Week 1
Week 1 Vocabulary Handout (printable .pdf)
ASL Manual Alphabet (printable .pdf)
ASL.ms: Fingerspelling practice tool.
ASL Speed Spell: This app, which is available for both Android and Apple devices, will help you practice your receptive fingerspelling.
Manners Signs 0:55 (video)
Online ASL Dictionaries:
- HandSpeak.com
- SigningSavvy.com (Browsing access free; searching from the site available for subscribers only. To search this site without an account, go to google.com and search “Signing Savvy” followed by the word you are looking for.)
Week 2:
Week 2 Vocabulary Handout (printable .pdf)
Deaf Culture PEPNet Tipsheet by Professor Linda Siple, Assistant Professor Leslie Greer, and Associate Professor Barbra Ray Holcomb, all of the Department of American Sign Language and Interpreting Education, National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY.
The ASL Shop with Stephanie – bite-sized lessons and receptive fingerspelling practice on Instagram
Stories By Hand: ASL/Deaf Culture Resources
Communication Tips from Deaf Cultural Resource Center (Library for Deaf Action)
Live Captions for iPhones: Follow these instructions to set up real-time captioned communication on your smartphone.
Live Transcribe for Android Phones: Follow these instructions to set up real-time captioned communication on your smartphone.
Asking wh-word questions in ASL (Handspeak)
Recommended Clear Masks:
Special Needs Communication Guide: A handy printable resource you can keep at service desks to assist in communicating with patrons who are Deaf or hard-of-hearing, speak Spanish, or have limited communication skills. This 21-page communication guide was put together by The Library of Fanwood and Scotch Plains (New Jersey, USA), and contains English, Spanish, and fingerspelled words, as well as pictures for common concepts and items in the library setting.
Recommended Reading:
- True Biz by Sara Nović. Random House, 2022.
- Reading Between the Signs by Anna Mindess. John Murray, 2014.
Week 3
Week 3 Vocabulary Handout (printable .pdf)
Numbers 0-10 Signs Handout (printable .pdf)
Asking wh-word questions in ASL (Handspeak)
Numbers 1 through 10 in ASL (Lifeprint) 7:22 (video)
Week 4
Week 4 Vocabulary Handout (printable .pdf)
5 Parameters of ASL (ASL That) 1:05 (video)
Asking a Yes/No Question in ASL (Handspeak)
Varieties of Signing
- How ASL and English Differ: A Brief Example (Kathy MacMillan)
- ASL is Not English on the Hands (LifePrint)
- Signing Black in America (Black ASL)
- Pro-tactile ASL: A new language for the DeafBlind (Quartz)
Week 5:
Week 5 Vocabulary Handout (printable .pdf)
The Origin of ASL – A Brief History (ASL That) 3:50 (video)
Through Deaf Eyes. Documentary. PBS, 2007. Stream it free courtesy of Gallaudet University Press at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL5d8kyZUQk
Recommended Reading:
- Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness on Martha’s Vineyard by Nora Ellen Groce. Harvard University Press, 1985
- Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte. Scholastic, 2020; Set Me Free by Ann Clare LeZotte. Scholastic, 2021; Sail Me Away Home by Ann Clare Lezotte. Scholastic, 2023. For discussion questions and classroom/programming activities related to the books, see “Reading Guide: The Show Me a Sign Trilogy by Ann Clare LeZotte” by Kathy MacMillan. Scholastic, 2023.
- My Heart Glow: Alice Cogswell, Thomas Gallaudet, and the Birth of American Sign Language by Emily Arnold McCully. Hyperion, 2008.
Week 6
Week 6 Vocabulary Handout (printable .pdf)
How to Tell Time in American Sign Language (HandSpeak)
Beginning and End Times: How to Sign Time Ranges (ASL Interactive)
Audism Unveiled. Documentary. DawnSignPress, 2008. 57 minutes. Available DVD and streaming.
Recommended Reading:
- The Butterfly Cage by Rachel Zemach. Unruly Voices, 2023.
- Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly. Delacorte, 2019.
Stories by Hand with Kathy MacMillan 