I am actually pretty angry that sign language isn’t taught in schools. We learned the sign language alphabet when I was in 3rd grade but that’s all. It was not offered in high school or in my college. Now I have a health care profession and we come across deaf people all the time and the only way we can communicate it by writing so it is stressful on them. Why isn’t sign language offered in schools as a foreign language option? I know its not technically a foreign language like spanish or french but it would be more helpful to know sign language than those. There are so many deaf people in the world it would benefit so many people.
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Yes, I think it should at least be offered in schools.
think of it as a ‘2nd language’ not a foreign language’
and it would be a very good idea–it is more useful than german, french, or latin that is offered in my local high school..
btw–it wouldn’t benefit the world–as signlanguage isn’t universal–butwould benefit people within a country
it was offered in my college–but only as an elective–and it was nearly impossible to get into the class as only a couple classes were offered and many people tryingto get in
whetehr a teacher is paid to teach french or sign–they are still getting paid–offering sign as an option will not cost any more than any other course–so saying its a tax burden is illogical
as for teh bd of ed excuse–kids forget most subjects–spanish, bio, etc–its no worse for sign
Not a bad idea. The problem is that in comparison to most spoken languages, it’s not widely used. It’s much more specialized because virtually nothing from spoken languages transfers over. For example in English and Spanish there are terms that mean the same thing and are spoken similarly in both languages, so there’s some crossover there. Like I said, I think it’s a worthy idea, but I don’t know if it would be cost effective to implement in public schools, since the demand for it would likely be low.
It was in my high school. I took it as my language credit.
It is offered in many high schools and colleges. Proficiency in ASL fulfills the foreign language requirement in many degree programs. In some cases you can test your proficiency, while in other cases you must actually take classes.
If you want it offered, you need to advocate for it.
I 100% agree with you. I couldn’t even get a mother of a deaf son to teach me years ago. The son and I had to make up our own.
As you mentioned I wouldn’t catergorise sign language as a ‘foreign language’ but I totally agree it should be taught in schools. I would have liked to learn sign language. Regardless of whether you go on to use it later in life or not I think it would be far more benefical than actually learning a foreign language.
If you a re working in the health care profession (and studied this at uni) they should have offered this as part of your uni course).
it was recognized as a language almost 10 years ago in the US.
Well , this is going be tough for me to explain your question.
I was told by Board of Education in my area but they said they stopped teaching them in High School because they kept forgetting so easy and not using Sign Language (SL) all the time because they forget so easy and Board of Education said it is wasting of time and money. — I do disagree with them but I can’t control them.
Believe me there are many High Schools do teaching them (SL) but tell me …will they remember all (SL) ? Most of them don’t remember all (SL) because it is not their real language.
So if anyone really want to learn (SL) real bad, I am sure they will successful but most of time? So my answer is no.
more useful than most things. Kids would love it… ‘secret code’
I agree with you 100% I have a deaf friend. People who go for special education should be required to take a sign language class especially if they want to work with the hard of hearing he taught me how to spell my name in sign language don’t count someone out just because they cant hear My friend is just as smart as anyone i know even though he can’t hear he does pretty good for himself
yes it should
Why isn’t Japanese offered in schools? It is, just not all or even many. Some high schools offer it, and some colleges accept it for the language requirement. There are usually seminars available for people in professions where rudimentary knowledge is better than nothing (notably police, health care) but you need to know these exist to go looking for them.
Maybe if enough parents showed interest to the school board sign language classes would be considered. My guess is that money is the big issue. If you hire a (spoken) foreign language teacher, you have decent odds of being able to find one that can teach more than one language. The odds aren’t (in my experience) as good when dealing with someone who can teach sign language.
Here’s something vaguely related to ponder: in my area, in order to become a certified teacher of the deaf, you only have to take three sign language classes. Scary, isn’t it? Think about your language skills when you finished the required courses in high school. Think you could teach kids with that knowledge level?
Have you considered the tax burden to serve so few. There are places to go learn sign language from people that use it. As compared to a teacher who was given a curriculum and told teach it.
well that would be more of a 2nd language not really a foreign language but I think that would be a great idea and I would defiantly take that class.
I agree with the second answerer.
You’re not alone!
Many kids and people really want to learn sign language/American Sign Language (ASL) as foreign language in schools which makes sense and yes it should be referred as second language.
