Online Resources to Learn Sign Language

The roots of American Sigh Language (ASL) can be traced back to 1814. Dr. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, a minister from Hartford, Connecticut, traveled to Europe to learn techniques for teaching those who were deaf. Several years later he established the American Asylum for Deaf-Mutes (now the American School for the Deaf) in Hartford. Students brought home the signs used by the school, and ASL began to emerge. The advent of the Internet has made ASL lessons more accessible, and there are many online resources available for both teachers and students.
  1. ASLPro.com

    • ASLPro.com is a free resource that allows students to observe models online and let them practice American Sign Language. Teachers can create an account for the student and personalize individual quizzes. The site is not constructed as a stand-alone learning tool. It should be used in conjunction with an ASL class led by a qualified instructor. The site features a video dictionary, including religious and conversational dictionaries, as well as ASL for babies. There is also an online store that sells T-shirts and mugs depicting ASL, which help fund the site.

    Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) Resource Guide

    • The Center for Applied Linguistics online resource guide is a comprehensive guide to resources that provide information about ASL. It's designed for both teachers and students and was created to provide information on ASL itself and not ancillary issues. The guide provides links to dictionaries, ASL-related web sites, organizations, journals, videos and software, documents and books. CAL was founded in 1959 as a private, nonprofit organization. Based in Washington D.C., its goal is to improve communication through the understanding of language and culture.

    Lifeprint.com -- American Sign Language University

    • American Sign Language University (ASLU) was established in 1997 to aid parents of children who are deaf or hearing impaired who lack access to sign language classes. The idea was to create an online curriculum resource center that would aid students in rural areas in fulfilling language requirements for both high school and college. ASLU created a formal fee-based program for students who need documentation and evaluation, but there are also publicly available lessons. The web site features a library, dictionary, graphics and screensavers, and a guide to teaching ASL.

    ALSPreschool.org -- Ohio School for the Deaf

    • A grant from the Ohio Department of Education helped to create ASLPreschool.org. The department charged the Ohio School for the Deaf with creating a web site that was kid-friendly and could be utilized by preschool teachers along with students who were deaf or hearing impaired across the state. The web site employs ASL in conjunction with real-world objects that a preschool student encounters every day. It features a list of words and corresponding signs. While the site does not offer a complete ASL course, it provides vocabulary and info that targets parents and teachers of preschool-aged students.

Learnify Hub © www.0685.com All Rights Reserved