When my children were smaller, we belonged to a different church. In that church, one of the congregants was deaf. So, an interpreter stood at the front of the church each Sunday, signing what the pastor said. It fascinated me to watch her hands move and her face change as she helped the deaf person understand the pastor’s words. We don’t attend that church anymore, but I have encountered groups of people entering restaurants obviously gesturing in sign language. During these casual encounters, their way of communicating continued to interest me. Then, when my dyslexic son had difficulty learning conversational Spanish (and I later learned that learning foreign languages poses significant challenges to these kids), I remembered those folks. At the time, I tried to find American Sign Language classes for him, but everything was print.
It frustrated me. How can you learn sign language from pictures or worse, drawings? How do you know you’re doing it correctly? And what about the facial expressions that are integral to communicating with the deaf? Unfortunately, he missed out. But, now I have a student in high school with an interest in missions. At first I didn’t think about the deaf as a mission field, but then I remembered that church all those years ago. So, I looked into it. Did you know that American Sign Language counts toward high school foreign language credit? Yes! And this time around, I found video-based lessons through Mr. D Math American Sign Language classes level 1.
On-Demand American Sign Language Classes You Must Try
Video-based
As I already shared, I’ve seen a few offerings for American Sign Language classes in the past. But, they all fall short because most are textbook-based. The fact that Mr. D Math‘s classes are video-based is the number one reason to check them out. There’s nothing quite like seeing a real human doing the signs. In addition, the homework is video-based also. That way, your student gets feedback on whether they are doing the signs correctly. This feedback is invaluable and makes sure that when they try to communicate with deaf people out in real life, they will be understood. I haven’t been able to find anything else like it. It also forces them to practice and holds them accountable for their learning.
Additional live help if desired
Mr. D Math American Sign Language classes also offers a monthly live session where you can ask questions and meet other students. This gives your student the opportunity to fix any issues they’re having with practicing their signs or learning the material. They can even interact with peers for additional community and practice opportunities. Because, as we know, learning a foreign language requires a lot of practice. In addition, the “guess what I’m saying” quiz-type videos help students practice, too.
Relevant American Sign Language Classes for Everyday Signing
Have you ever enrolled in a foreign language program and it became obvious that it was designed for international travelers, not students? Well, Mr. D Math American Sign Language classes are designed for young people. For example, your students learns signs relevant for birthdays, family, popular holidays, and more. And, you can do the lessons in any order. That way, if you’re going to a party, you can just skip down to those lessons. I will say, though, that you do need to do the alphabet lesson first. That’s because deaf people use finger-spelling for some words, so it’s important to be able to do that.
Mr. D Math American Sign Language classes are the best I’ve seen. I’m happy that I found them and my teen can learn in the best possible way.
