Discover the graceful and expressive language of sign language and learn to communicate with anyone, anywhere, just by using your hands! With this American Sign Language (ASL) course, you can unlock this rewarding ability and master communicating with Deaf people.
Throughout your online sign language training course, you will learn to fingerspell the alphabet, sign colors, numbers, objects, and family members. You will acquire a wide range of useful, everyday vocabulary that will enable you to engage in meaningful conversations with members of the Deaf community. Using video demonstrations, you will understand how to form correct signs and incorporate facial expressions to communicate beautifully in sign language.
Explore the history and usage of American Sign Language (ASL) and how to navigate the culture and social customs of the Deaf community. By the end of this sign language course, you will be confident and ready to participate in a conversation using the power of sign language.
Erin McHenry has been signing since 1996 and holds both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Arts in Interpreting. She is an Associate member of the American Sign Language Teachers Association. Since 2003, Erin has been professionally interpreting across various settings including education, community, and medical. She has been both a staff interpreter and a freelance interpreter.
The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.
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Lesson 1
Getting Started
What is sign language? Is it a real language? How did it develop? In this lesson, you will discover what sign language is and who uses it. This lesson introduces American Sign Language and a basic approach to learning it—signing the numbers 0 to 15.
Fingerspelling
Master your ABCs as you learn how to fingerspell the alphabet. You will discover how double letters are made when they're inside a word and how they're signed when they fall at the beginning and end of words. You will also learn tips on how to read fingerspelling.
Introducing Yourself
How do you do? In this lesson, you will take the first steps toward having a conversation as you learn how to introduce yourself. In addition to learning the basic signs for this kind of interaction, you will also gain some more strategies for learning and understanding new signs, including the four aspects that make up each sign. While you add these skills to your signing arsenal, you will also learn more about the Deaf community, including what Deaf people expect to learn about you when you meet for the first time, and the role facial expression plays in sign language.
Getting to Know You
Next, you will build on the introduction you learned in the last lesson and see how to keep the conversation going. You will explore the different customs of conversation in the Deaf community, such as how to know when one person is finished talking and how to take turns. In addition, you will continue to navigate your introduction by adding more information about yourself. Finally, you will gain some additional vocabulary as you learn the signs for colors and numbers 16 to 30.
Continuing the Conversation
In this lesson, you will learn more signs to help you continue the conversation you started in the two previous lessons. You will learn about the cherished custom Deaf people have of giving name signs, so you will understand what to call yourself, your city, and your state. You will also gain more vocabulary about objects in your living environment. You will learn to sign the types of dwellings people live in and modes of transportation. In addition, you will add to your knowledge of numbers by mastering the signs for numbers 31 to 66. This lesson closes with a discussion about an important issue in the Deaf community: whether deafness is considered a disability.
Talking About Family
Signing becomes a family affair as you learn signs for family members. You will understand how sign language categorizes the signs for each gender and communication in families with a Deaf person. This includes lip reading and other communication strategies. This lesson closes with the signs for numbers 67 to 100.
Extended Family and Beyond
This lesson focuses on signs for extended family members. You will also learn signs to describe how you're related to them. Start to put together longer sentences to practice using your new vocabulary. You will be introduced to number systems beginning with age and telling how old family members are.
A Sign for the Times
What time is it? In this lesson, you will discover how to tell time as well as sign the days of the week and other time periods such as minutes and hours. You'll learn how spoken languages handle past, present, and future tenses and then examine how sign language does it. Finally, you will discover the impact of the "Deaf President Now" movement had on the lives of Deaf people.
More Time on Your Hands
This lesson teaches signs for additional time frames such as yesterday, today, and tomorrow. You will learn signs for indoor and outdoor activities. Then, you will learn signs for your opinion, so you can explain which activities you like and don't like. You will also learn about CODAs—a group of hearing people unique to the Deaf community.
Feelings and Traits
Now it's time to learn the signs for feelings and personality traits, and you will combine these signs with signs learned in previous lessons. You will see how to communicate how you're doing, how to ask how others are doing, and how to describe different personal attributes. You will also learn more about Deaf culture—this time, about physical contact and getting the attention of a Deaf person both nearby and across the room. Finally, you will gain tips for practicing your signs.
Clothing and Hairstyle
In the final lesson, you will learn signs for clothing and hairstyles, such as jacket and long hair. You will learn about classifiers and how to use them with the patterns such as stripes. Then you will learn signs for descriptions such as mustache and beard. You will also explore another important aspect of Deaf culture: teaching hearing babies to sign.
Food and Animals
The course concludes with a lesson that teaches you to wish a friend happy birthday, offer a birthday treat, and talk about your favorite animal. You will start by learning to sign the months of the year and how to say, "Happy birthday!" You will also learn some signs for food and animals. This lesson will cover how English is translated into sign language and the role of the professional sign language interpreter. You will even get some tips on using an interpreter with a Deaf person.
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