Thanks for doing a video on this topic, it’s an important one! I completely agree with everything you said, but I also want to share a slightly different perspective. I am hearing and teach ASL 1 & 2 at the community college level. I live in a very rural area with a small but active Deaf community. Unfortunately, there are few Deaf folks locally who are qualified to teach, and those that are have no interest in doing so. When I moved back home with a degree in interpreting, I was approached by the Deaf community to apply for a teaching job bc they wanted ASL to be taught in our county. I teach with a strict voice-off policy, make sure all the info about Deaf culture is shared from a Deaf perspective, and invite the Deaf community to be involved with the class (and provide compensation). The second a qualified Deaf teacher moves to our area I would be happy to step down, but I think it’s important to get a sense of how your local Deaf community feels about hearing teachers. It’s not always a black and white issue in small locales.
I understand where you are coming from. Just things to think about. Did your college advertise that position nationwide? Often people will move to take those positions. If there were Deaf people in your area interested, but lacked a degree, they could be hired as a guest lecturer. That would allow them to teach without the degree and maybe try to get the degree or qualifications while teaching.
@@TheStews Hi, thanks for the reply. My first semester teaching I actually took the position with the caveat that I would only teach if they hired a Deaf guest lecturer. So I had the privilege of "team teaching" for one semester until he decided to accept a full-time position with a Deaf advocacy agency. My college does advertise nation-wide, and I have made it clear to my department that I do not intend to accept a full time position and that they should continue to advertise. We are just such a remote area, with very few Deaf community resources, that there is little incentive for Deaf folks to move out here. Hoping that will change in the future!!
@@PanicItsKendra That is great you all did that. It seems you all have exhausted your options. That’s is fine then. I just really appreciate that you are continually looking and willing to step down and had Deaf support. That’s is great. 👍🏻😀
The Stews Oh absolutely. No matter what our position within the Deaf community may be, as hearing people we are guests, period. So bottom line is - defer to the Deaf community ALWAYS.
My ASL 1,3 and 4 professor was hearing and I took ASL 2 with a deaf professor and she was the worse teacher I have ever had, in all my schooling, she choice to speak rather than be bother to try to sign with us, but my hearing teacher was so patience and encouraging and almost never used her voice. I think that the most qualified should teach, just because they are deaf doesn’t mean they make great teachers. If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t have a BA in interpreting and currently be working as an interpreter
Hello there! I am a Deaf educator and I am hearing. I fell into a teaching position where I am teaching ASL as high school foreign language credits. I am in agreement with ASL being taught by Deaf people. All of my professors in college were Deaf. It was challenging but certainly worth it. I took this position for it to be temporary because there were not any Deaf candidates in the hiring pool. If I was not to accept the position, the ASL program would be closed down and I'm sure you know how long and hard people have been fighting to get ASL into schools. My question is, how can we get more Deaf individuals to apply for these positions? I am just a teacher so I don't have much power but I am curious and I want to advocate to those above me. Teaching isn't always the most appealing job because of the low pay, being over worked and the lack of support. I think that often deters so many adequate candidates. I would love to return to my roots of educating the Deaf or potentially being a counselor but I want to try and aid in getting Deaf people into these roles. Thoughts?
You and I are literally in the same situation. Not a single Deaf educator in our county nor HOH has come to our job fairs in the last 7 years. I know because have hosted all of them.
@@bobbiharrington2429 exactly the point I’ve been trying to make. We are bad people because we teach ASL but Deaf people don’t apply for these jobs in the first place. Wtf!!!
agreed at my private school we do not have members of the Deaf community to teach our students. However, in order to compensate for teaching ASL i try to mimic how my previous professors taught me. No English and we write down on the white board.
I think there are hearing people who are involved in the community and are skilled enough to TEACH ASL. Knowing a topic does not mean people are qualified to explain it well to others. For me it's a representation thing. There are so many hearing people teaching all sorts of things so when I'm taking a deaf studies or ASL class I expect to FINALLY see some representation for deaf people. Come on now, let's hire more deaf people!
Yes I agree that there are many people who are fluent and probably could teach in that sense, but yes representation is important. Often hearing people lack the cultural and experience as well. They don’t have the life experiences to truly teach what ASL all entails.
I agree, and honestly if I'm taking any language class learning the culture from a native speaker is as important to me as learning the language. I took ASL 1 and my teacher was deaf and it was a wonderful experience that I don't think I would have had if my teacher was hearing. He shared his personal story with us and shared a lot of things that hearing people just don't know about unless they have been fully emerged in the community. And even then, they have no clue what it's like to be actually deaf or hard of hearing. And I honestly love seeing the deaf community get the acknowledgement, respect and love they deserve. And we can only do that by supporting them, being an advocate when needed, and respecting their culture and way of being. And just because hearing people CAN teach doesn't mean they SHOULD.
Thanks for the info. I'm hearing and have been signing for 20+ years and have never been told by a Deaf person that I shouldn't be teaching sign. This was actually a shock for me to watch this video. One of my best friends is Deaf and she comes to my class to talk to my kids a lot. We talk about what should be taught in class and I bounce ideas off of her. When she thinks of something she feels is important to be taught she texts me. I didn't go to school to be an ASL teacher. I'm certified in math and English but I teach at a homeschool and was given the opportunity to share my passion for ASL with 40+ students (sharing my reason). I also post videos on UA-cam about how to sign songs. They weren't meant to be a teaching tool seen by hundreds of people. I posted them for my students to have easy access to since the principal requires some worship songs a few times a year. I get it why Deaf should teach ASL. I 100% agree! All but 1 of my ASL teachers in college were Deaf. But there would be no way that would be available to our students. Our school is tiny. I barely get paid. I don't see anyone being willing to come teach for a tiny salary. Or if there are, I wouldn't know how to find them. Anyway, I would hate to take the opportunity to find out about and love Deaf culture and ASL as much as I do. They are encouraged to take ASL in college and one of my students graduated last year and started taking it in college. Her professor is Deaf and I absolutely agree and see that she is learning so much more from him than she did from me, but I like that I was able to plant a seed. However, all of that being said, I am glad I know one more thing about Deaf culture and will definitely explain this to my students that they will never learn from me as much as they will from a Deaf person. They HAVE to have a certain number of Deaf event hours or I refuse to give them a foreign language credit. They hear it from me all the time that I can teach them all day but if they don't use it and actually use it with Deaf people, they will never truly learn it. I hope I'm doing my very best to be as offenseless as possible but still instill in them a love for ASL so much so that they will consider taking it in college and/or pursing careers in ASL. SORRY FOR THE LONG PARAGRAPH!!
This drives me crazy! I agree with the points that its better taught by Deaf, but Language is not ANYONES to keep. If you are teaching and motivating hearing students to learn sign that is supporting the Deaf community! There is always a struggle for Deaf to communicate in this hearing world, but if more people could, wouldn't that be a good thing? Many people not willing to take the lower pay job and so I think it's completely crossing the line for you to tell people if you see/know someone hearing that is teaching ASL to ask then why? Have they asked the Deaf community etc etc. How about it doesn't matter! If there was a job and I'm passionate about it, anyone should be able to do it without worrying if someone is going to get butt hurt over it...If I have a passion to do something, and I want to inspire others to do it...like I have been.... then why not? Would you tell a chef that hasn't worked a specific cuisine before like mexican food to not cook Mexican food or because it's not from their culture?! Because I'm white I have to cook only "white" culture food???? ASININE! That's my thoughts and shared by MANY of my deaf friends as well. Stop making about who's right, who's wrong, it's about sharing the language for communities to come together and thrive with each other!
There are plenty of highly qualified hearing people where Deaf people typically are not qualified. How many Deaf people do you know that have a Master's degree or are at least in grad school. None? Yes, learning from a Deaf person is wonderful, but be realistic.
Thanks for the clarification! I’m deaf but learned ASL the “hard way” through immersion and meeting deaf people when I got to college and now I’m confident and fluent in my language. I always get annoyed and irked when I remember that my old high school is teaching ASL (after I graduated) and the teacher is hearing. I applied years ago for that and was never called back. This is why the Deaf community is very protective because it also denies us of jobs or opportunities.
I’m so sorry that happened to you. That’s is not right. Yes, this message needs to be shared as much as possible because so many people are unaware of it.
Thank you for speaking about this topic, as I think it is an important unspoken rule of Deaf culture. I am hearing and am working towards being a general education elementary teach. I have my associates in ASL and love the language and Deaf community. I have recently been working on my senior capstone thesis and wanted to look into the effects of using sign in an elementary classroom, ideally without explicitly teaching sign since I am hearing. My current idea is to SimCom while I teach, but that brings up the difficulties in signing ASL grammar and syntax while speaking English. Do you have any recommendations? I would really like to hear what you think about this. Thanks!
I learned ASL from all Deaf professors. In college I was a Deaf Studies major. I only had 1 hearing professor and that was for my careers class. Learning ASL from a hearing person doesn’t offer an as enriching experience, in my opinion. Learning from someone deaf also allows a learner to be comfortable talking to more deaf people, which can sometimes be intimidating. Thanks for your video!
This is a critical discussion. I would like to ask a few questions- perhaps this is not the best forum for this because I do not want to argue: I want to learn. It is hard to discuss in a UA-cam comment section, so I will leave a few questions and preface with my respect of both of you, your family, and this channel. 1.I have had ASL teachers, both Deaf and hearing, state their excitement to see ASL expanding into public schools. When we discuss if hearing people should teach ASL, our local (small/rural) Deaf community seems to approve because the more people who learn basic ASL, the more people will likely respect Deaf people. If you do not know about something (Deaf culture/ASL), it is hard to advocate its merits. Question one is- Is it better to have no ASL program at all or to have a hearing teacher (this is the case in many a small town)? 2. We live in a rural area with few schools teaching ASL and the ones that can struggle to find teachers that are state qualified to teach and hold an ASLTA endorsement and are also Deaf. I think Deaf teachers of ASL are the best option- you state that you can learn online from a Deaf teacher like Bill Vicar, but you will not earn actual credit in school for it. In my town, the local school has been advertising nationally for an open job at a public high school for over 4 years. We have Deaf people here, some of whom are actually teachers- but they don't want this job for personal reasons (not all Deaf people want to teach, not all Deaf teachers want to teach in a public school- ua-cam.com/video/G21EiByBVoI/v-deo.html - stories like this one). Question 2. If I understand you correctly, the burden to teach all hearing people who want to learn ASL is not entirely on the shoulders of the Deaf community- is that fair? Is that really what Deaf people want in all situations? 3. I am not ignorant of oralism and prejudice. I believe representation is important, but we have a national teacher shortage across all fields. Not all schools even offer ASL yet as an option (My bias is that I would like all students to have the opportunity to learn ASL). In light of these things, I ask question 3- Is there complexity here- or are the centuries of oppression so much that there is no place for collaboration? Can we work cooperatively to raise awareness and overcome (like William Stokie at Gallaudet or Thomas H. Gallaudet with Laurent Clerc)? Please note that I am not speaking about some random hearing person with a social media account- but an actually qualified teacher that has gone to college to teach ASL that happens to be hearing. Why are they not an ally?
I always advocate for Deaf to teach first. I do realize that sometimes there are situations that it may not be possible. In those situations where all options to hire a Deaf person are exhausted and the local Deaf community approve, then a hearing person could teach. With the excel that if at any time a qualified Deaf person wants to teach, that the hearing person would step down. Again, collaboration with approval in limited circumstances is fine. We definitely want ASL taught to more people. I think it’s just important that this is for limited situations. Often people don’t really try to exhaust all Deaf avenues first (obviously not your case).
