Are these good sign language classes?

Reba said:
She may be a wonderful terp but she's not a very good teacher of ASL.

Your class doesn't use a curriculum or textbook with DVD?

Teaching word lists hasn't been accepted technique for ASL for a couple decades, at least.
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Agreed. Teaching and terping are two very different skills. I know many excellent terps that couldn't teach. I am a good teacher. I can't terp.
 
CSign said:
I'm sorry the class isn't working out well for you. Have you thought about writing down the basic handshape and movement for the different words you are learning to help you remember the signs?

How much longer is the class? Maybe you can try to stick it out a little longer, and take a for-credit ASL class at a community college next?
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this is why I said...

Jiro said:
um... SEE should never ever be included together with ASL under NO circumstance especially in ASL 101 course. period.
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I've been enquiring about starting a BSL sign language class in London and everyone tells me that you must get a Deaf teacher. Somebody told me of a horror story of being taught BSL by a hearing person only to find that when she tried to communicate with a Deaf person, her signs didn't make much sense. Many of the signs were old and out-of-date.

As a result of this advice, I've now signed up to a BSL class which is both run and taught by a Deaf-led BSL training company. You have to agree that when you walk onto the premises to go voice-off. I figured this is better than going to a hearing college where all the students & staff are hearing and the only Deaf person is the tutor.

Here's a link for anyone who's interested: Femaura
 
^^^I'm afraid I don't agree. I'm sure there are plenty of hearing people who stay updated with sign language and can teach an incredible class. And there are plenty of people who's native language is English who I wouldn't want a dog to learn commands from. It all depends upon the individual, not their hearing status.

It's like saying no men should be OB/GYNs. Bunk. My OB/GYN is a man. He's fantastic. I've had the "parts" all my life, but I'm sure there are plenty of things about female anatomy I don't know.
 
I agree with mbrek that just being Deaf isn't a guarantee that you can teach sign language, just as being oral English isn't a guarantee that you can teach English. I was told that in the UK, Deaf BSL teachers are all properly trained and qualified to teach sign language, so it's not just a random Deaf person teaching you. And part of their training is knowing how to communicate with hearing students so they are bi-lingual, which not all Deaf people are. But I don't want to learn merely a language, I want to learn about a culture as well, which a hearing people cannot do as well. So, IMAO, a qualified Deaf sign language teacher is always better than a qualified hearing teacher.

Another reason for choosing to use a Deaf teacher is to provide employment opportunities to gifted Deaf people. It's a fact that Deaf people suffer from higher unemployment rates and that they face discrimination in trying to find work. Also much of the money that goes towards helping Deaf people end up in the hands of hearing people. So this is why I was delighted to pay a Deaf-run company to teach me BSL.
 
I've thought some more about learning sign language and who I'd like to teach it.

An analogy I was thinking of is learning a foreign language like Italian, German, Chinese or <insert language of choice here>.

I can see broadly two motives for learning a foreign language:
  1. functional communication
  2. cultural integration

The first category would fit business people and tourists. You want to learn a language in order to communicate with people speaking that language and to be able to get by in that country (e.g. shopping, conduct business). You just want to be able to function in that society, but you're not looking to live there or belong.

The second category would fit people wanting to fit in and know how to live and do things in the same way that native people do. They are looking to integrate and be accepted by native people in that country/culture.

If I was in the first category, I may prefer to learn the foreign language from someone who is from my own culture (i.e. learn ASL from a hearie). They can help me look out for particular things from my own perspective. I'm not looking to become a fully paid up member of the Deaf community, but I want to be able to communicate with them.

But if I was in the second category, looking to understand and integrate into Deaf culture as well as ASL, then it's a no-brainer that I would want a Deafie to teach me. At school I remember learning German for three years. In the first & third year I had a UK German teacher who spoke fluently and had holidays in Germany every year. In my second year, I had a teacher from Germany. But it was only in my second year that I learned about the German psyche as well as German vocab & grammar.
 
I have been proficient in ASL all my life (deaf since birth). But if I were just learning sign now, for sure I would want only a Deaf teacher. Who better than to share their backgrounds, fluency, all the things that a hearing teacher hasn't experienced. All of the teachers in my SO's ASL classes have ALL been deaf, and he's gotten to learn so much more about Deaf culture and their upbringings.
 
I agree that having Deaf teacher is really worth it. weird when i met people who learned ASL. i could tell if they learn from the hearing teacher or the deaf teacher. Don't ask me how did i know, just the way they sign that i can tell. so Deaf teachers or coda teacher only if they know better how to teach. ;) some hearing teacher who are very involved with deaf community,.


the bottom line is that i prefer Deaf teacher.
 
AlleyCat said:
I have been proficient in ASL all my life (deaf since birth). But if I were just learning sign now, for sure I would want only a Deaf teacher. Who better than to share their backgrounds, fluency, all the things that a hearing teacher hasn't experienced. All of the teachers in my SO's ASL classes have ALL been deaf, and he's gotten to learn so much more about Deaf culture and their upbringings.
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Exactly. And the people who learn from the Deaf, and the people who learn from the hearing, are always easy to spot.

Just like learning English from a native Spanish speaker. Gonna be some differences that are obvious as in those that learn ASL from a native English speaker.
 
I've had a hearing teacher and had Deaf teachers. I prefer Deaf.
 
I never thought of the employability part (deaf jobs). But this type of thinking in other areas just rubs me the wrong way. Perhaps it's due to the era I grew up in, women's rights and all. I get irked when people assume women make the best OB/GYN, or only men can fight in combat.
 
mbrek said:
I never thought of the employability part (deaf jobs). But this type of thinking in other areas just rubs me the wrong way. Perhaps it's due to the era I grew up in, women's rights and all. I get irked when people assume women make the best OB/GYN, or only men can fight in combat.
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I'm not sure that OB/GYN and ASL instructors is a good comparison. You might better compare OB/GYN with an eye doctor and an ASL instructor with a History instructor.

I would think a person that has traveled the world to be a better History instructor than someone that just quotes from the history books. Same as I would expect a deaf ASL user to be a better ASL instructor than an interpreter. I do see your point though. In my old college we had an interpreter that was running the ASL courses and she hired several deaf people to teach the classes. She taught the advanced interpreting classes though. it was a win/win for us!!!
 
You make a good point, Cheetah - but of course, both men and women have eyes! LOL

But really, it's just kind of a knee jerk reaction on my part... everyone here has made good points.
 
mbrek said:
You make a good point, Cheetah - but of course, both men and women have eyes! LOL

But really, it's just kind of a knee jerk reaction on my part... everyone here has made good points.
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*Cheetah waits until nobody is looking and pats himself on the back* :lol:
 
^^^Aw heck. Do it while others are looking! Well deserved.
 
Drexel said:
There is a good company that is in the business of helping people with impairment. They have good services like providing people to communicate for them and it has a good reputation of providing good support for deaf.
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Go away quickly before someone here chews you up and spits you out.:cool2:
 
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