Welcome to the Centaurus American Sign Language Program!  I hope you will join us on a journey from ASL 1 all the way to ASL 4 and perhaps beyond in your college years. Most U.S. colleges now accept ASL as fulfillment of the World Language requirement.  More information can be found at www.aslcollege.com 

ASL is a visual gestural language. It is expressed through the hand and face and is perceived through the eyes.  It isn't just English on the hands.   ASL has its own grammar, culture, history, terminology and other unique characteristics.

Signing is useful skill that can open up a new opportunities for friendship and community.  You will be able to interact with a whole new group of people!   

Our program utilizes two curriculum , Master ASL! and Signing Naturally.  Both programs are written and designed by Deaf people and are routed in Deaf Culture. 

By the end of ASL 4, students will have a strong working knowledge of the language and be able to communicate with Deaf people in the community.  Goals and objectives by level are:

ASL 1

At the end of this course, students will:

• Communicate, comprehend, and present about very familiar topics using isolated words and high frequency phrases.

• Identify common practices and products within ASL and the Deaf Community.

• Locate and use basic information from ASL resources.

• Identify similarities and differences of the most basic vocabulary through comparisons of English and ASL.

• Identify and recognize the nature of culture through comparisons of the American Deaf  and American Hearing cultures.

ASL 2 

At the end of this course, students will:

• Participate in and comprehend exchanges on a variety of familiar topics using familiar vocabulary and learned grammatical structures.

• Present on a variety of familiar topics using both high frequency vocabulary, new vocabulary, and learned grammatical structures.

• Examine common practices and perspectives within the Deaf community.

• Examine familiar products of the Deaf community.

• Relate information acquired from authentic ASL resources to individual perspectives and experiences.

• Describe similarities and differences between structural patterns of ASL and English.

• Describe the nature of culture through comparisons of the American Deaf and American Hearing cultures.

ASL 3 - 4

At the end of this course, students will:

• Initiate, sustain, and conclude conversations in a variety of situations based on familiar and unfamiliar vocabulary and learned grammatical structures.

• Comprehend ASL in a variety of situations based on familiar and unfamiliar vocabulary and learned grammatical structures.

• Present in a variety of situations based on familiar and unfamiliar vocabulary and learned grammatical structures.

• Analyze how the perspectives of people who speak ASL are reflected in their practices.

• Analyze how products reflect practices and perspectives of the Deaf community.

• Analyze information gathered from ASL and the Deaf community resources connected to other content areas.

• Evaluate information and viewpoints present in authentic ASL resources.

• Analyze the significance of the similarities and differences between ASL and English.

• Analyze the significance of the similarities and differences between the American Deaf and American Hearing cultures.