Just because you can speak English does not mean you can TEACH it, same for Deaf, just because you are Deaf and ASL is L1, does not mean you can teach it either. True as many say here, not many Deaf candidates... I agree, sad because we need Deaf role models. I'm HOH, fluent in ASL/English and teach it, because I learned how teach it. There are Deaf bilingual, fluent in ASL/English and teach English... should Deaf stop teaching English? Nope! HOWEVER, I understand your view... I also tutor students on side with their ASL classes... many have hearing teachers... especially H.S., seem ALL are hearing... BUT, they are AWFUL! (Students show me their teacher's video) They teach incorrect! So, please Hearing, you must socialize and be part of Deaf community! You must take continuing education classes! Keep learning! I'm appalled at how you teach signs, and some have NO facial expression, but worst is the signs are awkward and/or incorrect! You must be near native or native level signing, so you are NATURAL! So, yes... I see your point, but I think it also depends on individual teacher background.
Thank you for this video! ASL is a language I want to learn in the near future. As someone who has learned multiple languages though, I have **not** had good experiences with native speakers teaching at the beginner levels (even those who were very much academically qualified to teach). The native speaker simply didn't understand where the problems would occur and didn't know how to explain how a particular grammatical structure worked. I'm not kidding when I say I received a legitimate "0" on an assignment because my German teacher insisted on only speaking in German and had no idea how to explain parts of the language that went way over my head! I absolutely appreciate your perspective and regardless of whether the teacher is hearing or Deaf, ASL students have to have exposure to the Deaf community and the native speakers (the true experts of the language).
I’ve only been able to learn anything at all from adults who are hearing and can explain the signs to me. It’s tough to learn a new language as an adult (critical learning period for language has been over for many years). Immersion just doesn’t work for me. Would you rather less adults be able to learn? Also what about people who have partial or degenerative hearing? Are they not allowed to teach by this logic? Or can they only teach part time I’d like to be able to communicate with my sister who is progressively losing her hearing. Maybe we’re not a part of the deaf community but language isn’t something anyone gets to own, sorry!
I totally agree with this. The reason for ASL is to be able to communicate with those whom are deaf. Hearing people teaching ASL is just another way of spreading knowledge so others can learn too. I think the deaf community almost segregates themselves from those who are interested in learning about their culture and community.
I'm hearing and the classes I've taken were taught by deaf teachers with no speaking allowed. I think it's incredibly important. For one thing starting with that barrier helps you understand some of what deaf people experience everyday. It also puts you you into a receptive observing mode, you're focusing on soaking up the information you need to communicate, and the need to communicate is an enormous driving force in human behaviour and emotion. The other thing is that language and culture are intrinsically intertwined, if you're not learning about a culture you may be acquiring vocab, but you're not learning the deeper understanding of how to meaningfully connect with and understand a community. I will absolutely share basic phrases, the alphabet, and signs that can help my nuerodivergent friends communicate accessibility needs amongst each other, but I always encourage as strongly as I can for people to go take classes from deaf teachers
I totally get where you’re coming from with the deaf representation argument, but what if you don’t really have the deaf person option and you still wanna learn sign language? Representation is important and deaf people definitely have the right to teach their own language, but if there are no deaf people in the area to teach it, how will the students learn? I think part of the struggle with the deaf asl teachers debate is representation vs availability. Not every school district has an asl class, unfortunitely, so a lot of students whose only learning resource is public school miss out on learning such a wonderful language and a rich culture, simply because there isn't anyone to teach it. In my opinion, as long as they are qualified to teach asl, they'll be okay for filling a need, but when it comes to between a hearing and deaf person applying for the same position at the same location, the deaf teacher should at least be given a fair shot at the job. In the end, it should go to whoever is more qualified/better equipped for the job. That does not mean deaf people should be shoved aside. Not at all. I said fair shake for a reason. No jobs should bias on basis of inconvenient handicaps, except in jobs where it is required. Example: Don't hire a deaf person for a job that relies almost exclusively on hearing. That would be dumb. Teaching is not one of those jobs. Deaf people can teach just fine.
I'm hearing and my ASL 1 teacher was Deafblind too (and by far one of my favorite teachers)! Due to the pandemic, I actually ended up dropping out of ASL 2 (the online structure was very difficult for the teacher to transition to for starters). Additionally, since the teacher was hearing, it interfered a little with my learning because she would use her voice when she got frustrated. I'm really hoping to go back to learning ASL when I feel comfortable going back to classes irl (and when the class is taught by a Deaf professor) but until then, thanks for the videos! I can already tell that I'm going to learn a lot just from trying to follow along.
if an Anglo Saxon was to teach slavery we'd want someone knowledgeable and understanding of how awful these times were and/or are teaching against racism. Same goes for the hearing teaching ASL You'd want someone fluent and someone capable of teaching and making sure the class grasps the language. So being hearing should not be a problem for the Deaf community. I get it representation is due but we're still fighting for ASL to be taught in school therefore small victories are in place and we celebrate them. Getting offended because a deaf person isn't teaching asl is not a good reason to cancel a person. What matters is that ASL gets recognized then get representation. That's honestly toxicity at it's finest.
Hello, just a quick question that I have been wondering. Would you mind please sharing your insight and/or thoughts on how a hearing person teaching ASL is different from, say, a non-Hispanic teaching Spanish at a University or someone teaching French that is not French. This has happened for decades or even longer. I would really appreciate your thoughts and viewpoint on this. Thanks so much and thanks for all you do!
I am trying to learn more, so please forgive my question if it seems ignorant. Would you oppose a paramedic teaching fellow paramedics basic signs and a few specific medical signs? Or is teaching any frowned upon. No extra pay is involved I just feel like it would benefit our local deaf community. Thank you.
I just came across your video. I think sign language is very important. We are a bilingual family of English & Spanish. (Hispanic) We are a Hearing family, but I have children with special needs that couldn't talk. They're very visual learners and have picked up on signs for communication. My 2nd son began speaking later on, but when he was in 1st grade his aid had asked me if he knew sign language and I said yes. Finger spelling and some other signs. She said I knew it! :) Bc they had a finger sign paper at school and he was the first one done and did it fast. We didn't have a community for sign language. I had 1 friend who has a daughter that is deaf and she let me borrow a few signing books. (We didn't have fb/UA-cam helping us back 10yrs ago) He had a speech therapist we loved that spoke both English and Spanish and she learned sign language as well for communication. She moved away & we had other speech therapist. As he got older they had us kind of pick which language so they could work on his communication. English bc that's what's here. Well he lost some of the signs as he got older bc we worked on speech. My last baby isn't speaking yet. We are learning more signs (I'm relearning things I've lost) We are hearing, but I think for someone who can't it's important to have a line of communication. We watch different videos on UA-cam/internet of ppl reading stories and signing along and that's really helpful for her. I like the voice over bc it put the words to the sign. Same way as watching TV with subtitles. That's how I learned Spanish early on. I watched English shows with Spanish subtitles. I'm a Visual learner too. Lol (I have to see the words lol bc sounds just jumbles together)
I kind of have a more nuanced approach then the two sides that seem to be taken. I'm hearing and in high school I had a hearing teacher but in college I had Deaf professors. I see pros and cons to both. I mean with a Deaf professor there's that immediate doorway into the community. And it does serve as sort of an icebreaker for people like me who might be afraid to start signing with Deaf people. Like don't get me wrong, I've been in this for years and I'm only now getting comfortable within the community and I think a lot of that has to do with my autism but a big step to where I am now was just signing with someone who's Deaf and having a Deaf professor made me do that. On the other hand, I'm not sure I would have had as good of an experience if I'd met either of my professors in high school. I wasn't as invested in the language back then, I probably wouldn't have made as much of an effort to communicate with them as I did in college, and it probably wouldn't have been the same kind of classroom environment that I got with a hearing teacher. My sister had a Deaf teacher and it sounded awful for her and him both. Kids would talk all the time, they would shout out answers during tests, hell they would make fun of the teacher behind his back. I felt so bad for both of them. I wanted to go yell at those little brats to behave! My classroom was way different. Not a single person talked and if you did you were out. High schoolers just don't have the maturity that sort of thing takes. And sure, there are some Deaf teachers who can do it. I'm not saying that Deaf people shouldn't teach high school but I know a LOT of Deaf teachers who refuse for that very reason. "No respect" as my professor says. So like the solution I think of is something like this: Only Deaf teachers should teach ASL in college. Like a hearing person should only teach in that setting if there's no one else available. But in high school I feel like both hearing and Deaf should be able to teach just because of the advantages a hearing teacher can have at controlling disrespectful kids. Deaf teachers should still be preferred, if they want the job they can have it. But I'm sorry, I just can't not see the advantages in having a hearing high school teacher. I think it's a maturity thing but it's also intent. You go to an ASL 1010 class at my local community college and ask how many people are planning to go into the ITP (interpreter training program) and like a third of the class will raise their hands, maybe even more it's been awhile since I've been in 1010. Most kids that take a high school ASL class take it because they think it'll be an easy A. Which is ironic because they quickly find out ASL is like the hardest easy language to learn, but you know they're stupid hearing kids what do they know? So I think it's the fact that more often college students want to be in the class where as high school kids are kind of forced into it. And I mean yeah, that doesn't change hearing or Deaf. But with my hearing teacher I remember I got annoyed when other kids didn't take the language as seriously as I did but it didn't affect me any further than that. And then, thinking about it, anxiety's kind of a double edge sword. Because if I'm being honest with myself I only talked to my Deaf professor because I wanted to talk to my Deaf professor. I wanted to because by time I got into college I deeply loved ASL, I was obsessed with Deaf culture and history, and I *desperately* wanted to be a part of the community. But if I think back to that scared little autistic kid who picked his language credit on a literal coin flip between ASL and French and I try to imagine if I'd be anywhere near where I'm at now if I'd started out with a Deaf teacher. Yeah, there's no way. I would have done what I needed to do in order to pass the class and I would have kept my head down the whole time. Cause I mean like, I'm autistic! ANY social interaction is already hard for me and then you want to add a language I barely know to that? And that's my only option? Of course, we had an immersive classroom. Our voices were off from the moment we entered the door. She even offered ear plugs which of course with my sensory processing disorder I took full advantage of. But I felt like I could still go to her after class with questions, concerns, and observations. And she always, ALWAYS pushed me to interact with the community. I just couldn't bring myself to do it because I was too deep in my shell. It also didn't help that the three Deaf students at my school were all pretty girls and I was a straight teenage boy. But yeah. When I really think about it, for me personally, if I hadn't have been so desperate to talk to Deaf people I probably wouldn't have done it at all. Even if you dragged me right in front of one. You could have locked me in a room with one and Imma be real with you I probably would have just ended up crying in the corner. I was that scared! So like...I guess to sum it up, my hearing teacher was a bridge and my Deaf teacher was a door. I realize that I was probably really lucky to have an amazing hearing teacher and I know it's not the correct opinion given oppression politics but I feel like I wouldn't be where I am today without my hearing teacher so I'm always going to fight for her right to teach.
NOTE: I am hearing. I am not fluent in sign. I do love languages. This is where I am coming from. This is a weird video to me. I would think that you would want as many people to learn your language as possible. since there are more hearing and deaf people than just deaf people you would want as many teachers as possible. Just like any language. And of course, just like any language, there is a cultural aspect to it. My language teachers were not born in the culture that they taught. OK, so what? Does that mean they don't understand what is going on? In fact it help me out because some of their mistakes culturally let me know, coming from a different culture, what to avoid. Like a fish in water. If you just got in water, a person who knows what its like just getting into water, may be more helpful than someone who knows only water. The cultural difference may be more pronounced to a person just going into that culture and help those who are just taking those steps. Also, "There are plenty of deaf persons to teach sign language" is just like saying there are plenty of people in france to teach french. I don't believe this. I am only able to get exposed to this if you look for it. So people should have whatever teacher you may have available, hearing or not, good or bad, depending on availability. Deaf people are not everywhere all the time. I also don't believe languages "belong" to only certain cultures.
