For my EDTC 300 learning project, I am excited to try and take on the task of learning American Sign Language. I have endeavoured to try and learn different languages before, such as French, German, and Norwegian, but I struggled with memorizing all of the different grammar rules as well as with trying to speak with the proper pronunciation. A few months ago, I had come across a big Master class sale that was offering ASL courses at a hugely discounted price. I took the plunge and bought it; however, I have not yet taken the time to start using it. This project is a great opportunity for me to try and learn language in a more hands on (no pun intended) way.
My own previous experience with ASL is quite limited. As a child, I had two books that provided very simple signs for basic words such as “apple” or “boy.” I can only remember a few of the signs now. More recently, I had briefly practiced learning the alphabet, but I need to do it more consistently to remember it. My hope is to learn basic phrases so that I could communicate if I had the opportunity to talk to someone who was deaf or hard of hearing that knows ASL.
My plan for learning ASL is to start with using the resources that I already have in my possession. I am going to first focus on using The ASL App. I do not have the full version of this app, but the lessons it provides for free will be a good start to get into the practice of moving my fingers and learning the basics of ASL. Alongside using The ASL App, I plan to use the courses I received through the Master class that I purchased through Stack Social. It includes 13 different courses that focus on different elements of ASL such as fingerspelling, emotions, animal & number sentences, and everyday phrases. Once I start working on learning ASL through the use of these two resources, I will potentially look into using different types of avenues depending on my progress. My goal is to remain consistent with what I learn so that I can hopefully finally know how to communicate using a different language.
