Plainview-Old Bethpage
Central School District
AMERICAN
SIGN
LANGUAGE
1
Curriculum Writers
Debbie Goldmeier
Patricia McCarthy
2011-2012
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PLAINVIEW-OLD BETHPAGE
CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
BOARD OF EDUCATION
Gary Bettan, President
Amy Pierno, Vice President
Debbie Bernstein
Angel Cepeda
Ginger Lieberman
Evy Rothman
Emily Schulman
CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION
Gerard W. Dempsey, Jr., Superintendent of Schools
Arthur Jonas, Deputy Superintendent
Jill M. Gierasch, Asst. Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction
Ryan Ruf, Asst. Superintendent for Business
Brian C. O’Sullivan, District Chairperson for World Languages
The Plainview-Old Bethpage School District, under the requirements of Title IX, Part 86, does
not discriminate on the basis of sex in the educational program or activities which it operates
either in the employment of personnel or the administration of students. The Plainview-Old
Bethpage Central School District hereby gives notice that it does not discriminate on the basis
of handicap in violation of ADA or section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The school
district further gives notice that it does not discriminate in admission or access to its programs
and activities.
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Mission Statement
The mission of the Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District is to provide an
academically challenging and stimulating environment for all students, and to enable them to
realize their full potential to be happy, ethical and analytical citizens of the world. We do this
by:
 making tolerance, acceptance, respect, honesty and kindness expectations for all
students, and for members of the Plainview-Old Bethpage school community;
 identifying each student’s academic, social-emotional, aesthetic and physical
needs, and striving to meet those needs; and
 encouraging communication between and among students, teachers, parents,
administrators, and community members.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Overview Statement
Page 3
Units of Study/Topics, Suggested Timeline
Page 4
Unit 1
WELCOME
Page 5
Unit 2
GETTING STARTED
Page 6
Unit 3
GETTING TO KNOW YOU
Page 7
Unit 4
FAMILY & FRIENDS
Page 8
Unit 5
SCHOOL DAYS
Page 9
Learning Outcomes
Pages 10, 11
Differentiation of Instruction
Page 12
Technology Component
Page 12
Bibliography
Page 13
Resources
Page 13
Literature/DVDs
Page 13
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OVERVIEW STATEMENT
This new course will begin to offer students equal opportunities to study Spanish, French, Italian or American
Sign Language in grades 9-12 at POBJFK High School.
Students who did not successfully earn their 1 High School credit in Spanish or French in grade 8 will have
the opportunity to do so in ASL in grade 9. In the 2013-2014 school year, they may complete their Regents
sequence in ASL, thus achieving their Regents Diploma with Advanced Designation.
Students who would like to study a third language will have the opportunity to study Spanish, French, Italian
or ASL along with new entrants who have never studied a World Language.
This is an introductory course which will enable students to communicate through basic vocabulary, body
language and facial expressions. Students will learn the cultural and linguistic differences of the Deaf
community. The course is made up of a diverse group of abilities and grade levels 9-12 that complement one
another; students who are challenged and students who have never studied a second language work along
with advanced language learners who are pursuing additional world languages. This course also meets the
NYS requirement for graduation
Units of Study, Suggested Timeline
Unit
Title
Time Frame*
Unit 1
Welcome: Introductions
Three weeks
Unit 2
Getting Started
Four weeks
Unit 3
Getting to Know You
Seven weeks
Unit 4
Family and Friends
Seven weeks
Unit 5
School Days
Seven weeks
*estimated time frame
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Unit 1: WELCOME!
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Standards:
Goal 1 Communication – A student communicates in ASL.
Interpersonal Communication: Two-way communication via face-to-face conversation or
through technological means.
Goal 2 Cultures – A student gains knowledge and understanding of Deaf culture.
2.1) Practices of Culture: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship
between the practices and perspectives of American Deaf culture.
Goal 3 Connections – A student makes the connection with other disciplines by acquiring
information about those disciplines through the use of ASL and an understanding of Deaf
culture.
3.2) Recognizing Different Viewpoints: Students acquire information and recognize distinctive
viewpoints that are only available through American Sign Language and Deaf culture.