I agree with you 100%. What’s next? Hearing people shouldn’t learn ASL? Seems like there is no winning with the Deaf community. They complain that hearing people don’t want to learn ASL, that ASL needs to be an official language, but then they don’t want Hearing people teaching it. It’s so stupid.
@@beckigreen Deaf people aren't saying don't learn it, just don't teach it. If you do, that's cultural appropriation because you haven't been oppressed the way Deaf people have. Just because you know the language doesn't mean you're able to speak on behalf of the Deaf community and the years, if not centuries of oppression they've experienced.
You shouldn't just resort to any teacher whether they're good or bad, you have to hire the most qualified, skilled, native signers out there. ASL is the language for Deaf and HOH people (and other communication issues). Not for hearing people who have no communication issues. That doesn't mean don't learn it if you're hearing, but you cannot teach it. Why? You haven't been through the history of oppression Deaf people have been through, and you don't experience life as a Deaf person because you're not physically or culturally Deaf. You can have an understanding of what oppression Deaf people have gone through, but you cannot teach it if you have not experienced it. That's like a white person saying how oppressed they were during the Jim Crow era.
I agree. I’m a deaf studies major and my first instructor was deaf. The following semester my instructor was hearing and the difference in the class was terrible. You learn so much more with someone who is actually apart of the deaf community, to me it just makes sense. It’s not to discredit hearing instructors but I prefer my classes to be taught by a non hearing person.
I’ve been wondering: As an elementary school teacher, would it be ok for me to teach various subjects while also signing at the same time for accessibility purposes? I wouldn’t be teaching my students ASL, simply using ASL at the same time while I teach.
i started learning asl this year through my asl 1 class which was taught by a hearing teacher. she said that it was a long journey for her to even be qualified to teach. she was taught by deaf professors and one of her professors had told her the only way she will really learn and be fluent is to sign with actual deaf people in real life. so in order for her to pass the class, she had to go to many deaf events and communicate with deaf people and she’s shared those stories with us. and for her to become a teacher, she had to take a test but she said it was really hard and had to take it 4 times before she finally passed it and it took a long time because the test was only available once a year so after her 4th attempt, she finally passed it. she explained that the test was to have a conversation with the people who were offering her the test for 30 minutes to an hour and she passed after her 4th attempt. this year she’s shown us pictures of places she’s traveled to teach ASL, and she’s been teaching here where I live for 3 years now. even though she is a great teacher, she is realistic and said we will learn more from a deaf person than we will from her, and I’ve been to one deaf event this year and i can proudly say i enjoyed it and got to communicate with the deaf students at my school :) i am taking asl with the same teacher next semester and I can’t wait to learn more ! I forgot to mention that we are the only school in our city that offers asl, before my teacher came here, we didn’t have an asl teacher, we only had interpreters, but once she came to our school applying for the job, that all changed. i do hope though that one day more asl teachers come to teach at my school. there are 4 Spanish teachers in my school, and only 1 asl teacher.
This is ridiculous!!! I have been signing since I was in elementary school!!! That's like saying only Hispanics can teach Spanish, only Germans can teach Germans. That is super discriminating. Language is a beautiful thing and everyone should be able to use it and appreciate it period. I'm so upset by this. I have 7 hearing children who I have taught sign since birth...smh just sad
This is how I felt for a long time but once I really delved into the culture instead of just the language, I truly realized that it's mainly because Deaf people are a minority that has been shamed for using their own language since it was first developing. Hearing people are not good at teaching it 99% of the time either, and they don't understand the cultural nuances the way Deaf people do. Asl is not just a language. It is a piece of who they are and a path for accessibility in a world that sadly was not built for them. I understand how you feel, trust me I do, but you should look into it more before you feel enraged.
Agreed.. I had been signing and had been a part of the community my entire life …but I know where I am not wanted and I am now dedicating my work to the ESOL and Hispanic community and my work is appreciated there.
If i understand correctly, let me put it in terms that i can interpret this, for example; an English-speaking person only would not be able to teach Spanish because they do not have the culture or they do not dominate the language well enough??? i feel cultural appropriation is a trigger word for me it makes me cringe because the point of living in this planet is to learn from one another as we share, the only thing i see now in days is " well you can't do that because you are not that or this wah wah wah" shut the hell up.
This is my opinion but I personally disagree, I feel like both hearing and death should be able to teach American sign language, but they should at least be educated in the language being fluent and in the history before trying to teach their native language.
Hi there, I'm losing my hearing and learning asl right now online and it IS hard! I have never loved something more though and I take so much pride in my signing. Because of covid it is hard to meet more deaf people in my community but I find learning online is a nightmare!! ALL the hearing ppl teaching the wrong signs is sooooo very frustrating!! I learned soooo many signs wrong and only discovered after they were wrong! I did that a lot in the beginning not knowing where to start but I learned quickly that ASL and SEE are very different, that deaf, hard of hearing, interpreters, deaf raised versus learned and codas all sign differently. Hell even based on where you live. Thank you for including some history videos I really enjoy learning about those who have come before me, i think it should be necessary to learn the history if you are taking the time to learn the language. Just a question, how does the deaf community embrace those who are newly hard of hearing/deaf in YOUR opinion based on your own experiences? I completely understand that the community is NOT a monolith and every deaf person may answer this completely different. If I'm honest, I'm very nervous that everyone might think I'm bad at signing and make fun of me.
Try Lifeprint- Bill Vicars. He has very easy to learn from videos as well as online quizzes and fingerspelling practice. He is Deaf. His wife is Deaf- they are both college instructors.
I don't think it matters if you're newly deaf or hard of hearing. If they make fun of you because you're still learning and not native, that's their problem. And not just correcting and being blunt about it, but if they're seriously making fun of you when you're genuinely trying, they're not worth your time. I've been through that, and I learned it's not good to waste your energy on those kinds of people.
Another perspective, Life Skills Teachers, like myself, have classes that encompass many different students.We teach sign, because our students need it.Not only deaf students need sign, although I have deaf/blind students, but also non verbal autistic or ID kids.
I have taken asl classes for the last 3 years. I am not fluent, and have no interest in becoming a teacher. that being said, I have been teaching my family members and friends some signs when they ask. also while I work at a childcare center (ages 0-11) I make a point to teach the kids new signs each day. the amount of signs differing between ages. The kids LOVE it and will never let me forget to teach them. I have even had full conversations in sign with the older kids. I know this isn’t even close to being a professional asl teacher, but I hope what I am doing doesn’t offend anyone. I guess I am just posting this here to make sure its ok.
You can refer them to a qualified Deaf professor with free ASL lessons, such as Bill Vicars. His program is designed to get you to be able to interact with the Deaf community.
@@annieswatches that is something I have done for friends that have shown interest in learning the actual language and I think his videos are awesome. When I teach friends and family its more like they constantly ask me “whats the sign for that?” or “teach me a sentence” and I know very well that they won’t put in the effort to actually learn the language. with the children at work, it is “5 signs of the day” where I teach them the animals, food and other signs they will enjoy excluding the grammar. I also know they are too young to all have the incentive to learn online. Is all of this ok?
@@Irisroot I'm not sure if I can speak on that issue, because I can't control if people are actually interested in the language or not rather than just knowing a few signs.
I’d like to know your thoughts on using simcom and pse. I feel it shouldn’t be used. I see a lot of hearing and deaf ppl on tiktok and UA-cam using this and never use grammar. It’s really weird.
Question from me more than anything else. I have situational mutism and occasionally use basic signs in order to communicate my needs. How appropriate is it for me to teach my most used signs to the people around me? And how appropriate would it be for me to continue using and learning sign? I mainly ask as most of the people around me would not have the time/energy/money/inclination to take proper AUSLAN classes, but I still need to be able to communicate. (I do have a text to speech device on my phone to help with this, but when your voice has a battery life it is a bit stressful)
My first thought was about CODAs. I know you said you wouldn't discuss it in this video, but it would be cool to hear your thoughts on the matter on another video :)
Yeah I think for codas sign is „their“ language, “their” mothertongue or native language As well. Many codas also experience discrimination in different ways. In my opinion codas they have the skills and life experiences and knowledge to teach sign.
I appreciate your passion and understanding your stance on the subject. However, I sincerely want to learn sign language and it's easier for me to learn from a hearing person. I can see the signs as well as hear and correlate the two. For people to say only a hearing impaired person should teach is like saying only a person of color should wear braided hair extensions or dreads... It maybe a part of a certain culture but why can't we share with all who like the style?
Exactly! Everyone who wants to teach, should teach. Period. If you don't like it, then go to another channel and watch the lessons that you prefer. Her opinion is her opinion, and it is not necessarily shared by the majority.
It's disregarding people's circumstances, and the varying learning preferences of people in the deaf community. There will not be native teachers available for everyone.
Hello, I’m a hearing person in my second year of college . I’m planning on becoming an educator and I want to be able to cater to all my future students. I want to learn ASL outside of my courses. Do you have any ASL learning tools that ASL native users approve of?
not related! but! after years of sickness and touch-and-go in college, i'm FINALLY going back for a degree in interpreting at a local college!!! i've lost a ton of reception and signing skills, so I'm perfectly happy with going back to the beginning, but man im so excited. I caught 30-40% of what you said with the volume off when I used to be able catch 90%ish. I'm so excited to get caught up and throw myself in a wonderful community again!! (and hopefully make a career out of it)
What are your thoughts on hearing people who are not necessarily taking actual teaching positions, but are ‘teaching’ basic sign vocab or doing “a sign a day” type daily posts on Instagram or Tik Tok and position their entire channel/profile around it?
They shouldn't be doing that, it's not their language to teach. There are plenty of qualified Deaf professors who have signs for all kinds of vocabulary, like Bill Vicars.
I think people should teach anything they know well. You are saying we should limit ourselves to only the language we know. Teaching is spreading love.
I had never considered this, but it makes sense. Whenever possible, languages should be taught by native speakers. When the community is marginalized, it's even more important. This may be off topic, and I may have missed a video you already did about it, but is teaching signs to babies controversial? We didn't start out doing it, but our son has a speech delay, and having some signs has really helped him. In his school setting he actually seems to prefer to sign.
No we haven't made a video about that directly. But it's encouraged to teach babies sign language (whether hearing or obviously Deaf). It's a great way to teach early communication. It's also great for children or any people that have some sort of communication difficulties, such as speech delays. That's great you are using whatever tools you can to communicate with your child! :)
You don't have to be from France to teach French I think if you are skilled enough whats the problem? Disclaimer I don't know any deaf people and I'm just learning for fun and also to communicate for when I go nonverbal from time to time also incase I meet a deaf person there's nothing stopping me from being a friend. I want to practice with my friend who is a doctor who is learning to communicate with patients better is there anything wrong with that?
Interesting question. I am a non-native teacher of French (married to a French man), but I think the two are not comparable. I recently went on a teaching platform to try to find a sign teacher and I looked specifically for deaf people. At first I thought maybe that was weird but you confirmed what I was thinking. Part of it for me is that as someone who knows what is involved in second language fluency, I know that relatively few attain it, but I also just feel that when it comes to the Deaf, there is so much employment discrimination that it just doesn't seem right to not seek out a Deaf person trying to make it as a teacher, and there were plenty on the platform.
Yes, they should not be teaching ASL or have any platforms to do so. It just really rubs me the wrong way and puts a bad taste in my mouth when hearing people think they're more qualified to teach ASL than Deaf people.
