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American Sign Language (ASL) 3 B: Conversations and Culture

Are you ready to discover ways in which Deaf culture influences the world in general? After all, the concept of culture goes far beyond an understanding of Deaf history. Through discussing Deaf culture and experiences, you’ll advance your signing skills by developing verb tenses, grammar, and syntax. Apply your language skills in real conversation activities and through opportunities to debate real issues. It’s also time to explore the next steps in education and career opportunities for your new intermediate ASL skills.

Topics include:

Debate and logical arguments in ASL

Climate and environmental issues

Past and future tense

Verb types and action vocabulary

Exploration of cultural differences between Deaf and hearing culture

Plural and distributional aspects in ASL

Career opportunities using ASL

This paced course uses content from eDynamic Learning taught by a VHS Learning instructor who is certified in their content area and who follows VHS Learning policies. The course will be hosted in the Buzz learning management system. The course will include a variety of individual assignments and projects, as well as class discussions.

Students will be required to attend one office hour session each term to demonstrate fluency in synchronous ASL conversations. Office hours will be held at times determined by the teacher, though the teacher will make an effort to accommodate student schedules, if possible.

Acknowledgements

  • Successful completion of ASL 1 and 2
  • Successful completion of American Sign Language 3 A: Community and Culture
  • This course requires weekly synchronous meetings for conversation partner assignments. Meeting times will be agreed upon between students. Students from the same school can be partnered together. Students will use an online meeting tool provided through the course.
  • This course contains an end-of-course proctored exam. Instructions for students to identify an appropriate adult proctor are included in the course lessons.

Course Objectives

  • Generate sign narratives using effective techniques, well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences.
  • Produce clear and coherent signing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
  • Increase receptive ASL skills, including proper translation through English and ASL Gloss.
  • Use proper constructions for past, present, and future tenses in ASL.
  • Demonstrate fluency in ASL through synchronous communication with conversation partners.
  • Conduct research on Deaf Culture and history to better understand Deaf experiences.

Additional Requirements

  • Students will use Google Workspace and Google Meet through VHS Learning to complete conversation partner assignments. The following information outlines the technical requirements for using these tools:
  • Students must have a Google account, but do not need a gmail address. Students who wish to use their Google account through their school may find that permissions do not allow for this and may need to create a second Google account.
  • To participate in Google Meet sessions, students must have a device with a camera and microphone.
  • Google Meet requires 4 GB of available memory.
  • Google Meet is compatible with the two most recent versions of these operating systems: Apple macOS, Microsoft Windows, Chrome OS, Ubuntu, and other Devian-based Linux distributions. Accessible mobile operating systems are Android 2.0 and up or iOS 14 and up.