I took these courses because they fulfilled a pillar requirement and were a major requirement. This was my first time learning ASL and I really enjoyed everything about it. I decided to take both 110 and 210 in my first year as they are gate requirements for CSDS and I wanted to get that out of the way.
Both courses really opened my eyes to a whole new community that I wasn’t really familiar with. Both semesters we practiced basic ASL in the classroom and the first semester we had the chance to meet some deaf people/their families. I thought that this experience was wonderful as it taught me that my ASL didn’t have to be perfect for them to understand what I was trying to say. Also, I thought it was great that they were willing to help us learn their language and how easy it is to communicate. Emmett Jones, the professor for both ASL courses, made sure to have a good mix of videos and scripts for us to learn from. I thought that he did a great job when it came to picking various videos about the culture that included teaching us the vocabulary we were learning at the time.
Since this class is gesture based, there were quizzes and tests on paper, but I couldn’t find anything to include as an artifact. It is hard to have writing/projects for this course as it is all by hand. I thought I would still include it because it was a really interesting course that taught me a lot about being aware of other smaller cultures, like the deaf community.