Language isn't anyone's property to gatekeep, no matter what the mode of communication. anyone can learn any language they want in order to communicate with other human beings. The only reason to put up barriers like this is because people want to have a victim mentality. It actively discourages people from interacting with the deaf community, and that helps nobody. These days, society gives points to those who are "different" and "oppressed". I think this is an extension of that. If everyone could use sign, the deaf community wouldn't have any reason to claim that they have a "disability" and would lose that social status. I think those who are opposed to 'hearing' people learning the language, even from other 'hearing people', have a huge chip on their shoulder. Prejudice stems from the inability to communicate with one another - the more we can 'speak' and understand one another, the better our society gets. Telling people they aren't allowed to learn a language so they can speak with you properly is just dumb, ignorant and harmful to the deaf community.
so as a parent as a deaf child i am learning to sign and am no way fluent but is it okay for me to show some people in my family signs to help them learn or kids my child is around to show them some signs? Where i live there really aren’t a lot of deaf people around at all
Is it alright to "teach" (help) my mom learn the vocab? There are no classes or teachers that I can find anywhere in my area and I'm using reliable sources (that I know of). I've had trouble thinking about this in the past and could always use another perspective. Ask any questions needed! (I also have some articles on culture so she can learn about that too.)
If your mom is not in the position to take a class, I think you sharing some signs is fine. But I would suggest even more that you redirect her to online sources like Bill Vicars. I think this is more about teaching forms classes is the issue.
It sounds like you're providing your mom with "peer learning support"-- not holding yourself out as professional teacher. People helping each other is okay, especially when you acknowledge the limits of that and point someone to Deaf resources.
I mostly agree. The biggest exception I can think of is hearing people teaching interpreting classes. Would you consider that as a separate thing from hearing people teaching sign language? In my interpreting program I had one hearing and two Deaf teachers. They were all great but when it came to voicing and transliteration, we were taught by the hearing instructor.
I really wish they would have told us this in college!! :( I wish I could go back 8 years and change my major. But like you said, we can always go back and become interpreters. I am trying to transition from teaching ASL, to maybe interpreting or something!! BUT I AM TRYING! GIVE ME A YEAR OR TWO!
Elon Musk said “What’s the point of sign language in a video if you have substitutes? Am I missing something?” He is right because most deaf people couldn’t understand that closed captioning “illiteracy”. ASL is not great to teach deaf children or a bad education because they struggle how to read sentences. I am still unhappy if ASL exists in some public schools except deaf schools. Hopefully, cued speech will teach them instead in the future. Sigh poor deaf children 😢 STOP TEACHING SIGN LANGUAGE. CUED SPEECH IS THE BEST CHOICE INSTEAD!
A lot of people (including me) have tried teaching foreign languages to peers as a way of solidifying new information. I think the most respectful way to do this is to position oneself as a study buddy. Eg "This is what I learned today and here are my sources". Link to the places where they actually learned the stuff, that way when the inevitable corrections come, they aren't in the position of a teacher being incorrect but rather a fellow student who misunderstood a piece of info.
I don't think there's anything wrong with "helping" in informal ways. I think it's more of a "formal" class where Deaf should be teaching. Obviously, if you can learn all from Deaf people, that would be great. But study buddies of all types are great!
Yeah having a study buddy that you can reinforce the information with back and forth is super helpful. But definitely, no formal teaching if you're a hearing person.
My 18 month old daughter is hard of hearing. She has minimal hearing ability and while we work through getting her set up with services, there's no other way for her to learn at the moment- her father and I are teaching her as best as we can with what we have access to. (luckily for all of us, baby sign is not difficult to use currently- but for fluency she really needs someone qualified). We don't live in an area that has good resources for toddlers who are hearing impaired. I agree that teaching as a job- should be taught by those within that community. I think the job should be offered to those who are deaf before anyone else- but in a situation where there are no deaf services and their only option is to have someone who is hearing teach or have no teacher- something is better than nothing. I'm excited to see how my daughter blooms once she is receiving the resources she needs to thrive. She's amazing and will be successful wiitih the right support. This is a journey for all of us not just her. Our entire family is getting involved as well as friend's of ours (they're having their child learn sign language so she will have other people to play with who can communcate with her) the support has been amazingly uplifitng. I don't think anyone can stop anyone within this community from succeeding, we just need to help find the right niche for everybody. I think all children should be taught sign language from infancy through grade school (and further if they choose) just like a lot of schools teach foreign language. It would definitely make the world more accessible for everybody.
Thank you for bringing this up! The sad news is that Lola from ASL_For_Teens/ASL_with_Lola does this kind of thing for clout. She is a 15 year old student who claims she is learning Sign for 4 years and teaches it all wrong. She said she wasn't teaching. Sadly she is not going to listen to reason cause everytime someone from the deaf community tries to correct her or give her pointers or tells her to stop, she immediately blocks them and continues teach ASL.
I agree with you. Like you said as a hearing student, I learned the language better from an actual deaf person versus learning it from a hearing teacher. In my undergrad for asl 1&2 my teacher was hearing and she told us that she learned asl in college to make us more comfortable but I think it did more harm than good in my honest opinion. When it came to interacting with actual deaf professors for asl 3&4, I found myself still struggling and it was really nerve wrecking. I think like you said, if you wanna take the language amd culture seriously, you have to be around deaf/hard of hearing people to have a better grasp of the language. I'm taking asl again at a junior college and the teacher is hard of hearing but oddly she doesn't recommend bill vicars 🤔. Anywho, sorry for the long reply lol. Thanks for the video!
Yes, I loved my Deaf professors. I think having a Deaf professor from day one is best. It can be nerve wracking if you have never had a Deaf professor before for sure. Not sure why they wouldn’t recommend Billl, but there are other resources out there.
Even though I identify Deaf now I am always hesitant to “teach” w/o native signers leading. I don’t teach. Ultimately it’s not my first language though it’s my preferred communication method. I have corrected friends who are signing to communicate with me. But formal teaching. No ur right.
I’m curious about what you think of hearing people posting videos of ASL covers/interpretations of songs? My gut feeling is that it’s okay ONLY if they have a disclaimer somewhere telling people that they’re not deaf, they’re a hearing student, they’re not trying to teach people asl or say that this is the right way to sign, etc. I also think it’s really important for them to take feedback and criticism, especially from the Deaf community, to heart, and for them to really know the difference between and specify if they are using ASL, PSE, SEE, or something else. It would probably also be great for them to include links to other Deaf people’s videos/channels too, to promote authentic learning? Anything else? I wanna support people learning ASL who want to share their own “projects” for learning sign, and have even considered it myself, but where do you and the Deaf community stand on it? (And/or do you have any videos on it?) :))
I'm of the opinion in general that we should leave song interpretation to Deaf people (unless at a live concert and you are the feeding interpreter to a CDI/DI). I understand that some hearing interpreters make musical interpreting their niche and are very good at it. That is where I'm a. little gray area, if that makes sense. I don't see why beginning interpreters or people in general need to interpreter songs. There are plenty of other ways to practice. Deaf people are often overlooked on musical interpreting and we should let them take the spotlight. I don't speak for the Deaf community (as I'm not Deaf), but if someone who is hearing is going to interpret music, then yes, they definitely need to accept criticism and use it. Being careful of tilting your videos (PSE/ASL, etc) is very important too.
Great video! Another point that I think is important is that Deaf people can often have trouble finding work, and a job teaching ASL is one that they are more qualified for. If the ASL teaching jobs are also taken by hearing people, then it will be even harder for Deaf people to find jobs. Maybe in some areas there are such small Deaf communities that no Deaf people are available to teach sign, but I think it's more common that hearing people just choose to hire other hearing people.
I’m hearing and I totally understand you’re reasoning. But I remember when you mentioned at 2:48 about how they can’t talk with them and stuff. So I just wanna know how WILL they talk with them? And by that I mean how to ask questions and more. Thanks ✨
I want to learn ASL because I'm studying to be a special education teacher and I find it cool. I remember going to a musical with my class and I was glued to the Interpreter and their signs.
Elon Musk said “What’s the point of sign language in a video if you have substitutes? Am I missing something?” He is right because most deaf people couldn’t understand that closed captioning “illiteracy”. ASL is not great to teach deaf children or a bad education because they struggle how to read sentences. I am still unhappy if ASL exists in some public schools except deaf schools. Hopefully, cued speech will teach them instead in the future. Sigh poor deaf children 😢 STOP TEACHING SIGN LANGUAGE. CUED SPEECH IS THE BEST CHOICE INSTEAD!
I'm learning sign language for my kids. And l teach them what I learn. I'm hearing in one ear. Their ear can't hear. I would like to be more involved with the deaf people one. My son can hear but he has trouble talking. And my daughter is a baby. So signing work will for my family my kids sign alot more than they talk
I learned through my college and it was always voice off only signing so like you i had to learn. Having a Deaf teacher is better mostly because you get better quilty. I knew that my Deaf teacher always signed 24 7 and was involved in the community. So i knew he signs where right. Personally i liked to think of myself as fluent but because i am not active in the community i risk teaching the wrong sign.
Yeah, I not sure how actually common it is, but it's more than it should be. I think more Deaf teachers are in the college/university levels more than k-12.
@@TheStews from what I've seen it seems like very few high schools and even colleges teach ASL. I mean the one college I actually took ASL in didn't even count it as a language.
What about Hearing people who grew up in Deaf families whose 1st language was ASL despite being hearing? Are they considered Native speakers and should they be allowed to teach ASL as well? Any one who is Deaf I would love to hear your thoughts. I’m mostly curious because my professor who teaches ASL applies in this situation.
Yes, being a CODA (or something to that extent) I feel is a sticky situation. Yes, they have more right than someone who is hearing and isn't in that situation. I would always say Deaf first, but if that is not possible (all avenues are exhausted) then CODAS or similar would be the next best. It's hard to be in that situation.
Im confused about one thing. How come I see hearing ppl signing..but they're not talking as they sign? There's facial expressions..but is it kinda like your hands go too fast for your mouth to catch up? Does that make sense?
Um I have a question I've been learning asl from people on yt that is not deaf is that ok I want to learn and with quarantine my family cant afford them.
Bill Vicars is a Deaf teacher and all his videos are on UA-cam for free. You don't have to pay for a course right now if you can't afford it but start with a qualified Deaf professor like Bill Vicars.
Laura Berg and Meredith are excellent at teaching ASL online! :-) I refer to them all the time for clarification. They explain not only how to make the sign, but they also describe various similarities to non-ASL references that help you to remember the signs. They make sense out of ASL so that hearing people can learn more effectively. :-) Good luck!
Elon Musk said “What’s the point of sign language in a video if you have substitutes? Am I missing something?” He is right because most deaf people couldn’t understand that closed captioning “illiteracy”. ASL is not great to teach deaf children or a bad education because they struggle how to read sentences. I am still unhappy if ASL exists in some public schools except deaf schools. Hopefully, cued speech will teach them instead in the future. Sigh poor deaf children 😢 STOP TEACHING SIGN LANGUAGE. CUED SPEECH IS THE BEST CHOICE INSTEAD!
Personally I don't think a language belongs to anyone, it has it's origin and native speakers and always will have. But languages in general are changing over time while used, how do you think so many words from other languages made it into your own? There's a good amount of french words in the english language, there's a lot of english words in the german one. Although it's better to learn a language from a native speaker, I don't think other's should be allowed to teach and share still. The more people speak a language, the more people become aware that something like this exists, and the more people will ask questions about the origin and then seek information about the culture it's connected to. If only deaf people teach sign language and share sign language online, there would be way less people even knowing about it. I'm experiencing it in my area. 1 Person taught it for 2 years, now I can't continue to learn it in a course cause it none exists in the whole area. I'd have to travel to the other end of the country to go to one which I'm unable to do due to work. And there isn't much information online either. I can't go to meet ups because I'm not allowed to and don't speak the language, so rip me. And although my english teachers had a bad accent that's native to my own language and made lots of mistakes, I'm glad they did teach me english afterall, or I wouldn't have gone talking to native speakers afterwards to further improve it. I probably never would have learned more than a few words, pronounced them in a really awkward way, never gotten more into the topic and just unwillingly ignored everything that has to do with it because it just wasn't available. The fewer people teach and use asl, the less people will be aware that it exists and find out that there's way more behind it.
