LESSON 1

American Sign Language

OVERVIEW
Define ASL
Know the common hand shapes used in ASL
Count to 30
Describe a briefly history of ASL
Briefly state the gist of deaf culture
Have a basic idea of the meaning of ASL and Signed English
Basic idea of Pidgin (contact signing)
Recognize and sign Vocabulary
Recognize and sign the practice sentences

BEFORE WE START

Dear ASL Heroes,

Allow me to share with you this bit of information from an article inPerspectives in Education and Deafness:

"There are more than 500,000 words in the English language, but a person who masters only 250 words will
recognize more than two-thirds of all words shown in television captionsprovided the 250 words are those
that are most frequently used. Equally dramatic, a beginning reader could be taught just 10 wordsthe, you,
to, a, I, and, of, in, it, thatand then recognize more than one out of every five words. Mastery of the top 79
words means being able to read half of all words captioned."Source: Perspectives in Education and Deafness,
Volume 16, Number 1, September/October 1997

What if we were to apply that same concept to learning sign language?

The main series of lessons in the ASL University curriculum are based on accelerated language acquisition
techniques that make use of "word frequency" research. (What are the most common concepts and words
used in everyday communication?)
I took the most frequently used concepts and translated them into theirASLequivalents and embedded them
into the lessons starting with the highest frequency of use language concepts.
Thus the lessons are designed to help a student reach communicative competenceveryquickly-- based on
science combined with over two decades of real world teaching experience.
The order in which content is introduced is a balance between "functions" (what you want to do or accomplish)
and "language frequency" (what you most often say to others to accomplish those functions). Thus while
some of the lessons may seem to be random, in actuality each vocabulary concept was specifically selected to
expedite (speed up) the rate at which you can actually use the language foreverydaycommunication tasks.
-- Dr. Bill

LEFT HANDED SIGNING

Generally sign in mirror to righties
Only things to consider:
When signing directions, you will do the same as righties, just with your left
hand

WHAT IS ASL?
Definition: "American Sign Language is a visual-gestural language used
by 500,000 members of the North American Deaf community."

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

We should say "atleast" 500,000 people use ASL. That is an OLD statistic from the 1980's. My
estimate is more along the lines of: 2 million people are using ASL on a daily basis and at least
500,000 of those people are using it as their primary means of communication.And that's just in
the United States. Millions more people know "some" sign language and use it "once in a while."
For example, a grandmother of a deaf child. She may have taken a six-week community
education course and now she knows just enough to offer her grandson candy and cookies.
"ASL is a visual gestural language."That means it is a language that is expressed through the
hands and face and is perceived through the eyes. It isn't just waving your hands in the air. If
you furrow your eyebrows, tilt your head, glance in a certain direction, twist your body a certain
way, puff your cheek, or any number of other "inflections" --you are adding or changing meaning
in ASL. A "visual gestural" language carries just as much information as an oral/aural
(mouth/ear) language.
Is ASL limited to just the United States and Canada?
No. ASL is also used in varying degrees in the Philippines, Ghana, Nigeria, Chad, Burkina Faso,
Gabon, Zaire, Central African Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Mauritania, Kenya, Madagascar, Benin,
Togo, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and many other places.(Source: Grimes, Barbara F.
(editor), (1996). "Languages of USA"Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 13th Edition.Institute
of Linguistics.)

COMMON HAND SHAPES AND

NUMBERS
This is the Alphabet of ASL

Can you count to 30?

