ASL as a foreign language
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crockettasl
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high schools
To add to the idea that schools do not like accepting ASL as a foreign language, due to the fact that is not written is the basic idea of why ASL is not accepted everywhere.
I teach ASL at a high school in Texas. Of course it is accepted for credits, however it is not really 'accepted' by other teachers, administration, etc. They feel we do not have anything to 'offer' the school. In this day and age of testing most focus is on core classes anyhow. Now when they look towards other courses they want the courses to be able to bring something to school. All other languages allow students to take AP (advanced placement exams) through a National Board Testing Center. The other teachers I work with, this is their entire goal for the year. Their number of students passing depends upon the future of their program. I have contacted the testing organization and their stock response is, 'We do not have plans to develop any testing in the area of ASL at this time.' This is due solely because ASL cannot be written and graded quickly by their graders. Unfortunately, this is one of the reasons that is causing current ASL programs to fold. NO SUPPORT from the school districts.
Also, concerning the teachers -- whether they be deafies or hearies. The MOST important goal is that they have a background in teaching, classroom management, child psychology, something that will benefit them in the classroom. We had about 8 (I think) ASL programs in high schools in the district. Now we ONLY have 4!!!! Part of the reason is no support since they feel ASL has nothing to offer the schools (on paper), but also the choice in hiring teachers.
I met one teacher who barely knew how to fingerspell, but they hired her because she said she took an ASL class!!! *gasp* They hired a high-level interpreter who was extremely skilled in sign, but had no idea how to teach it. There was also deaf teachers that did not know how to teach ASL, since they had no background in teaching either. However, there were some excellent deaf and hearing teachers that had been through teacher training programs that proved to be awesome in our schools.
First and foremost, you need to have a teaching certification in the field of ASL. It is hard to get, due to the fact that very few schools offer training. However, you may get certification in another field (Special Education = me) and then attempt to pass your state certification test as an additional teacher certification. Although, you must be skilled in ASL to pass the test. Also, not all states even require you to be certified --- this is the ultimate problem.
Our students have decided to gain attention from our school administrators by doing the following; ASL III students mentoring students in the deaf education program in our district (for the entire year), performing Deaf History Month events and inviting the deaf community, reading books in sign language in the library to our special education students, hosting events for The School for the Deaf and inviting them to campus, placing "Did you Know" signs up around campus about deaf culture, etc.. The more our campus is exposed to the deaf community the more students sign up and cause our administrators to take note! Hopefully, your school can decide to do additional things to have your school notice you.
In fact our student numbers doubled this year, increasing our program to another ASL teacher!
ps. I am hearing, but I have a deaf cousin. I learned sign at a very young age. However, I still would not be a good teacher unless I had been in a teacher prepration program and also taken ASL courses. By merely signing from a young age and being in the deaf community I was still not aware of deaf culture concerns or ASL grammar until I was enrolled in ASL courses.
To add to the idea that schools do not like accepting ASL as a foreign language, due to the fact that is not written is the basic idea of why ASL is not accepted everywhere.
I teach ASL at a high school in Texas. Of course it is accepted for credits, however it is not really 'accepted' by other teachers, administration, etc. They feel we do not have anything to 'offer' the school. In this day and age of testing most focus is on core classes anyhow. Now when they look towards other courses they want the courses to be able to bring something to school. All other languages allow students to take AP (advanced placement exams) through a National Board Testing Center. The other teachers I work with, this is their entire goal for the year. Their number of students passing depends upon the future of their program. I have contacted the testing organization and their stock response is, 'We do not have plans to develop any testing in the area of ASL at this time.' This is due solely because ASL cannot be written and graded quickly by their graders. Unfortunately, this is one of the reasons that is causing current ASL programs to fold. NO SUPPORT from the school districts.
Also, concerning the teachers -- whether they be deafies or hearies. The MOST important goal is that they have a background in teaching, classroom management, child psychology, something that will benefit them in the classroom. We had about 8 (I think) ASL programs in high schools in the district. Now we ONLY have 4!!!! Part of the reason is no support since they feel ASL has nothing to offer the schools (on paper), but also the choice in hiring teachers.
I met one teacher who barely knew how to fingerspell, but they hired her because she said she took an ASL class!!! *gasp* They hired a high-level interpreter who was extremely skilled in sign, but had no idea how to teach it. There was also deaf teachers that did not know how to teach ASL, since they had no background in teaching either. However, there were some excellent deaf and hearing teachers that had been through teacher training programs that proved to be awesome in our schools.
First and foremost, you need to have a teaching certification in the field of ASL. It is hard to get, due to the fact that very few schools offer training. However, you may get certification in another field (Special Education = me) and then attempt to pass your state certification test as an additional teacher certification. Although, you must be skilled in ASL to pass the test. Also, not all states even require you to be certified --- this is the ultimate problem.
Our students have decided to gain attention from our school administrators by doing the following; ASL III students mentoring students in the deaf education program in our district (for the entire year), performing Deaf History Month events and inviting the deaf community, reading books in sign language in the library to our special education students, hosting events for The School for the Deaf and inviting them to campus, placing "Did you Know" signs up around campus about deaf culture, etc.. The more our campus is exposed to the deaf community the more students sign up and cause our administrators to take note! Hopefully, your school can decide to do additional things to have your school notice you.
In fact our student numbers doubled this year, increasing our program to another ASL teacher!
ps. I am hearing, but I have a deaf cousin. I learned sign at a very young age. However, I still would not be a good teacher unless I had been in a teacher prepration program and also taken ASL courses. By merely signing from a young age and being in the deaf community I was still not aware of deaf culture concerns or ASL grammar until I was enrolled in ASL courses.
A
apathrev
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I see ASL as being more of a foreign language then Spanish or French. English, Spanish, and French are all Romance, and many words are strikingly similar. ASL is a completely different language based on ideas and concepts instead of words.
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cental34 said:
I wish I could remember what school this is. There is some university program -- I think it might be for teaching ESL or something like that -- that has a foreign language requirement, but what's special about it is that the langage must be something significantly different from your first language. For example, French would not qualify for an English speaker (as cental34 pointed out, since English shares so many similarities with romance languages), but Russian or Chinese would. This program does accept ASL as satisfying this requirement. I thought that was very cool.
cdmeggers
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Interpretrator said:I think the original poster was talking about ASL being allowed to satisfy the foreign language requirement in high schools. For example, most students are given a choice of French, Spanish, German, Japanese, etc., and are required to take two years or two semesters or whatever.
But wouldn't it be great if students WERE required to learn some ASL in order to graduate!
My interpreter and I tried to get an ASL class going at a high school where I live one year.. we passed out petitions and everything, but of course, it got nowhere. Maybe someday.