American Sign Language Through Culture I

Immerse Yourself in ASL and Deaf Culture: In this course, you’ll build expressive and receptive American Sign Language (ASL) skills while gaining a deeper understanding of Deaf culture. Designed for beginners, the course emphasizes visual engagement through storytelling, conversation, and cultural exploration. You’ll develop vocabulary, grammar, and conversational techniques by practicing fingerspelling, non-manual signals (facial expressions and body language), classifiers, spatial grammar, and the use of signing space. Along the way, you’ll explore Deaf history, community values, and cultural norms to understand ASL as both a language and a reflection of a vibrant cultural identity.

Why Take This Course? If you’re interested in language and communication through a cultural lens, this course offers a fully immersive introduction to ASL and the Deaf community. Through interactive signing, real-time conversations, and project-based activities, you’ll connect language learning with vibrant Deaf culture—deepening your understanding of communication, identity, and human connection.

This is a yearlong course.

Students in GOA courses will need reliable access to a computer with webcam/microphone connections, an email address (preferably school-based), a Web-conferencing app (GOA courses use Zoom), and a Word processing app (GOA courses use Google’s G Suite). When necessary, alternative arrangements may be made. Some courses require additional materials which can be found in the Course Outline. 

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NCAA-approved course

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