American Sign Language Beginners Level 1 (Online Course)

Learn the basics of American Sign Language (ASL) in this relaxed & comfortable 6-week class

This course is designed for students who have little or zero knowledge of ASL. In this course, you will learn:

• Deaf Awareness
• Deaf culture
• ASL grammar and syntax

At the end of the course, you will:

• Be able to carry on a basic conversation in ASL using expressive and receptive skills
• Have an increased basic knowledge of the Deaf Culture and the Deaf Community

Please note: ASL is the only language of communication to be used in the classroom.

The course will use the textbook Signing Naturally Book Unit 1-6 (Authors: Cheri Smith, Ella Mae Lentz, and Ken Mikos), and will cover Unit 1-2.

No materials required. Students are recommended to purchase Student Signing Naturally Workbook, but it is not a requirement for this course.

Course details

Summer 2022

Once you click the red button, you will be taken to our registration system powered by Active. Please use the filters to find the course you need (you can filter results by theme, date, time, and instructor).

Register now

Fall 2022

Once you click the red button, you will be taken to our registration system powered by Active. Please use the filters to find the course you need (you can filter results by theme, date, time, and instructor).

Register now

About the instructor

Shay McGilvery was born and raised in Ontario, Canada and grew up in a hearing family as the only deaf person. Shay has MA in Sign Language Education from Gallaudet University, is professional sign language instructor/teacher and is a member of Sign Language Institute Canada. Shay taught sign language courses at Gallaudet University (2017) and University of Alberta (2019 & 2020) and is currently working for the Canadian Hearing Services. Shay loves to travel and play hockey.

"Why do I want to be an American Sign Language teacher? I grew up interacting with hearing people and taught them American Sign Language. I see hearing people that can sign which means we have communication access equally."

Jacqueline Plant, a proud Deaf woman uses American Sign Language (ASL) for communication, knowledge, and information. She is a lifelong student for E.C. Drury School for the Deaf in Milton. She is an alumna of Gallaudet University in Psychology.

For the last 20 years, Jacqueline developed ASL programs and taught ASL to the community and an ASL-English Interpreter program at Cambrian College in Sudbury for several years. She provided workshops, developed visual materials in ASL as the language instruction. She has been an advocate for the language rights of Deaf children. She is an ASL performer.

Back to Leisure Learning main page