American Sign Language II

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Course Overview

In American Sign Language II (ASL II), students will build upon the foundational skills acquired in ASL I, advancing their proficiency in signing, fingerspelling, and cultural understanding. The course emphasizes intermediate-level communication, including expanded vocabulary for daily life, family, school, health, and hobbies, as well as grammar structures like conditionals, classifiers, and noun/verb pairs. Through a combination of reviews, vocabulary expansion, storytelling, and cultural spotlights, students will learn to interpret signed messages, express opinions, and describe narratives with accuracy and expressiveness. The curriculum integrates real-world contexts, such as social interactions and public service roles, to prepare students for practical use of ASL in diverse settings, while fostering an appreciation for Deaf culture's values, history, and artistic expressions.

Students will also develop critical skills in identifying errors, interpreting texts like the national anthem, and using non-manual markers for emphasis and questions. The course culminates in synthesis activities, including unscripted dialogues, rhetorical questions, and comparisons between ASL and English, encouraging reflective and creative use of the language. By the end of ASL II, students will be equipped to engage in meaningful conversations, describe personal experiences, and explain cultural significance, promoting cultural competence and effective communication within and beyond the Deaf community.

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Sample Lesson - Introduction to ASL II

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This course was developed by the International Academy of Science. Learn More

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Scope and Sequence

Unit 1: Building on Basics Students will review and refine foundational ASL skills, including the alphabet, fingerspelling for 5–7 letter words, numbers up to 1,000, time-topic-comment structure, non-manual markers for questions, classifiers, daily routines, family traits, colors, past/future time concepts, noun/verb pairs, simple narratives, partner greetings, Deaf community values, and basic sentence interpretation. This unit lays the groundwork for intermediate proficiency by focusing on accuracy in basic communication and interpretive skills.

Unit 2: Family and Relationships Students will expand family vocabulary to include extended relatives, possessives, relationship terms, and classifiers for describing people. They will learn to describe traits, life stages, and past family events, express opinions, engage in partner chats about family, evaluate family signing, and explain name signs in depth. This unit emphasizes interpersonal communication and cultural literacy through narrative and descriptive signing.

Unit 3: School and Education Students will delve into school settings, subjects, schedules, shapes, health questions, emergency terms, mental health signs, health narratives, doctor visits, healthy habit evaluation, intensity grammar, structures/homes, public service (military, government), school events, teacher/peer descriptions, school day storytelling, Gallaudet University, school tools, school schedules, teacher interaction evaluation, negation grammar, school week descriptions, school opinions, school activities, schedule interpretation, school term fingerspelling, math terms, school questions, sports, creative hobbies, cooking, baking projects, likes/dislikes, hobby classifiers, leisure plans, hobby questions, hobby experiences, visual arts, hand art, outdoor fun, hobby discussions, hobby errors, conditionals, Deaflympics, favorite hobbies, frequency, skill levels, ranking, team sports, hobby fingerspelling, and going out activities. This extensive unit focuses on academic contexts, cultural spotlights, and advanced grammar for expressive and interpretive communication.

Unit 4: Health and Wellness Students will learn health-related vocabulary, symptoms, wellness routines, medical roles, health narratives, doctor dialogues, healthy habit evaluation, intensity grammar, and wellness descriptions. This unit emphasizes practical communication in health contexts and cultural perspectives on wellness.

Unit 5: Home and Daily Life Students will expand vocabulary for home settings, daily life activities, household items, routines, and descriptions. They will practice narratives about home life, partner chats, sign evaluation, and cultural values related to home.

Unit 6: Numbers and Time – Advanced Students will review advanced numbers, time concepts, the Rule of 9 for time/numbers, money amounts (dollars & cents), ordinal numbers, dates, calendars, and apply these in descriptions and narratives. This unit focuses on numerical accuracy and temporal expression.

Unit 7: Food and Drink Students will learn food/drink vocabulary, preferences, meal descriptions, cultural food practices, and restaurant dialogues. They will describe dietary habits and express likes/dislikes in social contexts.

Unit 8: Public Service and Community Students will explore public service roles (e.g., military, government), interpret the national anthem, and describe community impact narratives. This unit emphasizes cultural understanding and presentational skills in public contexts.

Unit 9: Culture and Storytelling Students will deepen cultural knowledge with identity terms, Deaf history, role shifting in narratives, general classifiers, emotion vocabulary, partner outings, sign parameter evaluation, body timeline grammar, cultural storytelling comparisons, English/ASL homonyms, English idioms in ASL, hand art, glossing, spatial agreement, non-manual markers in storytelling, politically correct communication, rhetorical questions, emotion review, cultural term fingerspelling, and modern media in Deaf culture. This unit synthesizes cultural literacy and advanced narrative techniques.

Unit 10: Culmination Students will integrate skills through prepositional phrase interpretation, open partner chats, real-life sign evaluation, ASL/English syntax comparisons, community impact narratives, and casual signing. This final unit focuses on fluency, reflection, and real-world application.