Gestures 1. Laughing

2. Yawning

3. Peace sign – emblem

4. Hands akimbo – affect display

5. Crossed arms – affective display

6. Chin resting on palm – regulators

7. Resting feet on an elevated plane – adaptor

8. Pointing finger – illustrator

9. Nodding – illustrator

10. Waving hand

With my friends in school

I did not have to go far to witness the five gestures which are emblems, illustrators, regulators, adaptors and affect displays. I just have to hang around with my friends in school and already, I can witness the different kind of gestures because most of my friends have so much energy that they move and express themselves a lot that it is very easy to detect their gestures. To be specific, we were in the campus in our favourite hang-out place: Student Lounge (Room 1132) chatting, fooling around and telling stories each other funny stories and if there is nothing new, tell recycled funny stories. We also do serious stuff such as teaching each other about school topics that one of us is struggling. The most obvious gesture that I witnessed is laughing which is an affect display of emotion motivated by fun. Laugh conveyed fun and happiness and familiarity with the person we are with which is why we laugh a lot when we are together. I can no longer count the times that my friends laugh since everybody was telling silly stories and making fun of each other. The second gesture I saw was a cross arm coming one of my female friends that we were making fun of. Again, this is an affective display of emotion but this time, it was motivated by disgust and being defensive because my friends were making fun of her. I only noticed this once followed by with her hands akimbo when she was about to asset her point. I only saw this once because my friends do not want to antagonize her further. I noticed that for young people like us, our adaptors come often in resting our feet on an elevated and then resting our back on something solid. It is like a vacation mode of gesture but we like it a lot because it makes us relax while talking about anything under the sun. I see this often countless times. Some may find it rude the way that we express regulators that would terminate or change conversation which is through yawning. We are essentially conveying to the speaker which is one of our friends that the topic he or she is talking about is boring that makes us sleepy. But our friends only do it with each other because we are already comfortable with each other. But also I noticed that when we talk about serious things such as our lessons, my friends often sat either beside or across from each other with their chin resting on their palm as if they were problematic. This is one of their regulators to indicate that they are absorbed in the topic that is being discussed. In a way they are also problematic but it is either a math problem they are worried about or a research so it is necessary to prolong the discussion until they get the solution. The other person discussing the topic is also using a gesture in the form illustrator by pointing on the book or notes to emphasize the significance of a solution or topic. The other friend also nods to indicate understanding about the topic being discussed accompanying with the remark “aha” to communicate understanding. Again , this nod is an illustrator to give cue to the speaker to continue explaining as he or she was being understood. This scenario is common during exam weeks. Finally my friends still use gestures in the form of emblems when we part ways either to go to class, go somewhere else or go home. This is in the form of waving our hands sideways to indicate good bye, or “I have to go now”. The receiving party/ies also does the same to reciprocate the goodbye sign with a hope that we will see each other again.