I agree that more and more people should learn ASL or their countries sign language (if not in the USA). I’m not sure where you are from. ASL does adapt overtime, but unlike other languages, only Deaf can make new signs to adapt to new words or concepts. As for availability, at least for ASL, if there is not a place to learn in your area, there are a lot of great resources online. ASL is a language from an oppressed and marginalized group. So it’s important to let Deaf people teach their own language. It is a hard concept for many to understand since it’s not the same for majority languages such as English.
@@TheStews I agree there's plenty of resources online for ASL. Doesn't help me though as deaf people in my area speak german sign language. They really differ a lot from each other. And unfortunately there's not much resources online for that one. Hope that changes in the future.
100% right, Shugo! If anyone wants to learn, or if anyone wants to teach, you are correct in saying that the more people there are, the better! Do not let one person's biased opinion deter you from realizing how rich all languages are or from the fact that all people have the right to teach and share them!
This is a random question. I’m currently learning ASL, how do you know what to do with your mouth? I don’t mean like not showing oo ee cha. It’s almost like your talking but not. But I agree, it’s a cultural thing. Deaf people miss out on jobs they are truly qualified for. Getting the privilege to be taught by my Deaf teachers, I learn from their experiences.
can we talk for a minute about how its not only the deaf community that uses sign language... as a matter of fact the autistic community does as well in many cases for example when they cannot have their aac with them or are too overstimulated to use it.... teaching, i agree deaf people should be given 1st opportunity to teach, however as an autistic person myself, and an auditory learner but with vocal words that dont work right much of the time i had to learn to sign, in order to communicate in my own life and its complicated enough as my signing is modified as well so, but from a learners perspective as an auditory learning having someone use their voice to explain the signs helped me alot. i dont think i could have learned without that and honestly, then id be really stuck if my aac ever didn't work for whatever reason. i am a multi modal communicator, high tech aac, low tech aac, sign, and verbal vocal speech and pen and paper i use them all... my mom was a teacher for many many years with spec ed, juvie kids, system kids, etc and she always said and even told my schoool teachers, if someone cant learn the way you teach, maybe you need to teach the way they learn.
Honestly, I could care less who teaches it. As long as they are good, it's okay in my opinion. To me thats like telling someone who learned my language to not teach my language in my country just because they are not one of my people. I moved to China for a few years from the States and before I went, I studied Mandarin and brought myself to a level where I could communicate with the locals. Then I taught in schools using the Mandarin I knew. I never needed an assistant but whenever I had an assistant, it never bothered me. I never told them to stay out of my way just because they wasn't native and never told them that they shouldn't teach English. I can agree on many things that would benefit the deaf community. I can agree that deaf people face discrimination, and that sign language should be as mandatory as learning English. But I could never agree with telling someone that they can't or shouldn't teach ASL just because they are not deaf. Who comes up with these rules? It sounds like tribalism
It's like having a white teacher teaching the history of African-American oppression when they've never had the experience of being oppressed. It is not tribalism, and it's not right for you to teach a language from an oppressed group. Hearing people CANNOT teach ASL because it's not their culture, language, or life experiences to teach. Deaf people will innately have an understanding of what it's like to be Deaf in a Hearing world, not a Hearing person.
@@annieswatches Language is not history. Language is not cultural studies. You're mixing them up. I've never had a language teacher, whether it be latin, spanish, french, english, mandarin or Japanese, teach me about the history of those places. That's for history, that's for literature, that's an entirely different topic. Teaching the language is teaching the grammar, teaching the vocabulary, teaching immersion. There are plenty of hearing people who speak ASL as their first language, and could easily teach it. As as example: My cousin who was born in Taiwan speaks English fluently because she was adopted at 3 months old...she can teach English. But if you were to talk about the history of Taiwan and its oppression by the Chinese government, then yes, having someone who lives there is better than someone like my cousin who hasn't lived there since she was a baby. It is a different matter entirely.
@@sj4iy The language, history, and culture are all entwined in ASL. If you ever took an ASL class online or in person, the culture and history is an essential part of learning the language. All of my professors have been Deaf, and they know their language, culture, and history the best. It’s not the same idea as spoken languages.
@@sj4iy You are correct, sj. Annie seems to have some personal issues dealing with oppression, and she is letting it interfere with what should be the simple teaching of a language. If the teachers of any language had to be native users of that language, thousands of language programs in thousands of schools would be hindered because there wouldn't be enough native speakers in every area of every city to cover all of the jobs.
I'm interested to know what your opinion is about hearing creators sharing videos in ASL. Not teaching, just signing their content. Some Deaf think it is just for attention but I don't agree. What if the person just wants to make their content accessible and they are fluent in sign. I agree with you hearing should not teach sign language, especially online. That's my question thank you.
I don’t personally know the reason al hearing people make videos in sign, but mine are not for clout or attention. Honestly I think making videos in English is more appealing to the mass audience and gets more views. But there may be people who do it for clout. I can’t say.
I'm hard of hearing, and have been diagnosed as profoundly hearing impaired, but I'll never feel comfortable fully adopting "deaf" as my label because I grew up hearing well enough and still feel like an outsider to the culture, and therefore I would never teach ASL - even though I'm considered deaf by outsiders, I would still feel like I was appropriating in some way.
I think that some Deaf/deaf people would not be as suited to teach as others. If you feel that way, then I would say not to teach. If you feel differently in the future, then reassess.
The one and only class I took in college I had a Deaf professor. I unfortunately could not continue with the classes beyond ASL 1 so I made sure to go out into the community and learn that way. Learning from Deaf people is the best way to do it. Though I also learned from watching glossed songs and glossing my own. I know that is also a controversial thing on UA-cam with the community but I learn better with music so it helped me grow faster as a signer in combination with using sign in the community.
Elon Musk said “What’s the point of sign language in a video if you have substitutes? Am I missing something?” He is right because most deaf people couldn’t understand that closed captioning “illiteracy”. ASL is not great to teach deaf children or a bad education because they struggle how to read sentences. I am still unhappy if ASL exists in some public schools except deaf schools. Hopefully, cued speech will teach them instead in the future. Sigh poor deaf children 😢 STOP TEACHING SIGN LANGUAGE. CUED SPEECH IS THE BEST CHOICE INSTEAD!
Respectfully, I feel this is a gatekeeping mentality. Very few hearing people are able to look at a deaf person doing a sign, and intuit what they mean. We're just not wired that way. We learn by seeing a sign, and simultaneously hearing someone explain what it means. Written text may also work, but if we're reading a subtitle, we're not watching the sign being performed. Allowing only deaf people to teach ASL ensures that very, very few non-deaf will learn it. Case in point, I'd estimate less than 5% of the hearing population knows any significant level of ASL. You're making it inaccessible to most people. (Yes, you're going to say that *you* learned from a deaf instructor, but you also are in a relationship with a deaf person and that's a huge leg up)
She should've stopped at its usually best to learn from natives.. the rest really is just unnecessary gatekeeping. She's not taking into account other people's circumstances and preferences both in and outside the community.
Is it also bad if you learn sign language if you can speak and hear? I am learning basic of ASL so I can also communicate with people who cant or hardly hear. I thought it would help me in the future when I have to communicate to a person who use sign... I saw some people receiving hate just because they are learning sign language...
It's not bad to learn ASL. I don't understand why some people would receive hate because they're learning sign language if they're learning from a Deaf professor who knows all about the culture, history, and linguistics of ASL.
Elon Musk said “What’s the point of sign language in a video if you have substitutes? Am I missing something?” He is right because most deaf people couldn’t understand that closed captioning “illiteracy”. ASL is not great to teach deaf children or a bad education because they struggle how to read sentences. I am still unhappy if ASL exists in some public schools except deaf schools. Hopefully, cued speech will teach them instead in the future. Sigh poor deaf children 😢 STOP TEACHING SIGN LANGUAGE. CUED SPEECH IS THE BEST CHOICE INSTEAD!
I’m hearing, started learning American & Israeli SL as an adult, so I don’t have the same perspective and familiarity with Deaf people’s particular needs, but… there are plenty of non-native teachers of many other languages, including obscure minority ones. I know a hyperpolyglot who teaches a range of languages that are not his native one, and his perspective is that having a non-native teacher (AS WELL AS a native one) can be beneficial in some ways, because they would have a better understanding of the technicalities that come naturally and subconsciously to a native speaker but a student has to learn cognitively.
I think it’s great to learn many languages. If there are not enough people to teach that minority language then that would be an exception. More often than not, there is a Deaf person that could teach. Therefore they should teach and not a hearing person. I’m sure there are some extreme exceptions.
What if you're hearing and you have, in the past hurt your own ears with your own voice and you have one person in your life that knows Sign but again, they're hearing so they deny you the knowledge that you know they have that will save you a lot of pain in the future? So, now I'm forced to struggle alone on UA-cam with nobody to communicate with, because I only know hearing people. That can only take me so far because, I have yet to get a single response to any question I have asked on UA-cam. And my ears hurt all the time because everybody is so loud. They YELL! All the time they're yelling. I can wake up and have the volume on my TV down to 1. Once or twice it's hurt my ears at that volume, so it's time to turn it off and read the CC which is probably already on because if the sound effects are so loud that they are hurting my ears, then they are probably too loud to hear the dialogue over, when the volume was at 1. I can't turn down the volume of the world so, I regularly walk around with a finger in one or both of my ears (usually just on the side with traffic.) I also watched a video today about how hearing people will never be able to sign like a deaf person because we don't think the same. Hearing people think in words. Deaf people think in pictures. This to me, sounded like he was telling us hearing people that we shouldn't even bother because we'll never be good enough, because it's "Not our language." I call reverse-ablism. Now, I'm going to create a parallel. Anglophones, stop teaching French. It's not your language. You're taking jobs away from French people in your area. I had three French teachers, and none of them were French. So, why is it acceptable for them to teach French but not for a hearing person to teach Sign.
You do realize that ASL was literally created by a hearing person right? You wouldn't have ASL without him. This is like saying a Spanish person who speaks fluent English shouldn't teach anyone English. I have found the deaf community to be so toxic and hatful. Who cares who's teaching it if people are learning correctly and making things more inclusive.
This is an interesting point. I think it's ok for a hearing person to teach their baby how to sign... babies can communicate as young as 6 months old...they can't actually talk to communicate that young. Why wouldn't you want to teach your baby how to communicate as young as possible? I am hearing with alot of Deaf/deaf friends. I can't exactly just tell one of my friends to come teach my baby sign language. Otherwise, I agree with you. It's like hiring Deaf actors to play Deaf people!
I think that simple things like that are different. I speak more in the formal sense. Teaching actual classes. Now is you are gonna take an actual class to teach your baby, then yes, again it should be from a Deaf person. If you are just teaching them on your own, then utilize online free sources like bill vicars. 😀
That’s great you are interested in sign language! You should pursue learning it. There are many great resources online. My first recommendation is Bill Vicars. He is a great teacher!
I’m hearing and I love American Sign Language but I also see it on Tick Tock and it’s not my language to teach. So I got a little confused of why people think they can teach other people sign language it’s annoying to me it’s beautiful, I’m not a teacher and no one else needs to try and pretend to be on it’s not their language to teach ok I’m done with my rant! Love your channel and your family. 🥰
You know, normally when someone makes something telling one group they shouldn't be doing X, Y or Z I'm annoyed. Uh not this time. If I were Deaf I would be beyond annoyed and pissed off to lose out on a teaching job that my natural skill set made me perfect for because someone hearing was filling the position. As a hearing person who's hearing seems to be getting worse and worse I also don't want to learn ASL from someone who is hearing! I have been down the ASL video rabbithole and what I see time and time again is a hearing person making an ASL video teaching ASL and the comments are full of members of the Deaf community pointing out basic mistakes and being argued with. Uhm I'm dyslexic and learning ASL is HARD lol I don't want to worry about "am I being taught wrong? Am I missing subtleties or parts of Deaf culture that someone who is actually Deaf would be making sure to tell me?" In terms of my own life the videos the Deaf community are putting out have helped me understand that even if I see an audiologist and they recommend hearing aids....they won't magically return my hearing back to the way it ways like my husband thinks they will. THAT was important knowledge that no hearing person could ever tell me.
