Teaching ASL II and III in same class

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ASL/Sign Chatboard

Teaching ASL II and III in same class

by Maggi

Jul 23, 2010

I just found out I'll be teaching a split level class thiss year. I tried it with a smaller group for ASL III & IV several years ago and it didn't work. I told my administrators that and they said it was the only way to have an ASL III class this year. I think they're planning on a total of about 22 students (only about 8 are ASL III).

Does anyone have any experience with this...any ideas for keeping one group busy while working with the other? We have a language lab, but I can't use it everyday. Also the videos are shown on a big smartboard, so it will be even more distracting for the other group.

Any suggestions will be really appreciated!

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ASL Instructor On 7/23/10, Maggi wrote:

Hello Maggie,

A simple way to solve your problem would be to use ASLdeafined.com, an online educational program to assist you and your students. Right now, we are offering a SUBSTANTIAL discount to schools. Our goal is to make sure teachers and students have access to this one-of-a-kind program.
...See More

Jul 27, 2010

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Brent the ASL teacher Hello...

I taught ASL 2/3 combined classes as well as ASL 3/4 combined classes. I don't know what curriculum you use but I was using the Signing Naturally VISTA series. To make it work for the 2/3 class, they each had their own curriculum (2=pink, 3 = yellow). I would teach each level their own individual unit signs and then assign them t...See MoreHello...

I taught ASL 2/3 combined classes as well as ASL 3/4 combined classes. I don't know what curriculum you use but I was using the Signing Naturally VISTA series. To make it work for the 2/3 class, they each had their own curriculum (2=pink, 3 = yellow). I would teach each level their own individual unit signs and then assign them the corresponding homework. I would demonstrate appropriate signing of the concepts and goals of the chapter and then they had time to practice with each other while I worked with the other level. I was fortunate to have a block schedule in that I had 82 minutes per class period. This was plenty of time to focus on both levels individually. Once each level did their corresponding practice and what not, they all came together and we spent 1-2 days going over everyone demonstrating how to sign concepts. I relied on student feedback (respectful & constructive feedback mind you). I also paired a Level 2 with a Level 3 to make sure they had someone who was more experienced (the level 3 student for the level 2 student) and someone who they could practice with that either "got it" or didn't (Level 2 for the level 3).

I also assigned a lot of historical and cultural homework appropriate to the levels. Students were also assigned a major homework assignment/project (usually a song to sign) and specifics related to breaking the lyrics down into conceptual meanings, figuring out the appropriate signs to use to create what the meaning of the song was to the student, etc.

As far as the cultural & historical, students were assigned books that spoke to both. I use "In This Sign" as well as "Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language" in my advanced level ASL classes. For my Level 1 students, I use the novel A Loss For Words by LouAnn Walker. Hope this helps.

Brent

> I just found out I'll be teaching a split level class thiss >> year. I tried it with a smaller group for ASL III & IV >> several years ago and it didn't work. I told my >> administrators that and they said it was the only way to >> have an ASL III class this year. I think they're planning >> on a total of about 22 students (only about 8 are ASL III). >> >> Does anyone have any experience with this...any ideas for >> keeping one group busy while working with the other? We >> have a language lab, but I can't use it everyday. Also the >> videos are shown on a big smartboard, so it will be even >> more distracting for the other group. >> >> Any suggestions will be really appreciated!

Aug 11, 2010

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