American Sign Language Level 1

• Basic introductions including fingerspelling names
• Basic vocabulary to exchange personal information in brief dialogue, including identity(ies) and well-being
• Talking about immediate surroundings including giving directions from A to B
• Forming basic questions about family and background
• Basic ASL numbering system
• Understanding the Deaf community as a linguistic and cultural minority, not as disabled
• Culturally appropriate norms of social interaction – behaviors such as how to get a Deaf person’s visual attention

The following global ideas guide the design and delivery of this course:
1. The Deaf community comprises a vibrant linguistic and cultural minority whose members are connected to each other through shared values, norms, art, traditions and especially the primacy of using a signed language.
2. The creativity and strength of the Deaf community contribute positively to the larger human society; Deaf lives exemplify unique and enriching ways of seeing and being in the world.
3. ASL (American Sign Language), LSQ (la Langue des Signes Québécoises) and ISL (Indigenous Sign Languages) are rich, visual-gestural languages used by Deaf people in Canada. Signed languages are distinctly different from spoken languages; they have their own syntax, vocabulary, grammatical structures, pragmatic norms and literary forms.
4. Studying ASL can be an exciting challenge for the majority of people who have only used language(s) that are spoken and auditory. Because ASL is a visual-gestural language, it requires the learner to use their eyes to take in linguistic information and to use their hands, face and body to convey linguistic information. Even though spoken languages incorporate some form of gestural communication, the use of 3-dimensional space is an integral feature of the structure of ASL.