COURSE TITLE: American Sign Language I: Grades 9-12
PREREQUISITE: None
DESCRIPTION: Students will learn and practice their expressive and receptive language skills within the context of every day interaction with people and their home, school, and community environments. They will study the history of American Sign Language and the culture of the Deaf community.
MAIN TOPICS: COMMUNICATION
Students will acquire a conversational foundation in ASL. They will learn how to impart, obtain, and exchange information relating to family, school and everyday life in the target language.
CULTURE
Students will learn about Deaf culture and heritage: the origin in the United States and the influence of French signing communities, as well as the values held by the Deaf community.
COMPARISONS
Students will compare and contrast ASL with their own language. They will compare formal and informal forms of address and non-manual markers versus inflection patterns in statements and questions in both languages.
CREDIT INFO: One credit. ASL courses count as foreign language credits. The successful
completion of this course fulfills the foreign language requirement towards an Advanced Studies Diploma.
All Virginia Public Institutions of Higher Learning accept ASL as a foreign language for admission. Most other colleges and universities accept ASL as a foreign language as well. Students should check with a college if they have a question about the acceptance of ASL.
COURSE TITLE: American Sign Language II: Grades 10-12
PREREQUISITE: American Sign Language I
DESCRIPTION: Students will add to their vocabulary and increase proficiency in expressive and receptive conversational skills using more complex grammatical structures within the context of everyday interaction with people and their home, school, and community environments. Students will continue to learn about and understand Deaf heritage and will be encouraged to interact with Deaf people in social contexts.
MAIN TOPICS: COMMUNICATION
Students will increase proficiency in their conversational skills. They will learn how to provide and obtain information using more complex conversational regulators relating to family, school, and everyday life in the target language.
CULTURE
Students will increase their knowledge about Deaf culture and heritage as related to educational philosophies of deafness, Deaf individuals that impacted both hearing and Deaf communities, and controversies.
COMPARISONS
Students will continue to compare and contrast ASL with their own language. Students will gain knowledge of bi-cultural, bi-lingual beliefs, which serve as a basis of Deaf people’s lives.
CREDIT INFO: One credit. ASL courses count as foreign language credits. The successful
completion of this course fulfills the foreign language requirements towards an Advanced Studies Diploma.
All Virginia Public Institutions of Higher Learning accept ASL as a foreign language for admission. Most other colleges and universities accept ASL as a foreign language as well. Students should check with a college if they have a question about the acceptance of ASL.
COURSE TITLE: American Sign Language III: Grades 11-12
PREREQUISITE: American Sign Language II
DESCRIPTION: Students will apply and add to the vocabulary learned in ASL I and II to increase their conversational abilities focusing on more abstract topics. Students will experience the Deaf genre by reading and visualizing a variety of literature works which may include short stories, poetry, comedy, drama, and works of Deaf history. Students will also be encouraged to interact with Deaf individuals in order to strengthen their skills and develop native-like tendencies.
MAIN TOPICS: COMMUNICATION
Students will increase proficiency in their conversational skills through discussion of abstract topics, different literary works, and issues of the Deaf world including current events in the Deaf community.
CULTURE
Students will begin to analyze the Deaf Community more abstractly through discussion of the community’s norms and values building upon what students have learned in previous levels.
COMPARISONS
Students will begin comparing and contrasting ASL with other forms of signed communication. Students will gain a better understanding of American Sign Language through the study of its roots and linguistics.
CREDIT INFO: One credit. ASL courses count as foreign language credits. The successful
completion of this course fulfills the foreign language requirements toward an Advanced Studies Diploma.
All Virginia Public Institutions of Higher Learning accept ASL as a foreign language for admission. Most other colleges and universities accept ASL as a foreign language as well. Students should check with a college if they have a question about the acceptance of ASL