Yes, unfortunately it's hard to for people to understand this topic. I'm glad to hear that you are learning and learning from the right people. I hope it all works well for you and you find a new community to embrace you. Thank you for getting the video. :)
@@TheStews Thank you! I try my best to treat people with respect and empathy. I'm sure it will, it's made me realize the pressure I felt to get hearing aids isn't needed. Even if the hearing loss is confirmed I don't HAVE to get them. Makes the stress over it better lol.
I’m curious as to what you both are experiencing now that most people are wearing face masks because of the pandemic. Does it make it harder to understand people ever without lip reading and some facial expressions being hidden, or can you easily rely on physical gestures? I know that sometimes I can’t hear my students across the room without seeing their mouths moving simultaneously, especially if they’re talking quietly.
Well in am hearing so masks are not a big bother to me. But yes Jenna has said it’s har see to understand without being able to lipread some. But there are many other ways to communicate. Even understanding sign with masks is harder. It’s definitely a challenge but it can be done.
@@TheStews I do know you are hearing, but even for myself who also is hearing, mine isn’t great, so I realize I actually do rely on lip reading simultaneously with listening. I also always find it strange to be smiling under my mask as I pass by someone and I’m now trying to smile more with my eyes to be friendly lol.
Even though ASL isn't Bill Vicars' native language, is it still ethical that he does because he's physically and culturally Deaf, so he has the lived experience? Versus if a hearing person learned it later in life, it wouldn't be the same because they haven't experienced life as a D/deaf person? Just asking out of curiosity if it's acceptable to teach ASL if you're D/deaf, even if it's not your first language?
Fine but does this mean Deaf get to teach English? As someone who has learn tons of different languages I see no problem from learning a non native. Obviously any good program will have both hearing and Deaf teachers.
My concern is that this isn't how its done in other languages. And example: my German teachers all were non natives with head of staff being from Germany. Deaf culture is the only community I have ever met having an issue with a non-native teaching their language. I had a wonderful Deaf teacher who taught English in my highschool (may she R.I.P). English was not her first language but she was qualified for the job. She met every requirement asked of her. Applying the rule of non-natives not teaching, did she have the right to teach a language that wasn't hers? Is it okay for the Deaf to teach a language that isn't theirs but a hearing person be banned from teaching ASL?
@@katiemills9841 Having a deaf person teach English is fine. You can be a native of more than one language. I’m guessing your deaf teacher learned English growing up and used it all the time. Deaf people read and write in English you know...
Thanks for doing a video on this topic, it’s an important one! I completely agree with everything you said, but I also want to share a slightly different perspective. I am hearing and teach ASL 1 & 2 at the community college level. I live in a very rural area with a small but active Deaf community. Unfortunately, there are few Deaf folks locally who are qualified to teach, and those that are have no interest in doing so. When I moved back home with a degree in interpreting, I was approached by the Deaf community to apply for a teaching job bc they wanted ASL to be taught in our county. I teach with a strict voice-off policy, make sure all the info about Deaf culture is shared from a Deaf perspective, and invite the Deaf community to be involved with the class (and provide compensation). The second a qualified Deaf teacher moves to our area I would be happy to step down, but I think it’s important to get a sense of how your local Deaf community feels about hearing teachers. It’s not always a black and white issue in small locales.
I understand where you are coming from. Just things to think about. Did your college advertise that position nationwide? Often people will move to take those positions. If there were Deaf people in your area interested, but lacked a degree, they could be hired as a guest lecturer. That would allow them to teach without the degree and maybe try to get the degree or qualifications while teaching.
@@TheStews Hi, thanks for the reply. My first semester teaching I actually took the position with the caveat that I would only teach if they hired a Deaf guest lecturer. So I had the privilege of "team teaching" for one semester until he decided to accept a full-time position with a Deaf advocacy agency. My college does advertise nation-wide, and I have made it clear to my department that I do not intend to accept a full time position and that they should continue to advertise. We are just such a remote area, with very few Deaf community resources, that there is little incentive for Deaf folks to move out here. Hoping that will change in the future!!
@@PanicItsKendra That is great you all did that. It seems you all have exhausted your options. That’s is fine then. I just really appreciate that you are continually looking and willing to step down and had Deaf support. That’s is great. 👍🏻😀
The Stews Oh absolutely. No matter what our position within the Deaf community may be, as hearing people we are guests, period. So bottom line is - defer to the Deaf community ALWAYS.
Well stated!
My ASL 1,3 and 4 professor was hearing and I took ASL 2 with a deaf professor and she was the worse teacher I have ever had, in all my schooling, she choice to speak rather than be bother to try to sign with us, but my hearing teacher was so patience and encouraging and almost never used her voice. I think that the most qualified should teach, just because they are deaf doesn’t mean they make great teachers. If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t have a BA in interpreting and currently be working as an interpreter
Exactly! Let the most qualified people teach. The person who did this video is stereotyping. She exemplifies the very thing she is preaching against.
Hello there! I am a Deaf educator and I am hearing. I fell into a teaching position where I am teaching ASL as high school foreign language credits. I am in agreement with ASL being taught by Deaf people. All of my professors in college were Deaf. It was challenging but certainly worth it. I took this position for it to be temporary because there were not any Deaf candidates in the hiring pool. If I was not to accept the position, the ASL program would be closed down and I'm sure you know how long and hard people have been fighting to get ASL into schools. My question is, how can we get more Deaf individuals to apply for these positions? I am just a teacher so I don't have much power but I am curious and I want to advocate to those above me. Teaching isn't always the most appealing job because of the low pay, being over worked and the lack of support. I think that often deters so many adequate candidates. I would love to return to my roots of educating the Deaf or potentially being a counselor but I want to try and aid in getting Deaf people into these roles. Thoughts?
You and I are literally in the same situation. Not a single Deaf educator in our county nor HOH has come to our job fairs in the last 7 years. I know because have hosted all of them.
@@bobbiharrington2429 exactly the point I’ve been trying to make. We are bad people because we teach ASL but Deaf people don’t apply for these jobs in the first place. Wtf!!!
I wonder the same. 🤔
You're right.
agreed at my private school we do not have members of the Deaf community to teach our students. However, in order to compensate for teaching ASL i try to mimic how my previous professors taught me. No English and we write down on the white board.
I think there are hearing people who are involved in the community and are skilled enough to TEACH ASL. Knowing a topic does not mean people are qualified to explain it well to others. For me it's a representation thing. There are so many hearing people teaching all sorts of things so when I'm taking a deaf studies or ASL class I expect to FINALLY see some representation for deaf people. Come on now, let's hire more deaf people!
Yes I agree that there are many people who are fluent and probably could teach in that sense, but yes representation is important. Often hearing people lack the cultural and experience as well. They don’t have the life experiences to truly teach what ASL all entails.
I agree, and honestly if I'm taking any language class learning the culture from a native speaker is as important to me as learning the language. I took ASL 1 and my teacher was deaf and it was a wonderful experience that I don't think I would have had if my teacher was hearing. He shared his personal story with us and shared a lot of things that hearing people just don't know about unless they have been fully emerged in the community. And even then, they have no clue what it's like to be actually deaf or hard of hearing. And I honestly love seeing the deaf community get the acknowledgement, respect and love they deserve. And we can only do that by supporting them, being an advocate when needed, and respecting their culture and way of being. And just because hearing people CAN teach doesn't mean they SHOULD.
^^ this
I know but ASL is not English. Cued Speech is the best choice but there is a few cued speech teachers sad.
@@TheStewsCome on deaf people learn Cued Speech! STOP LAZY!
Thanks for the info. I'm hearing and have been signing for 20+ years and have never been told by a Deaf person that I shouldn't be teaching sign. This was actually a shock for me to watch this video. One of my best friends is Deaf and she comes to my class to talk to my kids a lot. We talk about what should be taught in class and I bounce ideas off of her. When she thinks of something she feels is important to be taught she texts me. I didn't go to school to be an ASL teacher. I'm certified in math and English but I teach at a homeschool and was given the opportunity to share my passion for ASL with 40+ students (sharing my reason). I also post videos on UA-cam about how to sign songs. They weren't meant to be a teaching tool seen by hundreds of people. I posted them for my students to have easy access to since the principal requires some worship songs a few times a year. I get it why Deaf should teach ASL. I 100% agree! All but 1 of my ASL teachers in college were Deaf. But there would be no way that would be available to our students. Our school is tiny. I barely get paid. I don't see anyone being willing to come teach for a tiny salary. Or if there are, I wouldn't know how to find them. Anyway, I would hate to take the opportunity to find out about and love Deaf culture and ASL as much as I do. They are encouraged to take ASL in college and one of my students graduated last year and started taking it in college. Her professor is Deaf and I absolutely agree and see that she is learning so much more from him than she did from me, but I like that I was able to plant a seed. However, all of that being said, I am glad I know one more thing about Deaf culture and will definitely explain this to my students that they will never learn from me as much as they will from a Deaf person. They HAVE to have a certain number of Deaf event hours or I refuse to give them a foreign language credit. They hear it from me all the time that I can teach them all day but if they don't use it and actually use it with Deaf people, they will never truly learn it. I hope I'm doing my very best to be as offenseless as possible but still instill in them a love for ASL so much so that they will consider taking it in college and/or pursing careers in ASL. SORRY FOR THE LONG PARAGRAPH!!
That wasn’t a paragraph that was a story. But I read it. 😁
This drives me crazy! I agree with the points that its better taught by Deaf, but Language is not ANYONES to keep. If you are teaching and motivating hearing students to learn sign that is supporting the Deaf community! There is always a struggle for Deaf to communicate in this hearing world, but if more people could, wouldn't that be a good thing? Many people not willing to take the lower pay job and so I think it's completely crossing the line for you to tell people if you see/know someone hearing that is teaching ASL to ask then why? Have they asked the Deaf community etc etc. How about it doesn't matter! If there was a job and I'm passionate about it, anyone should be able to do it without worrying if someone is going to get butt hurt over it...If I have a passion to do something, and I want to inspire others to do it...like I have been.... then why not? Would you tell a chef that hasn't worked a specific cuisine before like mexican food to not cook Mexican food or because it's not from their culture?! Because I'm white I have to cook only "white" culture food???? ASININE! That's my thoughts and shared by MANY of my deaf friends as well. Stop making about who's right, who's wrong, it's about sharing the language for communities to come together and thrive with each other!
There are plenty of highly qualified hearing people where Deaf people typically are not qualified. How many Deaf people do you know that have a Master's degree or are at least in grad school. None? Yes, learning from a Deaf person is wonderful, but be realistic.
Said well.
@@nai7470 thank you
Thanks for the clarification! I’m deaf but learned ASL the “hard way” through immersion and meeting deaf people when I got to college and now I’m confident and fluent in my language.
I always get annoyed and irked when I remember that my old high school is teaching ASL (after I graduated) and the teacher is hearing. I applied years ago for that and was never called back. This is why the Deaf community is very protective because it also denies us of jobs or opportunities.
I’m so sorry that happened to you. That’s is not right. Yes, this message needs to be shared as much as possible because so many people are unaware of it.
May I ask when you applied did you have a teaching credential? Because not having one is one possible way to be denied.
Thank you for speaking about this topic, as I think it is an important unspoken rule of Deaf culture. I am hearing and am working towards being a general education elementary teach. I have my associates in ASL and love the language and Deaf community. I have recently been working on my senior capstone thesis and wanted to look into the effects of using sign in an elementary classroom, ideally without explicitly teaching sign since I am hearing. My current idea is to SimCom while I teach, but that brings up the difficulties in signing ASL grammar and syntax while speaking English. Do you have any recommendations? I would really like to hear what you think about this. Thanks!
