20 Strategies for learning American Sign Language (ASL)

1 Research has proven that if you fully immerse yourself into a 100% ASL environment by turning off your voices and using your hands to sign only is the best effective way to learn ASL.

2 ASL requires full participation during class by signing together with peers and teacher.

3 Try to sign with your ASL peers outside of the classroom to receive more hands-on interaction and practice.

4 Focus on meanings instead of individual signs (word for word)

5 Develop visual active listening skills. Show you understand the signer by nodding your head or giving a puzzled look to show you are confused. It provides the signer feedback

6 Avoid asking your friend for an English translation or translating for someone else in class. You will lose out on valuable communication experiences needed to strengthen your comprehension skills.

7 If you get stuck on a word or concept that you don’t know how to sign, try different ways to get your message across.

8 *Try to attend Deaf Events. In our culture, Deaf people in the community is a tight- knitted community. We are like a family and love to socialize. We are one of the most diverse minorities. Many of us do not care about differences such as gender, age, ethnicity, personal interests, religious beliefs, and etc

9 Feel free to download apps such as Facetime, Glide, Skype, ooVoo, Tango, and/or Viber to interact with your ASL peers and Deaf people that you have met. This is a great opportunity to sign outside of the classroom instead of using regular English text messages. These apps are FREE!!!

10 Try your best to not to miss class, especially at the beginning of class. Your class strives to form a language community; the cohesiveness of the group influences how rich the language exchange is in the classroom

11 Try not to erase information from your brain after each exam. The more sign language you know, the more signs will appear on the exam.

12 Do not be afraid to ask the teacher for extra help or search for additional enrichment during lab/tutorial hours.

13 Focus on the signer’s face instead of the hands. Many students make the assumption that looking at hands will make them learn faster. However, 70% of American Sign Language grammar solely rest on the face

14 Maintain eye contact with the signer at all times.. This allows you to stay focused on the signer’s face as well.

15 When in class, sit in a semi-circle during lecture and/or class discussion. If space allowed you (WE cant do it in here  )

16 No need to take notes during this class unless the teacher ask you to. This is a very visual class. American Sign Language is not a language that use voices. If a student decides to look down at his or her paper to take notes, he or she will miss a part of the teacher’s signed information.

17 Use any resources that the teacher provides you to use as study guides or to obtain information during research projects if assigned.

18 Accept constructive feedback from the teacher during class in front of your peers. Many ASL teachers prefer to do this because you are not the only the one who need those feedback. Teacher’s feedback to you, benefits everyone else. It helps the class to grow as a whole. Graded assignments, tests, exams, quizzes, and projects feedbacks from the teacher do remain confidential.

19 Teamwork is an effective tool toward learning. If you see one of your peers struggling to produce the correct sign for something during lectures and/or learning activities, please help them by showing the correct sign.

20 Most of all, stay committed and practice, practice, practice!!! I believe in you!!!!!!