Discover Sign Language

A new section of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when lessons are released. You will have access to all lessons until the course ends. However, the interactive discussion area that accompanies each lesson will automatically close two weeks after the lesson is released. As such, we strongly recommend that you complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.

The final exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the final exam has been released, you will have two weeks to complete all of your course work, including the final exam.

Lesson 1
What is sign language? Is it a real language? How did it develop? In this lesson, you'll discover what sign language is and who uses it. You'll also learn about the impact Deaf people have made on us as we embrace sign language. We'll discuss its use in America, and you'll begin learning this language as you learn to sign numbers 0 to 15.

Lesson 2
Master your ABCs as you learn how to fingerspell the alphabet. You'll discover how double letters are made when they're inside a word and how they're signed when they fall at the beginning and end of words. You'll also learn tips on how to read fingerspelling.

Lesson 3
How do you do? Today, you'll take the first steps toward having a conversation as you learn how to introduce yourself. In addition to learning the basic signs for this kind of interaction, you'll also gain some more strategies for learning and understanding new signs, including the four aspects that make up each sign. While you add these skills to your signing arsenal, you'll also learn more about the Deaf community, including what Deaf people expect to learn about you when you meet for the first time, and the role facial expression plays in sign language.

Lesson 4
Next, you'll build on the introduction you learned in the last lesson and see how to keep the conversation going. You'll explore the different customs of conversation in the Deaf community, such as how to know when one person is finished talking and how to take turns. In addition, we'll continue to navigate through your introduction by adding more information about yourself. Finally, you'll gain some additional vocabulary as you learn the signs for colors and numbers 16 to 30.

Lesson 5
Today, you'll learn more signs to help you continue the conversation you started in the two previous lessons. You'll learn about the cherished custom Deaf people have of giving name signs so you'll understand what to call yourself, your city, and your state. You'll also gain more vocabulary about objects in your living environment. You'll learn to sign the types of dwellings people live in and modes of transportation. In addition, you'll add to your knowledge of numbers by mastering the signs for numbers 31 to 66. We'll end with a discussion about an important issue in the Deaf community: whether deafness is considered a disability.

Lesson 6
Signing becomes a family affair as you learn signs for family members. You'll understand how sign language categorizes the signs for each gender, and we'll discuss communication in families with a Deaf person. This includes lipreading and other communication strategies. We'll end by learning the signs for numbers 67 to 100.

Lesson 7
In this lesson, you'll learn signs for extended family members. You'll also learn signs to describe how you're related to them. We'll put together longer sentences to practice using your new vocabulary. You'll be introduced to number systems beginning with age and telling how old family members are. We'll discuss Black signs ?the sign language of a subculture within Deaf culture.

Lesson 8
What time is it? Today, you'll discover how to tell time as well as sign the days of the week and other time periods such as minutes and hours. We'll discuss how spoken languages handle past, present, and future tenses, and then examine how sign language does this. Finally, we'll discover the impact the "Deaf President Now" movement had on the lives of Deaf people and our society.

Lesson 9

You're not done with time yet! In this lesson, you'll learn signs for additional time frames such as yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and we'll combine these with signs from other lessons. You'll learn signs for indoor and outdoor activities. Then, you'll learn signs for your opinion so you can tell us which activities you like and don't like. You'll also learn about CODAs—a group of hearing people unique to the Deaf community.

Lesson 10
Now it's time to learn the signs for feelings and personality traits, and you'll combine these signs with signs learned in previous lessons. You'll see how to communicate how you're doing, how to ask how others are doing, and how to describe different personal attributes. You'll also learn more about Deaf culture—this time, about physical contact and getting the attention of a Deaf person both nearby and across the room. Finally, you'll gain tips for practicing your signs.

Lesson 11

In the final lesson, you'll learn signs for clothing and hairstyles, such as jacket and long hair, and we'll combine these with signs from other lessons. You'll learn about classifiers and how to use them with the patterns such as stripes. Then you'll learn signs for descriptions such as mustache and beard. You'll also explore the last of our issues of Deaf culture: teaching hearing babies to sign.

Lesson 12
We conclude the course with a lesson that will equip you to wish a friend happy birthday, offer a birthday treat, and talk about your favorite animal. You'll start by learning to sign the months of the year and how to say, "Happy birthday!" You'll also learn signs for food and animals. We'll finish by exploring how English is translated into sign language, and you'll get an introduction to the role of the professional sign language interpreter. You'll even get some tips on using an interpreter with a Deaf person.