Objectives:
 To learn proper greetings and farewells in American Sign Language
 To introduce yourself and others
 To learn basic ASL sentence structure
 To ask and answer questions
 To learn how to interact appropriately with Deaf people
 To learn the role of facial expressions and non-manual markers (signals)
Vocabulary
Introduction – p. 12
Making Conversation - pp. 5, 17, 26, 30
Farewell – p. 20
Grammar
Conjugating – p. 6
Question maker – p.15
Signing Yes and No – p. 30
Activities:
1. Smartboard: Koosch activity: Meet peers and become familiar with names/faces
2. Dialogues: Partner basic communication with one another
Greetings
Introductions
Making Conversations
3. Attention Getting: Teacher demonstrates/models Deaf tendency for greeting/farewells, attention getting
4. Color Pom Poms: Introduce/review vocabulary for colors, numbers (1-10), YES/NO questions
5. Object Identification: Introduce/review vocabulary for colors, numbers (1-10), WH questions
6. BINGO: review vocabulary
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Unit 2 : Getting Started
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Standards:
Goal 1 Communication – A student communicates in ASL.
Interpersonal Communication: Two-way communication via face-to-face conversation or
through technological means.
Goal 2 Cultures – A student gains knowledge and understanding of Deaf culture.
2.1) Practices of Culture: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship
between the practices and perspectives of American Deaf culture.
Goal 3 Connections – A student makes the connection with other disciplines by acquiring
information about those disciplines through the use of ASL and an understanding of Deaf
culture.
3.2) Recognizing Different Viewpoints: Students acquire information and recognize distinctive
viewpoints that are only available through American Sign Language and Deaf culture.
Objectives:
 To ask for help and clarification in ASL
 To engage in basic conversation on a variety of topics
 To understand the cultural view of deafness
 To improve familiarity with ASL grammar and structure
 To learn and apply WH-signs and facial expressions
 To understand iconic and non-iconic signs
Vocabulary
Directionality – p. 41
Helpful Signs – p. 44
In the Classroom – p. 50
Grammar
The WH-face – p. 42
The Signed Question Mark – p. 54
When Sign – p. 59
Activities:
1. WH Practice: power point timed sentence/question recognition
2. What day is today? : Calendar Recognition
3. Who is in my class?: Smart notebook
4. Dialogue: Basic Conversations with peers regarding:
o daily activities
o classroom objects
o people within the classroom
5. Fingerspelling Recognition: daily attendance
6. You tube video: What do you do on ____? (Deaf person signing daily activities and likes/dislikes)
Students watch and complete questions via target language
7. Vocabulary Recognition Competition: review vocabulary game
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Unit 3 : Getting to Know You
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Standards:
Goal 1 Communication – A student communicates in ASL.
Interpersonal Communication: Two-way communication via face-to-face conversation or
through technological means.
Goal 2 Cultures – A student gains knowledge and understanding of Deaf culture.
2.1) Practices of Culture: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship
between the practices and perspectives of American Deaf culture.
Goal 3 Connections – A student makes the connection with other disciplines by acquiring
information about those disciplines through the use of ASL and an understanding of Deaf
culture.
3.2) Recognizing Different Viewpoints: Students acquire information and recognize distinctive
viewpoints that are only available through American Sign Language and Deaf culture.
Objectives:






To expand ASL skills and topics of conversation
To understand topic-comment structure
To incorporate numbers into conversation
To understand how ASL name signs are made
To use possessive signs and deixis appropriately
To talk about favorites
Vocabulary
Background signs, interests, states & provinces – pp. 75-79
Well-known city signs, Distance – pp. 82-83
Addresses & Telephones – pp. 99,100
Weather – p. 110
Grammar
Topic-Comment Structure
Activities:
1. Dialogue: Where is Clerc? (Laurent Clerc is "hiding" in various locations in the USA)
Vacation Sites…two signers discuss favorite/least favorite choices with reasons.
2. How many states are there? State vocabulary and location recognition
3. Weather: What is the weather today? Chart weather for the day, week, month in various locations
4. Smart notebook: correlate state with weather tendency and activities
5. Holidays: Vocabulary introduced. Throughout the year, holiday activities are reviewed, students engage in
the holiday activity via target language.
6. Seasons: Weather, vacation sites, activities and colors associated with each season are decided as a group.
Groups present assigned season using target language; teacher asks general questions regarding each
presentation for audience to answer.
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Unit 4 : Family & Friends
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Standards:
Goal 1 Communication – A student communicates in ASL.
Interpersonal Communication: Two-way communication via face-to-face conversation or
through technological means.
Goal 2 Cultures – A student gains knowledge and understanding of Deaf culture.
2.1) Practices of Culture: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship
between the practices and perspectives of American Deaf culture.
