Rachel Berman’s Teaching Statement

A quote by William Arthur Ward drives my teaching: “The mediocre teacher tells. The good
teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” When teaching a second
language, especially American Sign Language (ASL), it is crucial to inspire and show how ASL can be
applied to everyone’s lives and their respective careers.  Throughout my 12-year teaching career, my
personal style of teaching has integrated enthusiasm, insight into Deaf, Hard of Hearing, DeafBlind, and
DeafDisabled (DHHDBDD) Community with multilingual and multicultural lens, current technology and
relevant content. The heart of my teaching is I provide a safe space to increase learning motivation and
create pathways for them to interact with our community.
I believe that a college degree in ASL should indicate that the degree-holder can satisfy the 5 C’s
of Foreign Language Learning. As promoted by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign
Languages (ACTFL), these are: communication, cultures, connections, comparisons and communities.
Since ASL is in fact a “foreign language” to the majority of the students, supporting and promoting these
5C’s represent a holistic approach to teaching ASL. To engage and promote the 5C’s, I utilize a
student-centered curriculum and spiral learning and more specifically, the Communication Language
Learning (CLL) method. This method is most effective for supporting students’ ability to communicate
with ASL users in meaningful and appropriate ways. My lessons always emphasize regular interaction
with one another in the target language from the beginning with voice-off at all times and minimal
exposure to written English. On the first day of ASL 1 class, I have the students learn how to spell their
names, sign social gestures, “Nice to meet you!” and find partners for study sessions and group projects. I
also use interpreters on the first day to give them a taste of our real-world experience. This exercise
promotes the simulation of real-life communication, absorption of the new language and culture rules, and
confidence-building in their receptive and expressive skills. In addition, it creates a support system for
each student, from the start of the semester.  
Second method I utilize in my teaching is Piaget’s Constructivist Teaching theory. I don’t believe
that I’m the only person in the class to impart knowledge. My role is to be the students’ guide through
this journey and encourage them to contribute and share experiences, thus building a dynamic learning
environment. Participation facilitates active learning and critical thinking, and relationship building is a
key element for student success. By encouraging this sharing of ideas, I often learn about the students’
motivation for learning ASL, and I use this to shape some of the content and activities. The stated course
objectives are met, but each group of students creates the overall outcome. Incorporating these “learning
opportunities” continually informs and transforms this fluid experience for both the students and myself.
 Social media has been the source of inspiration for students to learn ASL but unfortunately also a
source of misconception that ASL is an easy language to learn. As a visual-spatial and tactile language,
ASL skills are more conspicuous than the skills of other acquired languages. Learning a second language
through different sensory means can cause fear and anxiety and being seen making noticeable mistakes in
the process can be embarrassing. Because of that, my teaching style integrates the Krashen’s “Affective
Filter Hypothesis”. If the students have high anxiety and low self-image, also known as a high affective
filter, it creates barriers to their language acquisition. I continually inform students that mistakes are an
integral part of learning a new language, and perfection is not the goal as it is not always attainable. Alot
of my teaching is spent on observing their progress and providing formative feedback to keep their filter
low and maintain their motivation level. This creates a “safe” yet fun environment from the beginning,
reduces student anxiety, which in turn allows them to build confidence in communicating with Deaf
people outside of class. Often, students tell me that they’ve seen Deaf people while out and about, but
held back from approaching them out of fear of inadequate ASL skills. After all, when it comes to
acquiring language and developing comfortable communication skills, I remind them that “practice makes
not perfect but permanent.”