Saturday, October 16th
2021 Sign Language Lesson Reviews
Gallaudet University
- Free
- Videos and interactive lessons
- Well-known, professional ASL University
Founded in 1864, Gallaudet University is a bilingual, private university federally chartered for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. Their in-person campus is located in Washington D.C. They have over 50 degree programs available online or on campus. Students can get their Bachelors, Masters, or Doctorate degree from Gallaudet University. Although this is a professional, expensive University, they offer an ASL Connect program online for free.
Impressive selection of topics
"ASL for free" is a way for people to get their feet wet in the world of American Sign Language. It gives people a starting place to learn the basics of communication through videos and interactive lessons. We were surprised by how many topics there were to choose from including numbers, transportation, baby items, fruits, emotions, colors, animals, sports, weather, basic needs, and more.
Speed learning
Each video is about 45 seconds long, so you either need to internalize everything you're seeing really quickly or do a lot of stopping and rewinding. Videos show the word you're being taught and the sign language interpretation in an ongoing video. For example, if you're learning how to sign different fruits, you'll see an apple on the screen, then the sign, an orange, then the sign, grapes, then the sign, and so on.
Three lesson modules
The lesson modules are a bit more comprehensive than the videos: you are shown one sign at a time and asked to copy. There are three modules: basic personal information, making an encounter, and people. The lessons are short, but teach you how to identify vocabulary related to genders, describe what people are doing with action verbs, answer "yes" or "no" questions, and use appropriate pronouns. Each module has between 1 and 4 lessons.
Good for refreshing your memory
Obviously a huge selling point of using ASL for free through Gallaudet University is that it's" well, free. Because of this, it isn't an extensive program that tracks your progress over time or lets you choose lessons based on your knowledge level. This is just a free resource for anyone to use if they want to teach themselves the basics at whatever pace they want. It's probably best to refer to Gaulladet's free ASL course for quick refreshers rather than learning from scratch.
Brush up on your vocab
If you want all that Gaulladet has to offer for learning sign language, you'll have to sign up for their courses. Each class is about $316 and gives you credit toward a degree at Gallaudet University. This is an amazing institution who has served the deaf community for a long time, so whether you enroll in their courses or take advantage of their free ASL videos, it will be a great benefit to you. This isn't our first choice since you don't have an option to get extensive course content for a budget-friendly price, but it is a good place to refer to if you need to quickly brush up on your ASL vocabulary.
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The 6 Best Sign Language Lessons
Who Offers the Best Sign Language Lessons?
Used by as many as 500,000 people in the United States and Canada alone, American Sign Language (ASL) is the main form of sign language used by Deaf communities. ASL also forms the foundation of many sign language dialects used around the world, including parts of Southeast Asia and West Africa.
In addition to Deaf individuals, those who use American Sign Language include parents, children, or other family members of Deaf people; teachers working with students who are nonverbal; and, even parents of infants who want to communicate with their babies before their little ones are able to use spoken language.
Sign Language Lesson FAQ
Continued from above...
You may be surprised to learn that American Sign Language has its own structure, rather than being a word-for-word translation of spoken English. For example, the phrase "The father loves his child" would typically use just the signs for "father", "love", and "child". And, just like any other language, ASL can have an "accent" based on the region or culture of the signer, with variations of hand position and facial expression.
In the past, aspiring students of American Sign Language would have to find a Deaf community willing to teach them to sign, take a class at a local community college (if offered), or struggle with books and antiquated DVD lessons in order to learn ASL. However, today's modern tools make it easy to learn fluent American Sign Language at home or even on-the-go, with online courses and up-to-date video lessons.
Are you ready to find the right American Sign Language lessons for you? As you consider the ASL programs on the market, keep the following criteria in mind:
- Instructional Methods. Do the American Sign Language lessons use a teaching approach that fits your personal learning style?
- Skill Level. Are the ASL lessons appropriate for novice language learners, or do they expect you to already have some experience with the language? Can you progress from one level to another for the same original purchase price or subscription, or will you have to invest more money later?
- Value. Do the American Sign Language lessons have a track record of student success, making it worth the money you will spend?
TopConsumerReviews.com has reviewed and ranked the best Sign Language lessons available today. We hope these reviews help you open new doors of communication as you learn to sign fluently in ASL right away!
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