American Sign Language - Basic Skills

Conestoga College and Canadian Hearing Services are pleased to offer the American Sign Language (ASL) Basic Skills joint certificate part-time program. ASL is the language of most Deaf Canadians. It is a visual language made up of specific gestures (signs), hand shapes and facial expressions with its own unique grammatical rules and sentence structure. This program will be of interest to those who wish to develop sign language concepts and use basic ASL skills.

Our qualified Deaf instructors use an established curriculum that teaches both ASL and Deaf culture. You will learn abstract concepts dealing with the environment outside of the classroom as well an introduction to Deaf Culture where language, values, rules, and traditions will be explored. An immersive "no-voice" teaching method is used to reinforce the learning experience. You will learn through classroom instruction and role-play, as well as through videotext and a workbook. The videotext and workbook supplement and reinforce the classroom instruction, providing an opportunity to review, practice and retain what has been taught. This program will give graduates sufficient skills to enable them to communicate, at a basic level, with members of the Deaf Community in a variety of situations.

All courses must be completed within 5 years of acceptance into the program.

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