CODA offers ASL classes to students of all levels. Classes are taught by Manuel Martin, an instructor from the Rhode Island School for the Deaf. Manny is a highly praised instructor who has been teaching ASL since 1994 to students of all ages. Beginning ASL students will learn basic vocabulary and grammatical structure. Experienced signers can continue to practice their ASL skills while expanding their vocabulary in an advanced level class. In addition to learning ASL, students will be exposed to relevant topics associated with deaf culture, including the history of American Sign Language, famous individuals associated with deaf culture, and the effects of technology on the deaf culture. Classes are fun and relaxed; we encourage everyone with an interest in ASL to attend!

To register for classes at the beginning of the semester, or for more information about our ASL classes, please contact Luis at urbina@fas.harvard.edu.

Schedule for Spring 2010:

Level 1 2:00-3:00
In the introductory level, the focus is on clear handshapes and sign production. Students will develop a strong foundation vocabulary of finger spelling, numbers, food, verbs, animals, family members, professions, days of the week, and more and at the end will clearly sign a short story using this vocabulary. They will use two sentence types - affirmation and negation.

Level 2 3:00-4:00
This class is designed to build on skills acquired in level 1 and add time concepts, tense markers, and greetings. Students will gain exposure to wh questions at the end of the semester and practice with three additional sentence types - yes/no questions (without a topic), wh questions (without a topic) and Topic/Comment.

Level 3 4:00-5:00
An important level, this class will teach verbs and prepositions and focus on language meaning. Students will be exposed to the use of classifiers.

Level 4 5:00-6:00
This class will expand the use of classifiers and role shifting for story telling. Students will learn additional verbs and deepen their understanding of the verb system as they add more directional verbs to tehir vocabulary. They will learn two more sentence types - rhetorical questions and conditionals.

*All classes meet in Science Center 110 on Sundays.