How does putting up walls and barriers of shoulds and shouldn'ts help anyone?
I learned ASL from all Deaf professors. In college I was a Deaf Studies major. I only had 1 hearing professor and that was for my careers class. Learning ASL from a hearing person doesn’t offer an as enriching experience, in my opinion. Learning from someone deaf also allows a learner to be comfortable talking to more deaf people, which can sometimes be intimidating. Thanks for your video!
So glad you enjoyed it.
This is a critical discussion. I would like to ask a few questions- perhaps this is not the best forum for this because I do not want to argue: I want to learn. It is hard to discuss in a UA-cam comment section, so I will leave a few questions and preface with my respect of both of you, your family, and this channel.
1.I have had ASL teachers, both Deaf and hearing, state their excitement to see ASL expanding into public schools. When we discuss if hearing people should teach ASL, our local (small/rural) Deaf community seems to approve because the more people who learn basic ASL, the more people will likely respect Deaf people. If you do not know about something (Deaf culture/ASL), it is hard to advocate its merits. Question one is- Is it better to have no ASL program at all or to have a hearing teacher (this is the case in many a small town)?
2. We live in a rural area with few schools teaching ASL and the ones that can struggle to find teachers that are state qualified to teach and hold an ASLTA endorsement and are also Deaf. I think Deaf teachers of ASL are the best option- you state that you can learn online from a Deaf teacher like Bill Vicar, but you will not earn actual credit in school for it. In my town, the local school has been advertising nationally for an open job at a public high school for over 4 years. We have Deaf people here, some of whom are actually teachers- but they don't want this job for personal reasons (not all Deaf people want to teach, not all Deaf teachers want to teach in a public school- ua-cam.com/video/G21EiByBVoI/v-deo.html - stories like this one). Question 2. If I understand you correctly, the burden to teach all hearing people who want to learn ASL is not entirely on the shoulders of the Deaf community- is that fair? Is that really what Deaf people want in all situations?
3. I am not ignorant of oralism and prejudice. I believe representation is important, but we have a national teacher shortage across all fields. Not all schools even offer ASL yet as an option (My bias is that I would like all students to have the opportunity to learn ASL). In light of these things, I ask question 3- Is there complexity here- or are the centuries of oppression so much that there is no place for collaboration? Can we work cooperatively to raise awareness and overcome (like William Stokie at Gallaudet or Thomas H. Gallaudet with Laurent Clerc)? Please note that I am not speaking about some random hearing person with a social media account- but an actually qualified teacher that has gone to college to teach ASL that happens to be hearing. Why are they not an ally?
I always advocate for Deaf to teach first. I do realize that sometimes there are situations that it may not be possible. In those situations where all options to hire a Deaf person are exhausted and the local Deaf community approve, then a hearing person could teach. With the excel that if at any time a qualified Deaf person wants to teach, that the hearing person would step down. Again, collaboration with approval in limited circumstances is fine. We definitely want ASL taught to more people. I think it’s just important that this is for limited situations. Often people don’t really try to exhaust all Deaf avenues first (obviously not your case).
Just because you can speak English does not mean you can TEACH it, same for Deaf, just because you are Deaf and ASL is L1, does not mean you can teach it either. True as many say here, not many Deaf candidates... I agree, sad because we need Deaf role models. I'm HOH, fluent in ASL/English and teach it, because I learned how teach it. There are Deaf bilingual, fluent in ASL/English and teach English... should Deaf stop teaching English? Nope! HOWEVER, I understand your view... I also tutor students on side with their ASL classes... many have hearing teachers... especially H.S., seem ALL are hearing... BUT, they are AWFUL! (Students show me their teacher's video) They teach incorrect! So, please Hearing, you must socialize and be part of Deaf community! You must take continuing education classes! Keep learning! I'm appalled at how you teach signs, and some have NO facial expression, but worst is the signs are awkward and/or incorrect! You must be near native or native level signing, so you are NATURAL! So, yes... I see your point, but I think it also depends on individual teacher background.
Thank you for this video! ASL is a language I want to learn in the near future. As someone who has learned multiple languages though, I have **not** had good experiences with native speakers teaching at the beginner levels (even those who were very much academically qualified to teach). The native speaker simply didn't understand where the problems would occur and didn't know how to explain how a particular grammatical structure worked. I'm not kidding when I say I received a legitimate "0" on an assignment because my German teacher insisted on only speaking in German and had no idea how to explain parts of the language that went way over my head! I absolutely appreciate your perspective and regardless of whether the teacher is hearing or Deaf, ASL students have to have exposure to the Deaf community and the native speakers (the true experts of the language).
I’ve only been able to learn anything at all from adults who are hearing and can explain the signs to me. It’s tough to learn a new language as an adult (critical learning period for language has been over for many years). Immersion just doesn’t work for me. Would you rather less adults be able to learn?
Also what about people who have partial or degenerative hearing? Are they not allowed to teach by this logic? Or can they only teach part time
I’d like to be able to communicate with my sister who is progressively losing her hearing. Maybe we’re not a part of the deaf community but language isn’t something anyone gets to own, sorry!
I totally agree with this. The reason for ASL is to be able to communicate with those whom are deaf.
Hearing people teaching ASL is just another way of spreading knowledge so others can learn too. I think the deaf community almost segregates themselves from those who are interested in learning about their culture and community.
I'm hearing and the classes I've taken were taught by deaf teachers with no speaking allowed. I think it's incredibly important.
For one thing starting with that barrier helps you understand some of what deaf people experience everyday. It also puts you you into a receptive observing mode, you're focusing on soaking up the information you need to communicate, and the need to communicate is an enormous driving force in human behaviour and emotion. The other thing is that language and culture are intrinsically intertwined, if you're not learning about a culture you may be acquiring vocab, but you're not learning the deeper understanding of how to meaningfully connect with and understand a community.
I will absolutely share basic phrases, the alphabet, and signs that can help my nuerodivergent friends communicate accessibility needs amongst each other, but I always encourage as strongly as I can for people to go take classes from deaf teachers
I took ASL in my early college days and my professor was deaf. That's the best way to learn plus I was also in a Deaf Ministry at my church.
I totally get where you’re coming from with the deaf representation argument, but what if you don’t really have the deaf person option and you still wanna learn sign language? Representation is important and deaf people definitely have the right to teach their own language, but if there are no deaf people in the area to teach it, how will the students learn? I think part of the struggle with the deaf asl teachers debate is representation vs availability. Not every school district has an asl class, unfortunitely, so a lot of students whose only learning resource is public school miss out on learning such a wonderful language and a rich culture, simply because there isn't anyone to teach it. In my opinion, as long as they are qualified to teach asl, they'll be okay for filling a need, but when it comes to between a hearing and deaf person applying for the same position at the same location, the deaf teacher should at least be given a fair shot at the job. In the end, it should go to whoever is more qualified/better equipped for the job. That does not mean deaf people should be shoved aside. Not at all. I said fair shake for a reason. No jobs should bias on basis of inconvenient handicaps, except in jobs where it is required. Example: Don't hire a deaf person for a job that relies almost exclusively on hearing. That would be dumb. Teaching is not one of those jobs. Deaf people can teach just fine.
I'm hearing and my ASL 1 teacher was Deafblind too (and by far one of my favorite teachers)! Due to the pandemic, I actually ended up dropping out of ASL 2 (the online structure was very difficult for the teacher to transition to for starters). Additionally, since the teacher was hearing, it interfered a little with my learning because she would use her voice when she got frustrated. I'm really hoping to go back to learning ASL when I feel comfortable going back to classes irl (and when the class is taught by a Deaf professor) but until then, thanks for the videos! I can already tell that I'm going to learn a lot just from trying to follow along.
if an Anglo Saxon was to teach slavery we'd want someone knowledgeable and understanding of how awful these times were and/or are teaching against racism.
Same goes for the hearing teaching ASL
You'd want someone fluent and someone capable of teaching and making sure the class grasps the language. So being hearing should not be a problem for the Deaf community. I get it representation is due but we're still fighting for ASL to be taught in school therefore small victories are in place and we celebrate them.
Getting offended because a deaf person isn't teaching asl is not a good reason to cancel a person. What matters is that ASL gets recognized then get representation.
That's honestly toxicity at it's finest.
Hello, just a quick question that I have been wondering. Would you mind please sharing your insight and/or thoughts on how a hearing person teaching ASL is different from, say, a non-Hispanic teaching Spanish at a University or someone teaching French that is not French. This has happened for decades or even longer. I would really appreciate your thoughts and viewpoint on this. Thanks so much and thanks for all you do!
I am trying to learn more, so please forgive my question if it seems ignorant. Would you oppose a paramedic teaching fellow paramedics basic signs and a few specific medical signs? Or is teaching any frowned upon. No extra pay is involved I just feel like it would benefit our local deaf community. Thank you.
I just came across your video.
I think sign language is very important. We are a bilingual family of English & Spanish. (Hispanic)
We are a Hearing family, but I have children with special needs that couldn't talk. They're very visual learners and have picked up on signs for communication.
My 2nd son began speaking later on, but when he was in 1st grade his aid had asked me if he knew sign language and I said yes. Finger spelling and some other signs. She said I knew it! :) Bc they had a finger sign paper at school and he was the first one done and did it fast. We didn't have a community for sign language. I had 1 friend who has a daughter that is deaf and she let me borrow a few signing books. (We didn't have fb/UA-cam helping us back 10yrs ago) He had a speech therapist we loved that spoke both English and Spanish and she learned sign language as well for communication.
She moved away & we had other speech therapist. As he got older they had us kind of pick which language so they could work on his communication. English bc that's what's here. Well he lost some of the signs as he got older bc we worked on speech.
My last baby isn't speaking yet. We are learning more signs (I'm relearning things I've lost)
We are hearing, but I think for someone who can't it's important to have a line of communication.
We watch different videos on UA-cam/internet of ppl reading stories and signing along and that's really helpful for her. I like the voice over bc it put the words to the sign. Same way as watching TV with subtitles. That's how I learned Spanish early on. I watched English shows with Spanish subtitles. I'm a Visual learner too. Lol (I have to see the words lol bc sounds just jumbles together)
I kind of have a more nuanced approach then the two sides that seem to be taken. I'm hearing and in high school I had a hearing teacher but in college I had Deaf professors. I see pros and cons to both. I mean with a Deaf professor there's that immediate doorway into the community. And it does serve as sort of an icebreaker for people like me who might be afraid to start signing with Deaf people. Like don't get me wrong, I've been in this for years and I'm only now getting comfortable within the community and I think a lot of that has to do with my autism but a big step to where I am now was just signing with someone who's Deaf and having a Deaf professor made me do that. On the other hand, I'm not sure I would have had as good of an experience if I'd met either of my professors in high school. I wasn't as invested in the language back then, I probably wouldn't have made as much of an effort to communicate with them as I did in college, and it probably wouldn't have been the same kind of classroom environment that I got with a hearing teacher. My sister had a Deaf teacher and it sounded awful for her and him both. Kids would talk all the time, they would shout out answers during tests, hell they would make fun of the teacher behind his back. I felt so bad for both of them. I wanted to go yell at those little brats to behave! My classroom was way different. Not a single person talked and if you did you were out. High schoolers just don't have the maturity that sort of thing takes. And sure, there are some Deaf teachers who can do it. I'm not saying that Deaf people shouldn't teach high school but I know a LOT of Deaf teachers who refuse for that very reason. "No respect" as my professor says.