BRIEF HISTORY OF ASL

In the early 1800's, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, a hearing minister and a graduate of Yale University met and
became friends with a young Deaf girl named Alice. Gallaudet took an interest in teaching the girl and
succeeded at teaching her a few words. The girl's father Dr. Mason Cogswell, encouraged Gallaudet to become
involved with the establishment of a school for the Deaf.
So, in 1815 Gallaudet headed for Europe in search of methods for teaching the Deaf.
He approached a number of program directors, (the Braidwood schools, the London Asylum, etc.), but none of
them were willing to share their techniques with Gallaudet.
Fortunately while in England Gallaudet met up with the director of a Paris school for the Deaf, a man by the
name of Sicard.
Sicard was there with two of his Deaf pupils, Jean Massieu andLaurent Clercwho were also teachers at the
school in Paris. They were in England giving demonstrations on how to teach the Deaf by using sign language.
The Paris school, which had been founded by the Abbe Charles Michel de L'Epee in 1771, was using French
Sign Language in combination with a set methodically developed signs.
Gallaudet persuaded Clerc to return with him to the States and in 1817 the first American school for the Deaf
was established in the city of Hartford, Connecticut.
Over time, the signs used at that school, plus the signs that were already being used by Deaf people in
America evolved into what we now know as American Sign Language.
It is important to note that sign language was being used here in America before Gallaudet and Clerc set up
the school. One example (that you might want to research more) took place in Martha's Vineyard. At one

BRIEF CULTURE OF ASL

You will often see the term "Deaf" spelled with a capital "D" throughout these pages. I try to capitalize
the word "Deaf" when I'm writing about people who are "culturally Deaf." When I refer to people who are
physically deaf but not culturally Deaf I tend to use a lowercase letter "d." While it is true that in general
"Deaf" people are physically "deaf," that is not always the case. The case could be made that some
hearing children of Deaf parents areculturallyDeaf. If it becomes important to indicate that a person is
both physically deaf and culturally Deaf I will use this label: "d/Deaf."
People who feel that being Deaf is about "language, culture, and a visual orientation to life" subscribe to
the "cultural model" of Deafness.
In general, members of the American Deaf Community do not think of ourselves to be disabled. We don't
see or label ourselves as impaired versions of hearing people. We see ourselves as a cultural group
bonded together by a common language. Members of our community don't want be be "h/Hearing!" If
given a choice, many of us would choose to remain deaf!
There are indeed many deaf people in the U.S. who consider themselves to be disabled. Such individuals
are generallynotfluent in ASL and do not consider themselves to be members of the core (culturally)
Deaf Community. So, most of the time when I use the term "Deaf Community," I'm talking about people
who are culturally Deaf.
People who feel that "deafness is problem to be solved" subscribe to the "pathological model" or the
"medical model" of deafness and are not culturally Deaf.

THE DIFFERENCE OF ASL AND

SIGNED ENGLISH
Signed English:
[a] specific signing system which incorporates word endings and English word
order in a specific signing style (Kagan & Gall 1998).

SEE is not considered a true language; it is not generally used by (and is

usually considered offensive to) the Deaf community, but rather is English
that is signed rather than spoken.
Signed English is commonly used for adolescents or children 1-3 years old.
Any further signing is recommended to be taught as ASL

Some information was taken from the essay, Language choices by Jay Reynolds

BASIC IDEA OF PINGIN

A combination of both ASL and Signed English
Pidgin Sign English
Also known as Contact Signing
Is it a language?
YES, but with no set rules and has some standardized characteristics
Why is it used?
Helps cross the gap between Hearies and Deafies

VOCABULARY
Again
Deaf
Hearing
Learn
Like
Meaning
Meet
Name
Nice
No
Sign
Slow
Student
Teacher
Thank You
Understand
What
Who
Why
Yes

What is
Indexing
?

PRACTICE SENTENCES
You name?
Deaf you?
Student you?
Your teacher name Huh?
You understand he/she?

What is your name?

Are you deaf?

Lets
Review!
Are you a student?

PRACTICE SENTENCES
Nice meet-you
Hearing you?
ASL teacher you?
You learn sign, where?
You learn sign, why?

Its nice to meet you

Are you a hearing person?

ets Are
see
if you got it down!
you a teacher?

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
Fingerspelling 2
Numbers 30-50