Goal 3 Connections – A student makes the connection with other disciplines by acquiring
information about those disciplines through the use of ASL and an understanding of Deaf
culture.
3.2) Recognizing Different Viewpoints: Students acquire information and recognize distinctive
viewpoints that are only available through American Sign Language and Deaf culture.
Goal 4 Comparisons – A student develops insight into the nature of language and culture through
comparisons of ASL and Deaf culture and their own language and culture.
Objectives:
 To recognize and use gender distinction in ASL
 To understand and use contrastive structure
 To gain exposure to Deaf art
 To sign about family, friends and relationships
 To use pronoun signs appropriately
Vocabulary
Family size and members – pp. 122-125
Signing age – p.136
Friendship – p. 145
Relationships – p. 149
Grammar
Contrastive Structure - p. 131
Shoulder-Shifting – p. 131
Activities:
1. Dialogues: Who is in your family?
2. Homer Simpson's Family: Who is who? WH-question practice
3. Family Tree: Students create their "ideal" family using clip art, magazines etc. Students present their
"ideal" family to class using target language.
4. Deaf Schools: smart notebook
o Types of schools: mainstream, day school, residential
o Deaf Schools in New York State
o Philosophy of Educating Deaf Children: Oralism, Total Communication, Bi-Lingual/Bi-Cultural
5. Deaf State School Presentation: Students are assigned a state to research the type of deaf school, activities
etc. Presentations are submitted via stand up folder and signed to peers.
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6. Love Is Never Silent: Hallmark Movie
Objectives:
 Students will be introduced to the main characters of the movie via target language
 Students will discuss family dynamics & changes throughout movie
 Comparisons of technology devices for the Deaf from 1930's and today
 Comparisons of interpreting services for the Deaf from 1930's and today
 Students discuss Hearing views of Deafness using target language
7. Compare/Contrast: "Gossip Time" family members, residences, marital status, likes/dislikes, etc.
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Unit 5 : School Days
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Standards:
Goal 1 Communication – A student communicates in ASL.
Interpersonal Communication: Two-way communication via face-to-face conversation or
through technological means.
Goal 2 Cultures – A student gains knowledge and understanding of Deaf culture.
2.1) Practices of Culture: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship
between the practices and perspectives of American Deaf culture.
Goal 3 Connections – A student makes the connection with other disciplines by acquiring
information about those disciplines through the use of ASL and an understanding of Deaf
culture.
3.2) Recognizing Different Viewpoints: Students acquire information and recognize distinctive
viewpoints that are only available through American Sign Language and Deaf culture.
Goal 4 Comparisons – A student develops insight into the nature of language and culture through
comparisons of ASL and Deaf culture and their own language and culture.
4.2) Cultural Comparisons: Students demonstrate understanding of the nature of culture
through comparisons of American Deaf culture and their own culture.
Objectives:
 To improve conversational skills
 To sign about school and school life
 To identify and use the Agent Markers appropriately
 To understand contemporary Deaf Education options
 To understand and use basic classifiers
 To tell time and sign about time related issues
Vocabulary
School Location Personnel – pp. 169-171
Education, Coursework – pp. 181-184
Classifiers – pp.193-197
Activities:
1. Dialogues: What classes are you taking?
o Favorite classes?
o What is Suzi's schedule?
2. Around Our School: Students take a tour of the school to familiarize vocabulary
3. Telephone Game: classifier usage
4. Expressive: A day in the classroom: students develop a story regarding the classroom picture
5. Who Am I? (Agent Markers): Describe personality each career tends to have, peers "guess"
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6. Smart notebook review vocabulary
 Each student chooses five (5) vocabulary words from unit
 Students video question or statement for each vocabulary
 Clip art will be assigned as choices for peers to "test" their knowledge
7. If…then… conditional introduction conversation (IF THIRSTY…DRINK GET FROM WHERE?)
8. Bingo: review vocabulary
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Learning Outcomes for American Sign Language Skills Levels 1 – 4
Brown Kurz & Taylor © June 2008
Goal 1 - Communication – A student communicates in ASL.
1.1) Interpersonal Communication: Two-way communication via face-to-face conversation or
through technological means.
In interpersonal communication, two or more individuals interact with each other. As they take turns
expressing themselves using American Sign Language through face-to-face or digital/technological
means (e.g., videophone), they have the opportunity to negotiate meaning, that is, to check whether
their intentions are accurately understood. If the message does not appear to be understood, the signer
can make the necessary adjustments or clarify.