Earlier this year I came upon a research about oldest schools for the deaf for my class project and found that across this country in America that most sign language courses at universities (that offers ASL classes) continues to be full and students have signed up to be on waiting list! Wish I knew which site this was!
Anyway about public or private health care centers, hospitals, etc. whom serves hearing impaired should provide licensed interpreters. This is required by law. If doctors or nurses were to discuss about health issues, they should have an interpreter.
Folks need to understand it is important to have an interpreter signing for hearing impaired patients to communicate with doctors or nurse with regards about their health without any misunderstanding. You’d have to imagine if it were your health and you’re hearing impaired, you’d want to be totally certain you understand what’s going on!
Check out this site, it says it all: http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202425326286
However if a patient is in a room or somewhere, wanting some water or a nurse asking if he/she wants some water -of course, simple signing or writing is alright here. But yes signing is indeed less stressful for them.
It is a wonderful idea to learn to sign for conversations!
Maybe you can start a study group during breaks, get together with other staff and learn alphabets perhaps some simple signs like “how are you, drink, blanet, hurt, need help, etc.” You may find books in a library or stores. Maybe you could find some classes in your area, try contacting schools for the deaf in your state and they may help!?
Its not taught as a foreign language but most universities will give you foreign language credit for it if you took it in high school or community college.
Yes…It should be taught more. I was lucky I was exposed to it in middle school and it was taught in my highschool as well. More people should get involved with the school board, write letters patition…let then know what they should be teaching. It’s a wonderful language and a good tool to have.
I don’t think we should minimize the usefulness of French and especially Spanish. Spanish is very wide spread. I hear more French speakers, quite honestly, then I ever run into people who use sign language. I think that everyone should at least learn the alphabet and learn basic signs. I think that there is a limited number of resources in schools, and if a school is located in a area where spanish is useful, then they will use their resources to teach that.
I’ve often thought about this. I’m visually impaired, I can sign very basic things. I had a friend when I was younger who’s mother was deaf and I picked up a lot of it there. However, the number of times where it has ever been needed is very small. I think I’ve only ever needed to pull up those skills twice in 15 years.
Another thing I’ve thought about is comparing sign language to braille (I’m a braille user). I realize it is silly to expect everyone around me to learn how to read and write it. Even if it would simplify my life significantly I understand that it is just not reasonable of me to expect that. I do expect restaurants to have braille menus, and someday I hope movies will come with an option of adding descriptions like they have closed captioning and subtitles for those who are hearing impaired.
What another option is, besides putting pressure on schools, is to put more pressure on certain fields. For example, take the medical field. If an employer knows that they spend a fair amount of time working with those who are hearing impaired finding someone who has that ability to employ would be a good idea. Or, paying to have someone trained.
Another option would be to have classes not associated with a university or high school that one can take in their adult life. I’m not sure if these already exist.
This is just general preparedness for a job. I am an elementary ed. major right now and I know that I need to learn Spanish. I just do. In order to be able to converse with parents and make them as comfortable as possible, knowing Spanish would be beneficial to me. So I will, at some point in time, be sure to learn it. Right now I’m continuing my French education and will be studying in Israel so will be learning Hebrew as well. (Granted hebrew is not the most useful of languages, but it is cool.) On the other hand, I’m also aware that I may very well end up teaching in a Jewish school, so knowing Hebrew will be beneficial to me. We all play to what we need to know.
That’s a good idea. A friend of mine studied it in college when she was doing speech-language pathology.
I think it’d be a good idea. I knew several people growing up with hearing impairments. It would’ve been easier to communicate with them having been taught sign language. Although I do think that the International version should be taught over ASL. Having a standardised version would make it easier to speak with people from around the world.
I worked in a school that had classes for the deaf. One day I was called on to discipline a deaf student. I did what the rules called for. However, when I realized that I could not speak with this student it changed my life. I took nine courses in ASL, I began to speak with all of the deaf students using their language. The student I disciplineed went on to high school. He would come back to see me when school was not in session, and we talked about sports and simply had general conversations. We developed a bond that has lasted for years. Being handicapped did not stop him, and it has not stopped me. Our only differences were he’s deaf and I use a wheelchair. If one wants to speak with the deaf there are community organizations that teach ASL. Many schools teach sign language. Check the yellow pages. Many local schools offer adult education classes in sign language. The best teacher of sign language is a deaf person. If a deaf person knows you care you will have a friend forever, and a world will open to you could not have imagined.
That is a good idea.