion to show the glider. You can place the sign higher up in your signing space to indicate that the glider was flying high up in the sky.
Sign 'GLIDER' using the smooth descending motion. To emphasize the landing, you can bring your dominant flat hand down to rest gently on top of your non-dominant flat hand, showing the exact moment it touched the ground.
Sign 'YOU', 'EXPERIENCE', 'FLY', and then 'GLIDER'. Since this is a yes/no question, remember to keep your eyebrows raised and lean forward slightly while holding the final sign to prompt the other person for their answer.
No, they are different. The sign for 'airplane' uses the 'ILY' handshape—with the thumb, index, and pinky fingers extended—to represent the wings and tail. 'Glider' uses a completely flat hand to emphasize the broad wingspan and the smooth, unpowered gliding motion through the air.
Yes, this flat-hand gliding motion acts as a classifier and is often used to describe the flight of a hang glider as well. To be more specific, you might first mime holding onto the control bar of a hang glider before showing the gliding movement.
Yes, the direction is very important! The movement should generally go forward and slightly downward to mimic gravity's natural effect on an unpowered aircraft. However, you can creatively change the path of the swoop to show exactly how the glider moved in your specific story.
