Seattle
Central Community College
ASL 121 - American Sign Language Level 1
Barb Bernstein Fant, Instructor 1.
NEWS & UPDATES
Updated October 13, 2009
Reminder: Check
the Schedule page
for frequent updates or changes to your assignments or what has been taught
in class that day and secondly, the
News and Updates page constantly
for any announcements during and outside of class time!
October 12th - 15th:
(All classes)
1. I've made some changes to my web
Schedule
page. I have added a middle column
(Homework Due)
with with the exact due dates for various assignments which should make it
easier for you to follow instead of clicking on a separate page for
Assignment Due Dates.
Hopefully this will be less confusing for you. I will be creating an
ASL Tutor Schedule link
(top right corner of this page) in lieu of the Assignment Due Dates page
when we have all
ASL tutors in place. We are still waiting to get our tutors in place
and will inform you asap - I am so sorry for the delay!
2. For inclement weather announcements, be sure to check my ASL 121-123
index page and my News and Updates page as well as the SCCC college website should we experience some
weather problems this fall. Temperatures are dropping early and I
won't be surprised if we have snow again. In any case, continue
to check my web Schedule page and keep up with the homework.
3) No voicing policy - please adhere to it. To avoid asking
your classmate a question in voice during class lectures when you don't
understand something, write notes instead. How does a Deaf person
communicate with a hearing person who doesn't know signs? By writing
notes back and forth. Therefore put yourself in the shoes of a Deaf
person and develop some cultural sensitivity. Another option
would be to raise your hand and come up to the board to write a question or
let me know if you don't understand something or are confused.
4) When you come to
class, do not
sit with the same classmates each and every time. Move around
and sit with different people and get to know them! For students
sitting on the sides and you can't see the projector screen, then move your
seats inwards closer to the middle of the classroom and form a tighter
circle. Please be assertive!
October 5th - 8th:
(All classes)
1. For those of you
who have added my class or have switched to the other section, register as
soon as possible. Deadline for adding classes is this Friday!
2) There are some
of you who haven't documented their information on the "Student Contact
Sheet" - see me and take care of it tonight.
3) By now, you
should be studying your ASL 121 Core Vocabulary Units 1-2 as well as other
homework assigned last week. Do not delay otherwise you will
fall behind easily. Remember my website address is on the instructor
information adhesive label that I passed out last week.
4) Any problems
getting course materials?? Please let me know.
Sept 29th - October 1st:
(Mon/Wed & Tues/Thurs classes)
New announcement: For those who were absent last Tuesday, please get
a) instructor information labels from me and fill out b) Student Contact
List and c) First Day questionnaire. Make sure the paperwork gets in
to me tonight.
1) Seating
arrangements in the classroom - is always a semi-circular pattern. This is
due to the visual requirements of ASL. Be sure that you can see all of
your classmates clearly which means moving your desk forward
to adjust your visual line or telling your classmate to move back. This is
one essential Deaf Culture behavior that you will use all quarter
especially when you need to watch me dialogue with any student during an
activity in class. The ASL/ITP lab (Room 1129)
which the class will use once weekly, is a very small room so do your best to create a semi-circle for visual clarity.
2) The
NO-voicing policy must be adhered to when you arrive to class.
American
Sign language is a visual and gestural language therefore you
must learn to rely on your eyes and hands accordingly. It is difficult for
some students to let go of their linear, spoken language habits.
To help reduce confusion and to minimize the interference of
spoken languages, I will ask that all students
comply with our "voices off" philosophy in the classroom
at
all times!
Even
if you don't follow what is going on in class, please be patient, sit back and
learn to use your eyes and hands. It may take a while to "get
it" for some students than others. If you still don't understand, feel free
to ask your classmate or me in writing or
raise your hand and then come to the board to write your question.
Don't be shy! Your classmates will benefit from your questions as well.
It is important to stick to the no-voicing rule throughout the quarter. If it is
just a personal question, then come up during break and inquire or see me during
office hours. There are times in the past when I've had to ask a student to leave the
classroom for the evening for being disruptive and breaking the no-voicing rule.
3) ASL classes:
Both of my ASL classes (M/W) and (T/TH) are full. Please see me if you
want to add the class at break time or after class.
4)
ASL Lab: Beginning the second week of the quarter, the Monday-Wed class will go
directly to lab in Room 1129 on Mondays at 6:30 p.m. for the rest of the
quarter. The same is true for the Tues-Thursday class - your lab day
will be Tuesdays.
Mon/Wed class
- for next week only -- on Monday go to 1114 and on Wednesday go to
the lab. From then on, your lab will be Mondays.
5). Schedule page:
I plan to finish my web schedule for the entire
fall quarter by the beginning of the 3rd week. Thanks for your
patience!
6)
Instructor information adhesive
labels are ready. It has my office room number, office hours, work email
and website address.
Please do not lose that
information especially the web address - you will need the address to access
my ASL 121 home
page and other corresponding web pages constantly during the entire quarter. Be sure to look at my web
schedule for homework assignments daily.
Navigate the other ASL 121 web pages and really familiarize yourself
with them this week particularly
the Vocabulary and Assignments page. Click on the various links on each page
and see what they bring up. Reminder:
Not all
links will be active at the same time - some will be activated later in the
quarter.
7) Be
sure to purchase your student ID cards this week! They
can be obtained in room 1141. You will need these
ID cards to access the ASL lab in Room 1129 when we start to use the lab
next week on Monday/Tuesday. You cannot access the ASL
Lab at any time without these student ID cards - it is a requirement. Also
bring a videotape for the lab - you will have an opportunity to use the camera
equipment in the lab and to practice recording an exercise onto your videotape.
Do not bring DVDs at all.
8) Please
read my web syllabus 3 times! I
will be asking you questions regarding the syllabus during the syllabus discussion
next Mon or Tues
(depending on which class you are in)
Pay particular attention to the course grade percentage breakdown and what the
percentages pertain to.
Please come ready with questions.
9)
Regarding the required course materials for this class, for those of you who may be economically challenged,
the
SCCC library (2nd floor)
has
three (3) copies
of the
Signing Naturally
(SN)
Workbook on reserve in the
Media
Lab
along with 1 copy of the
SN videotape.
The
ASL/ITP lab
(Room 1129) has
2 copies
of the SN Workbook and
1 SN videotape
in the
glass cabinet
(you can sign out and take home for 4 days max.). The lab also has a
copy of the ASL I - III Core Vocabulary DVDs and Vocabulary List in the lab
videotape cabinet.
Ask the lab assistant to get it out for you.
10.
Deaf Again text -
has not arrived in the bookstore yet. Please call later
this week to find out when the book will come in.
11.
ASL 1, II,
III Core
Vocabulary:
Very important!
You
will also note on my web schedule for tonight's homework that you will
need to start reviewing ASL 121 Core
Vocabulary Unit 1
this week.
Warning:
The ASL 121 Core Vocabulary streamed video
(located in my Vocabulary and Assignments web page)
is
separate and far more comprehensive than the sign illustrations found
at the end of each unit in the Signing Naturally Level 1 Student workbook
(required purchase for the course). Do not confuse the two.
The ASL 121 Core
Vocabulary and the ASL 121-123 Core vocabulary
streamed videos (good for all three classes) are provided for you on my
course web
at no cost.
This is a new change starting this fall. In the past, students had to
purchase the Core Vocabulary Listing/DVDs package. If you have
already bought the package, return it to the bookstore and get a refund.
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