More Students signing up for courses in sign language!

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Cheri

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I was reading my Cleveland Plain Dealer this morning, a photo in the paper caught my eyes of an interpreter I used to have way back in high school. Check your paper ^Angel^ on Metro section. ;) Anyway It saying that more students signing up for courses in sign language than in any foreign language.

Some students come to American Sign Language classes because of frustration with studying traditional foreign languages. Some of the other college students think that American Sign Language is a lot more fun than learning foreign Language.

At two years college, ASL ranked first while foreign rank second.

I was sure impressed that ASL becoming popular in college now that students find that fun to learn instead of being frustrate with learning foreign language.
 
I think jobs that needs ASL skills is now hot demand... With all VRS lack of terp, they are gonna to scream... So that is good news for all of us deafies. :)
 
Since ASL was offered in college for options of the other classes of foreign language. Students are aware of the deaf culture, "that deaf people learn to speak with hands and listen with the eyes", got students very interesting learning about the deaf culture. One student says "We see so much of ASL now in our daily lives, We see it on television, movies, in restaurants where deaf people go and use ASL. And she says it looks more interesting and more fun and wanted to learn more. Now since Sign Language course are hugely popular the waiting list for the beginning section of ASL at Ohio State is between 200 to 300 students. Twenty-five students have already dropped out foreign language course to join American sign language course. But they want the student to be aware that American sign language is not as easy as they think, In many cases its more difficult. :)


Hooray!
 
Cheri, your right. It takes average of 5 years to master the ASL terp skills. Actually nothing can be learn overnight. grin
 
ASL is becoming really popular yay!
I'm 18, and I was three when the ADA was passed. I have, as have most high school and college students, grown up seeing interpreters at some big events, and sign language in some form on tv and in the movies. I am a high school student learning ASL at a local community college, (college class are free for HS students in CA, yay) and I am also learning spanish at my high school. I've heard, overall there are more students who want to learn than teachers to teach! We really need some more quality ASL teachers! (I am hoping to become one)
I don't think ASL is easier than other foreign languages, the syntax is pretty difficult. However, the fact that one can fingerspell to learn new words is very helpful! If someone doesn't know a sign and is communicating with a deaf person they can just fingerspell and get the sign. With other spoken languages, this can't happen.
ASL is so much more useful to learn than other foreign languages. What if everyone in a hearing family took ASL as their foreign language? Then, when the grandparents started losing their hearing, as most do, instead of shouting at them, you could just sign! There are countless ways a visual language is more useful than a spoken language!
 
Cheri - I found the article that you just saw in your local newspaper.

More students signing up for courses in sign language

The article is somewhat true, but it saddens me to know SOME people nowadays are looking for easy out way by signing up for ASL classes instead of real languages like Spanish, German, etc.

Most people (hearing and deaf) I know who attended ASL courses (for credits and fun purposes) didn't continue using ASL.
 
Interesting... I know little about ASL. I use ASL long time ago... I guess it would fresh my memory if I meet Americans one day. :P
 
Brian said:
Cheri - I found the article that you just saw in your local newspaper.

More students signing up for courses in sign language

The article is somewhat true, but it saddens me to know SOME people nowadays are looking for easy out way by signing up for ASL classes instead of real languages like Spanish, German, etc.

Most people (hearing and deaf) I know who attended ASL courses (for credits and fun purposes) didn't continue using ASL.
Click to expand...

Easy way out to learn ASL than foreign language, same with my daughter, she was given three different languages to learn at school - German, Japanese or Indonesian, her Language Teacher told her German is easier to learn than Japanese/Indonesian. Easy way out again!
 
