Real Life

Incoming!

Yesterday I sat in on a Sociology class where the popular word of the day was "deviant". Needless to say I was a bit inspired and had some great ideas. I've started working on fleshing them out, so I'll hopefully have something to put up here soon! In the meantime, check out this really interesting… Continue reading Incoming!

Real Life

Universal ASL Education – Afterwards

Everything in my series of Universal ASL Education posts consisted of my presentation to my Communication class. We had to pick a topic and give a persuasive presentation. After we finished our presentations, people were free to ask questions. A few of those questions have been bugging me, and I would like to address them… Continue reading Universal ASL Education – Afterwards

Real Life

Universal ASL Education – To sum it up

Today’s educational system focuses on spoken language, isolating students who use visual language from what is going on inside and outside of the classroom. But if all the students and teachers had some degree of fluency in both ASL and English, everyone would benefit. Language barriers both inside and outside of the classroom would come… Continue reading Universal ASL Education – To sum it up

Real Life

Universal ASL Education – Existing Models

By now you may be thinking, “Well that’s a great idea, but how are we going to have teachers using both ASL and English to teach?” Thankfully we have existing education models: bilingual-bicultural classrooms. In the article "Addressing Students' Language Needs in a Bilingual ASL and English Classroom", three teachers share their experience at the… Continue reading Universal ASL Education – Existing Models

Real Life

Universal ASL Education – Two Groups

There are two groups that we need to focus: teachers and children. Teachers would be the biggest hurdle at first. Colleges would have to include a specific level of ASL fluency in their graduation requirements. This also means that a standardized ASL curriculum must be agreed upon by all colleges. Colleges would have to work… Continue reading Universal ASL Education – Two Groups

Real Life

Universal ASL Education – Education Options

Today there are a wide range of options for educating an ASL-speaking child. They range from being in class with their English-speaking peers all day at a public school to living at a residential school with their ASL-speaking peers. The first three options are collectively called mainstreaming. All three have their pros and cons. All… Continue reading Universal ASL Education – Education Options

Real Life

Universal ASL Education – Language

The biggest reason why children should be raised speaking ASL and English is education. When Deaf education began in America in 1817, the American School for the Deaf only used ASL and written English to teach the children. They were very successful doing so. Graduates went out into the nation and founded schools for the… Continue reading Universal ASL Education – Language