American Sign Language and Deaf Culture Online Seminar

The American Sign Language (ASL) and Deaf Culture Academy introduces ASL and an overview of topics integral to experiences of American Deaf community members. The academy features ASL instruction in an immersive environment where students learn basic conversation and narrative skills. The course also features a weekly seminar to discuss experiences and perspectives of Deaf community members as demonstrated through online publications (vlogs), lectures, and a panel of Deaf community professionals in related fields. ASL instruction is conducted entirely in ASL, with no spoken English, and some written English to facilitate instruction. Upon completion of the academy, students come away with the following ASL skills: -Sharing personal information including hometown, language background(s), and interests or hobbies -Discussing and describing locations within a building, giving directions within a building using perspective shift and directional vocabulary, and explaining how one gets from location to location via transportation -Expressing wants and needs and the ability to ask and tell where to obtain those wants and needs -Asking and telling about marital status, whether they have children or siblings, and the chronological ranking of children and siblings -Using number skills, including how to express collective group numbers, age, and time