Mod Note:

Removed unnecessary posts unrelated for which this thread is based upon--

Furthermore, I do not see a problem with the 'link' that was supplied in this thread--if a link isn't readily available, if another member decides to post the specific link so others can see what the topic is about, that's being helpful...as long it doesn't provide personal 'links' to another member's personal information, etc. ;)

~RR
 
Hey....just thought of something.....this might be good news for us pro-ASL/Signers...maybe it means that more and more hearing parents of dhh kids are interested in pursuing Sign for their dhh kids. Maybe it means that parents are more openminded today. I really do think that in a few years oral-only may be essentially dead. A lot of parents who choose oral, are the braindead types who want their kid to be "healthy and normal" (whatever THAT means) The parents of kids today, are the parents who grew up with learning about ASL and hearing loss as just something about them....anyone get what I'm saying?
 
Brian said:
Cheri - I found the article that you just saw in your local newspaper.

More students signing up for courses in sign language
Click to expand...

The article is only shown one page, And no pictures of the interpreter that was signing too, And there were more photos too of a student learning ASL, The newspaper I read had two long pages. Keep that in mind that this website didn't provide all the information. But, just part of it. ;)
 
deafdyke said:
Hey....just thought of something.....this might be good news for us pro-ASL/Signers...maybe it means that more and more hearing parents of dhh kids are interested in pursuing Sign for their dhh kids. Maybe it means that parents are more openminded today. I really do think that in a few years oral-only may be essentially dead. A lot of parents who choose oral, are the braindead types who want their kid to be "healthy and normal" (whatever THAT means) The parents of kids today, are the parents who grew up with learning about ASL and hearing loss as just something about them....anyone get what I'm saying?
Click to expand...


Yes, I do in the past a lot of hearing parent didn't know what to do; where to put their child in, What education, Now that more people are using ASL and is becoming popular those days, It would help hearing parent knowing what to do with their child's future. ;)
 
Brian said:
The article is somewhat true, but it saddens me to know SOME people nowadays are looking for easy out way by signing up for ASL classes instead of real languages like Spanish, German, etc.
Click to expand...

I understand how you feel about people are just taking ASL as an "easy way out." It's kind of sad people don't have the motivation to challenges themselves; and it's sad so many people don't realize that ASL is a real language and people have real difficulties in learning. But as you said:

Brian said:
Most people (hearing and deaf) I know who attended ASL courses (for credits and fun purposes) didn't continue using ASL.
Click to expand...
Only those who really want to learn, and a few who find they do want the challenge even when they didn't think they did, will continue. I figure, at least more people know that it is a language, and have some basic signing skill. Even if every student continued his/her class, they wouldn't all make good interpreters/teachers etc. With all languages, the more advanced the classes get, the less people sign up for them. Take Spanish at my school, about 200 students a year take Spanish 1, 90 take Spanish 3, 40 take Spanish 4, and 5 take Spanish 5, (an AP class).
I truly love ASL, I truly want to learn it, but I didn't feel that way until I had a deaf teacher. Everyone has different motivations to start learning ASL, but it's only the later motivations that really count.
 
Don't attend USC...

If you are thinking about going to USC, you will need to think twice. Read this.

USC is an insult to all of us...

If any readers who have any ties to USC's higher brasses whose are bird-brained, please explain to them that we need to have their decisions reversed so that can have more terps in the near future.

~DV
 
USC is an anagram for 'SUC' and I believe I know the very person responsible for this. She happens to be a disbarred career student who ended up raising rabbits in a half rotten house.

By the way at the Pet Expo we got a lot of people interested in taking our sign language classes.

Richard
 
By the same token, a lot of those students who took ASL as "the easy way out" over another foreign language found out it wasn't really the easy way out. And this is why the mortality rate of ASL classes is sky-high the first few weeks into the course.
 
The students take ASL classes at Hawaii Community College and Kapiolani Community College. They want to be an interpreters in their future , also they meet many Deaf and hard–of–hearing.


HiBluE01
 
Nesmuth said:
USC is an anagram for 'SUC'
Click to expand...

Yes, and USC is also known as the University of Spoiled Children. It has definitely also accepted some students who can't even tie their own shoes, just because they are good at sports. hehe, my grandma, and 3 uncles went to UCLA, I would be disowned if I went to USC.
 
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