American Sign Language Beginner 2

  • In-Person, Online
  • $450 - $465

Continue to build on the American Sign Language (ASL) skills and knowledge you learned in American Sign Language Beginner 1.

In this course, focus on discussing living situations, locations and basic directions. Learn how to ask “What is the sign for ___?” and new fingerspelling letters.

This course covers unit 3 of Signing Naturally 1–6, which can be ordered from the UBC Bookstore.

Course outline

Signing Naturally 1–6, Unit 3 – Discussing Living Situations:

  • Telling where one lives
  • Giving commands: locations
  • Communicating with the face
  • Discussing one’s residence
  • Giving basic directions: around the classroom
  • Talking about roommates and pets
  • Giving basic directions: Expressing Needs
  • Telling how long
  • Travelling to school or work 
  • Asking what is the sign
  • Fingerspelling: moving letter Z
  • Cardinal numbers: 30-66
  • Fingerspelling: down letters P, Q, Y

Textbook

This course requires the purchase of Signing Naturally 1–6, which can be ordered from the UBC Bookstore. This course covers unit 3.

How am I assessed?

This is a non-credit course without letter or numerical grades. You receive feedback on your sign language skills from your instructor during class, and on homework you complete outside of class. At the end of the course, you prepare and sign a short presentation to demonstrate that you’ve learned the required skills to move on to the next level.

Record of completion

A record of completion will be emailed to students who participate and satisfy the course requirements within two weeks of the course end date. Course completion means 80% attendance and/or 80% completion of mandatory assignments.

Expected effort

Outside of class time, you should allow one to two hours per week to practise signing, complete homework and textbook exercises, watch and record videos, and prepare presentations.

Technology requirements

To take this course, you’ll need access to:

  • an email account
  • a computer, laptop or tablet under five years old and using Windows or Mac OS
  • the latest version of a web browser (or previous major version release)
  • a reliable internet connection
  • a video camera

One day before the start of your course, we’ll email you step-by-step instructions for accessing your course.

Course format

This course may be offered online, in-person, or a combination of both. Please see Available Sessions for details on the course format.

All of our ASL classes are taught by Deaf instructors experienced in teaching hearing and hard of hearing students. Spoken English is not used in class. Our instructors use ASL, gestures, slides and occasional written English (in the Zoom chat or on white boards in class) to support and help you learn to communicate confidently and comfortably in ASL. You'll also quickly learn signs to show understanding, to ask for clarification, and to ask your instructor to repeat something.

For your online classes, you log in to your class at scheduled times and participate by video with Zoom, a web conferencing app. For a virtual ASL classroom to be successful, we require you to turn on your video, and join from a place where you won't be disturbed and can remain for the entire class. Moving around can be distracting for your classmates and instructor, and make it difficult for you to participate.

Outside of class time, you can access other materials online at your own pace. Please note you can log in to your course for up to three weeks after the course ends. You'll no longer be able to access course materials in Canvas after this time.

Learn more about online learning at Extended Learning.

Available sessions

Available course sessions
Start date Sessions Days Time Format Tuition Description
10 sessions Sat 10:00 am Online $450
10 sessions Mon 5:30 pm Online $450
10 sessions Tues 7:45 pm In-Person $450
10 sessions Sat 10:00 am Online $465
10 sessions Sat 10:00 am In-Person $465
10 sessions Mon 05:30 pm Online $465
10 sessions Tues 05:30 pm In-Person $465

Related courses

How can we help?

We’re here to answer your questions, discuss learning options and provide insights, recommendations and referrals.  

Facebook The logo for the Facebook social media service. Instagram The logo for the Instagram social media service. Linkedin The logo for the LinkedIn social media service. Twitter The logo for the Twitter social media service. Youtube The logo for the YouTube video sharing service. RSS The symbol to indicate an RSS feed. Arrow An arrowhead pointing to the right Arrow, right to bracket An arrowhead pointing to the right, into a bracket character. External Link An arrowhead pointing up and to the right, from inside a box Bars Three horizontal bars. Books Three book spines, viewed head-on, one leaning. Calendar A monthly calendar page. E-commerce Cart A shopping cart Checkmark A checkmark character Chevron A chevron character pointing to the right Checkmark A checkmark character inside a solid circle Cost A dollar sign inside a solid circle Info An 'i' character inside a solid circle Play An arrowhead pointing to the right inside of a solid circle User A silhouette of a person inside a solid circle Envelope A closed envelope Certificate A document with an award pinned to it Pen A document with a pen beside it Filter A funnel / filter silhouette Laptop Computer An open laptop computer with a blank screen Location Pin A map location pin Search A magnifying glass Minus A minus sign News A folded newspaper Plus A plus symbol indicating more or the ability to add Quote, left An opening quotation character Alert An exclamation point inside a solid triangle User A silhouette of a person Close The character 'X'