High School Student Confused on Old Sign Language Curriculum

Hello, I am a homeschooling student and I am 16 years old. While I am not deaf, I suffer from constant ear pain and hearing loss, and I am searching for some help. I do not have any Deaf family members or friends to help me on this, so I am not going to the internet as a trustworthy source.

First, a backstory...

Recently, school has started up for me. Being an overachiever, I am going to finish both 11th and 12th grade this year. My state mandatorily makes it that I have to learn a second language for at least two years, so I chose Sign Language (all other languages have failed me, and I would like to shout out to Rosetta Stone for discriminating against speech impediments).
The curricula I have come across is 'Sign Language for Everyone' by Dr. Cathy Rice and the Bill Rice Ranch. For anyone who does not know what that it, it is a DVD curriculum of 12 lessons that cover basic signs from the 1930's and the videos were recorded in the 70's and later burned to DVD's. My mother decided on it as it had many good reviews and was very affordable.

I have found many faults with it, being an overachiever and studying as much as I could about Sign Language on my own. A few examples of oddities on the DVD's is the simple terms 'Grandfather' and 'Grandmother'. My Sign Language Dictionary says that the term for the first is one hand going to the masculine forehead with a five hand and going forward one generation, and the same with the latter.
The DVD's, however, say that 'Grandfather' is both hands on the forehead (thumb and pinky overlapping) to show 'two fathers.' That same for 'Grandmother' on the feminine chin.

Now, I am not certain if both are taken as correct or if one is obsolete in this day and age. Other facts I find hard to believe that the Deaf do not have a sentence structure. Being a grammar Nazi, I've studied that as well. What I've come to learn, ASL follows an Object, Subject, Verb sentence structure similar to Japanese. Dr. Cathy Rice disagrees.

She also says that, in the United States alone, there are many 'dialects' of Sign Language. Now, I know that it varies from country to country - BSL and ASL, both English speaking countries yet not even the alphabet is the same.

I am only asking if the DVD's are worthwhile, or if I should look elsewhere for a curriculum. I've noticed a Master!ASL that looks rather interesting, and also goes in deeper that just basic signs (EG, the 'wh' question face and the do's and do not's of Deaf culture)

I thank all in advance, and I hope my rambling actually made sense in the end.

-sherlokianwisom

I would suggest finding a different curriculum for learning ASL because what you are using is so outdated. Plus since it doesn't teacher the grammar you should not use it. I suggest signing Naturally or Master ASL.

Also, you'll never pass an ASL fluency test if you're learning it from online static sources only. You need to actually sign with people.

I would look into your local community college and see if they offer real ASL classes. Community colleges are generally very affordable and it's a great way to learn the basics of ASL. I would look for classes that are taught silently, for the most part. That was the only way that my husband was able to take the leap from knowing signs to actually using ASL. There's a thread here where you can match up with others learning ASL, but for someone completely new to it I think it's important to get the basics taught solidly, and people you casually sign with aren't necessarily qualified to do that. You may or may not be getting it properly and you won't know that. The people you sign with may not even know that they are giving you incorrect information.

That would be fine if you're learning it for fun, you can correct your mistakes later, but you're doing this to fulfill language requirements for school. That really needs you to have the correct basics. It would be like taking German and being told the wrong grammar and declensions and all that stuff.

I'm new here, hearing, and a total ASL novice (my first formal class since I was super little starts in two days--NOVICE), but I was home schooled (never went to school other than college). I'm wondering what sort of testing your state does for this? I am from the lawless home schooling haven that is New Jersey, so there were no formal regulations imposed on my curriculum, but I did have friends in more restricted states, and I'm not sure how they would test for something like language proficiency, especially sign?

Maybe for the actual experts here this is out of left field (not the way to go for proficiency), but I would see if registering with Bill Vicars's program would be adequate. It's geared toward getting college credit, so I imagine it would satisfy your state? Not sure what the conversion is for his classes into "school years," but I think his is set up for ASL I and II to be separately accredited (the site is not accredited; you have to gain that equivalency from your institution), so I would imagine such pseudo "semesters" could satisfy two "years," especially for "high school" credit.

Also, well met, fellow grammar constable. I'd be happy to contest my apostrophe following "Vicars" with you if it raised a red flag, or any other segment of my writing, or really anything you want to debate concerning grammar. :P

If your options include online, I'd suggest Lifeprint. Lots of signs and lessons free! (Though I'd also look into local cheap or free classes to enrich your learning, as well as getting out there. Also, if you need proof of completion, I think that may cost money at Lifeprint (that's the same as the "Bill Vicars" previously mentioned).)

To acronym, my state had a similar requirement, for the state honors diploma at least. There wasn't really an examination, I think it was on the "school" to count those as foreign. Assuming the OP is going for the state-recognized diploma, it may work like that.

Life Print is a good resource.

My ASL teacher (she teaches at the high school and college) uses this book (and accompanying DVD that's separate): http://www.amazon.com/Learning-American-Sign-Language-II--Beginning/dp/0205275532
The DVD shows how ASL is done, the sentence structure, facial expressions to be used, etc. to show the concept while one is learning.
The other college ASL teacher uses Signing Naturally in her ASL classes.

It would indeed be helpful if you can find a local deaf community so you can get some actual practice and feedback from fluent ASL signers, that would most definitely help you in the long run when it comes to mastering ASL. Definitely use RECENT ASL resources, rather than the old out-of-date stuff that you have been using.

cdmeggers said:

Life Print is a good resource.

My ASL teacher (she teaches at the high school and college) uses this book (and accompanying DVD that's separate): Learning American Sign Language: Levels I & II--Beginning & Intermediate (2nd Edition): 9780205275533: Medicine & Health Science Books @ Amazon.com
The DVD shows how ASL is done, the sentence structure, facial expressions to be used, etc. to show the concept while one is learning.
The other college ASL teacher uses Signing Naturally in her ASL classes.

It would indeed be helpful if you can find a local deaf community so you can get some actual practice and feedback from fluent ASL signers, that would most definitely help you in the long run when it comes to mastering ASL. Definitely use RECENT ASL resources, rather than the old out-of-date stuff that you have been using.

Click to expand...

^ditto.

I've used bot signing naturally and the other book.

btw, there are dialects. most common is eastern vs western. i find people in nc and tn sign differently too. This is life. there's a history behind it, but we won't get into that right now.