1.2) Interpretive Communication: Students understand what one visually perceives when face-to-face
or through the use of digital/technological means (e.g., videophone, vlog, videos).
In interpretive communication or comprehension, one or more individuals comprehend what others
have signed.
Stronger comprehension skills lead to more complete understanding. Note that the term “interpretive”
used here does not refer to interpretation between two languages but rather to comprehension within
a language.
1.3) Presentational Communication: Students express ideas face-to-face or through the use of
digital/technological means (e.g., videophone, blog, and videos).
In presentational communication, one or more individuals communicate their thoughts to listeners
(e.g., one to one, group, audience).
Goal 2 - Cultures – A student gains knowledge and understanding of Deaf culture.
2.1) Practices of Culture: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the
practices and perspectives of American Deaf culture.
2.2) Products of Culture: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the
products and perspectives of American Deaf culture.
Goal 3 - Connections – A student makes the connection with other disciplines by acquiring
information about those disciplines through the use of ASL and an understanding of Deaf
culture.
3.1) Furthering Connections: Students reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines (i.e.,
school subjects) through the study of American Sign Language.
3.2) Recognizing Different Viewpoints: Students acquire information and recognize distinctive
viewpoints that are only available through American Sign Language and Deaf culture.
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Goal 4 - Comparisons – A student develops insight into the nature of language and culture
through comparisons of ASL and Deaf culture and their own language and culture.
4.1) Language Comparisons: Students demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through
comparisons of American Sign Language and their own language.
4.2) Cultural Comparisons: Students demonstrate understanding of the nature of culture through
comparisons of American Deaf culture and their own culture.
Goal 5 - Communities – A student participates in the Deaf community through the use of ASL
and with knowledge of Deaf culture
5.1) School and Community: Students use American Sign Language within and beyond the school
setting.
5.2) Life-long Learning: Students show evidence of becoming life-long learners by using American
Sign Language for personal enjoyment and enrichment.
(Adapted from Standards for Foreign Languages Learning in the 21st Century)
http://www.actfl.org/files/public/exec
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Differentiation of Instruction:
Units addressing Deaf Culture:
Pre-reading Strategy Guides
 Making Predictions
 Activating Prior Knowledge
 Pre-reading Questions
Vocabulary Guide
 Pre-reading check tests
 Differentiated practice strategies
 Flash cards with sign vocabulary
Units of American Sign Language
 Smartboard/Power Point Lessons printed for student resource
 Hard Copy of Units for students to take notes, etc.
 Parallel Teaching*
 Purpose: to provide students with smaller student-teacher ratio, allowing
for increased opportunity for practice, participation and monitoring of student progress.
 Station Teaching*
 Purposes: to provide students with various methods and perspectives
around a common theme, to incorporate multiple intelligences teaching, small group
instruction opportunities, or to provide kinesthetic breaks for students
 Alternative Teaching*
 Purpose: to provide a small group of students with specialized attention
(ex. remediation, pre-teaching, enrichment, oral testing)
*Portions from The Six Configurations (M. Friend/L. Cooke): Sonya Heineman Kunkel, 2006
Review for Assessments
 Carousel Stations
 Notes modified & highlighted study packets
Assessment
 Tiered Activities – Various projects will be assigned a point system by the teacher based on levels of
difficulty. Project ideas are included.
 Test modified based on need
 Repetition of questions in sign language (as needed)
Technology Component:
 DVD and VHS
 Smart Board
 Power Point
 Video camera
 Digital camera
 USB Flash drives
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Bibliography
American Sign Language for Communication: New York State Teacher's Guide (Field Test Edition). (1994).
Albany, New York: The University of the State of New York, State Education Department
Flannigan, Anita R. (July 2001) Teaching American Sign Language as a Language Other Than English: A Level
II Curriculum.
Zinza, Jason. (2006) Master ASL! Level One. Sign Media, Burtonsville, Maryland.
Resources
Gallaudet University Press. 800 Florida Avenue, Washington, DC 20002.
Sign Media Inc., Silver Spring, MD 20901.
National Association of the Deaf. 814 Thayer Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
Sign Instructors Guidance Network. 445 Pennsylvania Street, Indianapolis, IN 46204.
T.J. Publishers, Inc. 817 Silver Spring Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
Literature/DVDs
Love is Never Silent: Hallmark Production (1981)
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New York State
Learning Standards
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Sample
Assessments
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