American Sign Language

ASL 101 is an introductory course to American Sign Language and Deaf culture. This class focuses on receptive and expressive skills at an introductory level. This course is designed for students with no prior knowledge to ASL. All of our courses are language immersive classes. Teachers and students will only use ASL to communicate with each other. This class is offered each semester: Fall, Winter, Spring.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Exchange information about self and family with others. 
2. Describe basic daily activities and preferences. 
3. Introduce basic aspects of ASL storytelling. 
4. Identify general characteristics of Deaf culture. 
5. Recall important events in American Deaf history.

ASL 102 is the second introductory course to American Sign Language and Deaf culture. This class focuses on developing receptive and expressive skills, founded in 101, along with developing an understanding of Deaf Culture. Classes use an immersive approach. All instruction and communication will be done in ASL. This class is offered each semester: Fall, Winter, Summer.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Be able to converse naturally using selected vocabulary. 
2. Explain daily routines and time concepts. 
3. Describe appearance of others using classifiers. 
4. Be able to develop and use appropriate classifiers. 
5. Make basic person requests. 
6. Be able to develop and use appropriate ASL structure. 
7. Discuss various occupations of family members. 
8. Be able to identify and explain selected culture rules. 
9. Be able to answer questions about selected films. 
10. Compare and contrast Deaf and hearing cultures.

ASL 201 is the first intermediate course to American Sign Language and Deaf culture. This class focuses on grammatical principles and description along with getting involved with the Deaf community. Classes use an immersive approach. All instruction and communication will be done in ASL. This class is offered each semester: Fall, Winter, Spring.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Narrate various life experiences and events. 
2. Increase use and understanding of classifiers. 
3. Make suggestions and requests. 
4. Discuss several aspects of Deaf history and culture.

This is the second intermediate course to American Sign Language. This course builds on any material learned in ASL 101 – 201.This course focuses on learning grammatical principles and refining how ASL is used. A focus of this class will be creating narrations, explaining rules for life and culture, improving classifiers, and exploring Deaf community issues. This class is offered every semester: Fall, Winter, Summer.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Narrate unforgettable moments. 
2. Illustrate interesting facts. 
3. Explain rules and cultural customs. 
4. Describe accidents and embarrassing situations. 
5. Discuss in American Sign Language selected aspects of Deaf history and culture.

This is the first advanced course to American Sign Language. This course builds on any material learned in ASL 101 – 202.This course focuses on expressing concepts, thoughts, and ideas with more specific, nuanced vocabulary. This course refines signers sentence structure and will help students narrate on a variety of subjects at paragraph length discourse. This course has a cultural focus towards social oppression. This class is offered: Fall, Winter.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Be able to discuss the nature of culture and definitions of Deaf culture, Deaf community, and Deaf-World. 
2. Be able to identify the basic values and beliefs of the Deaf culture. 
3. Be able to discuss various educational and social issues affecting the Deaf community. 
4. Be able to identify general characteristics of Deaf culture. 
5. Be able to identify specific practices of Deaf people. 
6. Be able to discuss the role of ASL and English in the community and in individual’s identity development. 
7. Begin to understand the impact of deafness on various lives. 
8. Become familiar with the basics of American Deaf history.

ASL 111R is a fingerspelling and conversation course. This course focuses on the development of receptive and expressive fingerspelling; along with how fingerspelling used in conversation. Improving conversational fluency and incorporating fingerspelling is the goal of this class. This class is a language immersion class. All communication will be done in ASL. This class is only offered in the Fall.

Refine your ASL Fingerspelling and Numbering skills in this 3 credit course.

ASL 211R is a numbers and conversation course. This course focuses on the incorporation of numerical signs and quantifying signs; along with how it is naturally used in conversation. The goal is to improve conversational fluency and to incorporate numerical signs. This class is a language immersion class. All communication will be done in ASL. This class is only offered in the Winter.

This advanced conversation course has two different purposes. One section is always reserved for students living in the Language Immersion Student Residences (LISR), aka ASL House. This section is offered every semester: Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer.

Another section is offered to any student who has passed ASL 301, ASL 330, or has equivalent ASL experience. This section takes place in the classroom and is offered every 3rd semester.

This course explores ASL/Deaf Literature, including ASL poetry, sign play, stories, and folklore, presented through video or live performances. Students will learn about literacy in a 3-Dimensional language, studying how meaning is conveyed through facial expressions, body language, and spatial relationships. Taught in ASL, students will develop critical analysis skills and gain a deeper appreciation of Deaf culture and ASL as a language of literary expression.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Be able to discuss the literature of the Deaf community including both original ASL works and those translated from English. 
2. Be able to discuss the number of literary forms including sign play, poems, stories, short stories, plays and Deaf folklore. 
3. Be able to discuss the transition of ASL literary forms as well as selected creators and performers. 
4. Become familiar with and be able to discuss in ASL specific literary works. 
5. Be able to accurately discuss how Deaf literature reflects and reinforces Deaf-World values, beliefs and traditions.

Special Topics in ASL is a flexible course offering 1 to 3 credits, with different topics each semester determined collaboratively by students and program administrators. Past topics have included ASL signs related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints religion, Deaf Women Studies, and ASL Receptive Mastery: Strategies for Improving Comprehension Skills.

This course focuses on events and cultural issues throughout history that has created modern Deaf culture. The focus of this course is to analyze historical events and compare them with the issues and perspectives of current Deaf people.

Commonly known as the “Return Missionary” course, ASL 330 is an advanced language proficiency course designed to help ASL returned missionaries* understand and use real-world ASL more in-depth. This course is designed to challenge students to reach higher levels of proficiency and cultural competency outside of a typical ASL Mission experience.

*ASL Returned Missionaries, CODAs, SODAs, and Deaf/HH students who are at least the Intermediate High proficiency level may take this course.