So like the solution I think of is something like this: Only Deaf teachers should teach ASL in college. Like a hearing person should only teach in that setting if there's no one else available. But in high school I feel like both hearing and Deaf should be able to teach just because of the advantages a hearing teacher can have at controlling disrespectful kids. Deaf teachers should still be preferred, if they want the job they can have it. But I'm sorry, I just can't not see the advantages in having a hearing high school teacher. I think it's a maturity thing but it's also intent. You go to an ASL 1010 class at my local community college and ask how many people are planning to go into the ITP (interpreter training program) and like a third of the class will raise their hands, maybe even more it's been awhile since I've been in 1010. Most kids that take a high school ASL class take it because they think it'll be an easy A. Which is ironic because they quickly find out ASL is like the hardest easy language to learn, but you know they're stupid hearing kids what do they know? So I think it's the fact that more often college students want to be in the class where as high school kids are kind of forced into it. And I mean yeah, that doesn't change hearing or Deaf. But with my hearing teacher I remember I got annoyed when other kids didn't take the language as seriously as I did but it didn't affect me any further than that.
And then, thinking about it, anxiety's kind of a double edge sword. Because if I'm being honest with myself I only talked to my Deaf professor because I wanted to talk to my Deaf professor. I wanted to because by time I got into college I deeply loved ASL, I was obsessed with Deaf culture and history, and I *desperately* wanted to be a part of the community. But if I think back to that scared little autistic kid who picked his language credit on a literal coin flip between ASL and French and I try to imagine if I'd be anywhere near where I'm at now if I'd started out with a Deaf teacher. Yeah, there's no way. I would have done what I needed to do in order to pass the class and I would have kept my head down the whole time. Cause I mean like, I'm autistic! ANY social interaction is already hard for me and then you want to add a language I barely know to that? And that's my only option? Of course, we had an immersive classroom. Our voices were off from the moment we entered the door. She even offered ear plugs which of course with my sensory processing disorder I took full advantage of. But I felt like I could still go to her after class with questions, concerns, and observations. And she always, ALWAYS pushed me to interact with the community. I just couldn't bring myself to do it because I was too deep in my shell. It also didn't help that the three Deaf students at my school were all pretty girls and I was a straight teenage boy. But yeah. When I really think about it, for me personally, if I hadn't have been so desperate to talk to Deaf people I probably wouldn't have done it at all. Even if you dragged me right in front of one. You could have locked me in a room with one and Imma be real with you I probably would have just ended up crying in the corner. I was that scared! So like...I guess to sum it up, my hearing teacher was a bridge and my Deaf teacher was a door. I realize that I was probably really lucky to have an amazing hearing teacher and I know it's not the correct opinion given oppression politics but I feel like I wouldn't be where I am today without my hearing teacher so I'm always going to fight for her right to teach.
NOTE: I am hearing. I am not fluent in sign. I do love languages. This is where I am coming from.
This is a weird video to me. I would think that you would want as many people to learn your language as possible. since there are more hearing and deaf people than just deaf people you would want as many teachers as possible. Just like any language. And of course, just like any language, there is a cultural aspect to it. My language teachers were not born in the culture that they taught. OK, so what? Does that mean they don't understand what is going on? In fact it help me out because some of their mistakes culturally let me know, coming from a different culture, what to avoid. Like a fish in water. If you just got in water, a person who knows what its like just getting into water, may be more helpful than someone who knows only water. The cultural difference may be more pronounced to a person just going into that culture and help those who are just taking those steps.
Also, "There are plenty of deaf persons to teach sign language" is just like saying there are plenty of people in france to teach french. I don't believe this. I am only able to get exposed to this if you look for it. So people should have whatever teacher you may have available, hearing or not, good or bad, depending on availability. Deaf people are not everywhere all the time.
I also don't believe languages "belong" to only certain cultures.
I agree with you 100%.
What’s next?
Hearing people shouldn’t learn ASL?
Seems like there is no winning with the Deaf community.
They complain that hearing people don’t want to learn ASL, that ASL needs to be an official language, but then they don’t want Hearing people teaching it.
It’s so stupid.
@@beckigreen Deaf people aren't saying don't learn it, just don't teach it. If you do, that's cultural appropriation because you haven't been oppressed the way Deaf people have. Just because you know the language doesn't mean you're able to speak on behalf of the Deaf community and the years, if not centuries of oppression they've experienced.
You shouldn't just resort to any teacher whether they're good or bad, you have to hire the most qualified, skilled, native signers out there. ASL is the language for Deaf and HOH people (and other communication issues). Not for hearing people who have no communication issues. That doesn't mean don't learn it if you're hearing, but you cannot teach it. Why? You haven't been through the history of oppression Deaf people have been through, and you don't experience life as a Deaf person because you're not physically or culturally Deaf. You can have an understanding of what oppression Deaf people have gone through, but you cannot teach it if you have not experienced it. That's like a white person saying how oppressed they were during the Jim Crow era.
@@annieswatches Language is about communication Not oppression and history.
@@naiyoseam5654 Thank you! Annie is stuck on oppression and can't seem to find her way out of it!!
I agree. I’m a deaf studies major and my first instructor was deaf. The following semester my instructor was hearing and the difference in the class was terrible. You learn so much more with someone who is actually apart of the deaf community, to me it just makes sense. It’s not to discredit hearing instructors but I prefer my classes to be taught by a non hearing person.
Yes, that’s a good way to put it. Interesting you had that one day experience to compare.
Thank u that's exactly y hearing people should not teach especially if they don't know anything about our language.
I’ve been wondering: As an elementary school teacher, would it be ok for me to teach various subjects while also signing at the same time for accessibility purposes? I wouldn’t be teaching my students ASL, simply using ASL at the same time while I teach.
i started learning asl this year through my asl 1 class which was taught by a hearing teacher. she said that it was a long journey for her to even be qualified to teach. she was taught by deaf professors and one of her professors had told her the only way she will really learn and be fluent is to sign with actual deaf people in real life. so in order for her to pass the class, she had to go to many deaf events and communicate with deaf people and she’s shared those stories with us. and for her to become a teacher, she had to take a test but she said it was really hard and had to take it 4 times before she finally passed it and it took a long time because the test was only available once a year so after her 4th attempt, she finally passed it. she explained that the test was to have a conversation with the people who were offering her the test for 30 minutes to an hour and she passed after her 4th attempt. this year she’s shown us pictures of places she’s traveled to teach ASL, and she’s been teaching here where I live for 3 years now. even though she is a great teacher, she is realistic and said we will learn more from a deaf person than we will from her, and I’ve been to one deaf event this year and i can proudly say i enjoyed it and got to communicate with the deaf students at my school :) i am taking asl with the same teacher next semester and I can’t wait to learn more ! I forgot to mention that we are the only school in our city that offers asl, before my teacher came here, we didn’t have an asl teacher, we only had interpreters, but once she came to our school applying for the job, that all changed. i do hope though that one day more asl teachers come to teach at my school. there are 4 Spanish teachers in my school, and only 1 asl teacher.
This is ridiculous!!! I have been signing since I was in elementary school!!! That's like saying only Hispanics can teach Spanish, only Germans can teach Germans. That is super discriminating. Language is a beautiful thing and everyone should be able to use it and appreciate it period. I'm so upset by this. I have 7 hearing children who I have taught sign since birth...smh just sad
Annie is a nut job! I choose to ignore her and hopefully people like her will fade away!
This is how I felt for a long time but once I really delved into the culture instead of just the language, I truly realized that it's mainly because Deaf people are a minority that has been shamed for using their own language since it was first developing. Hearing people are not good at teaching it 99% of the time either, and they don't understand the cultural nuances the way Deaf people do. Asl is not just a language. It is a piece of who they are and a path for accessibility in a world that sadly was not built for them. I understand how you feel, trust me I do, but you should look into it more before you feel enraged.
Girl stop your whining you sounds so entitled
SAME I’m Hispanic!
Agreed.. I had been signing and had been a part of the community my entire life …but I know where I am not wanted and I am now dedicating my work to the ESOL and Hispanic community and my work is appreciated there.
If i understand correctly, let me put it in terms that i can interpret this, for example; an English-speaking person only would not be able to teach Spanish because they do not have the culture or they do not dominate the language well enough??? i feel cultural appropriation is a trigger word for me it makes me cringe because the point of living in this planet is to learn from one another as we share, the only thing i see now in days is " well you can't do that because you are not that or this wah wah wah" shut the hell up.
@@annieswatches false
This is my opinion but I personally disagree, I feel like both hearing and death should be able to teach American sign language, but they should at least be educated in the language being fluent and in the history before trying to teach their native language.
Hi there, I'm losing my hearing and learning asl right now online and it IS hard! I have never loved something more though and I take so much pride in my signing. Because of covid it is hard to meet more deaf people in my community but I find learning online is a nightmare!! ALL the hearing ppl teaching the wrong signs is sooooo very frustrating!! I learned soooo many signs wrong and only discovered after they were wrong! I did that a lot in the beginning not knowing where to start but I learned quickly that ASL and SEE are very different, that deaf, hard of hearing, interpreters, deaf raised versus learned and codas all sign differently. Hell even based on where you live. Thank you for including some history videos I really enjoy learning about those who have come before me, i think it should be necessary to learn the history if you are taking the time to learn the language.
Just a question, how does the deaf community embrace those who are newly hard of hearing/deaf in YOUR opinion based on your own experiences? I completely understand that the community is NOT a monolith and every deaf person may answer this completely different. If I'm honest, I'm very nervous that everyone might think I'm bad at signing and make fun of me.
Try Lifeprint- Bill Vicars. He has very easy to learn from videos as well as online quizzes and fingerspelling practice. He is Deaf. His wife is Deaf- they are both college instructors.
I don't think it matters if you're newly deaf or hard of hearing. If they make fun of you because you're still learning and not native, that's their problem. And not just correcting and being blunt about it, but if they're seriously making fun of you when you're genuinely trying, they're not worth your time. I've been through that, and I learned it's not good to waste your energy on those kinds of people.
Another perspective, Life Skills Teachers, like myself, have classes that encompass many different students.We teach sign, because our students need it.Not only deaf students need sign, although I have deaf/blind students, but also non verbal autistic or ID kids.
I have taken asl classes for the last 3 years. I am not fluent, and have no interest in becoming a teacher. that being said, I have been teaching my family members and friends some signs when they ask. also while I work at a childcare center (ages 0-11) I make a point to teach the kids new signs each day. the amount of signs differing between ages. The kids LOVE it and will never let me forget to teach them. I have even had full conversations in sign with the older kids. I know this isn’t even close to being a professional asl teacher, but I hope what I am doing doesn’t offend anyone. I guess I am just posting this here to make sure its ok.
You can refer them to a qualified Deaf professor with free ASL lessons, such as Bill Vicars. His program is designed to get you to be able to interact with the Deaf community.
@@annieswatches that is something I have done for friends that have shown interest in learning the actual language and I think his videos are awesome. When I teach friends and family its more like they constantly ask me “whats the sign for that?” or “teach me a sentence” and I know very well that they won’t put in the effort to actually learn the language. with the children at work, it is “5 signs of the day” where I teach them the animals, food and other signs they will enjoy excluding the grammar. I also know they are too young to all have the incentive to learn online. Is all of this ok?
@@Irisroot I'm not sure if I can speak on that issue, because I can't control if people are actually interested in the language or not rather than just knowing a few signs.
I’d like to know your thoughts on using simcom and pse. I feel it shouldn’t be used. I see a lot of hearing and deaf ppl on tiktok and UA-cam using this and never use grammar. It’s really weird.
Question from me more than anything else. I have situational mutism and occasionally use basic signs in order to communicate my needs.
How appropriate is it for me to teach my most used signs to the people around me?
And how appropriate would it be for me to continue using and learning sign?
I mainly ask as most of the people around me would not have the time/energy/money/inclination to take proper AUSLAN classes, but I still need to be able to communicate.
(I do have a text to speech device on my phone to help with this, but when your voice has a battery life it is a bit stressful)
My first thought was about CODAs. I know you said you wouldn't discuss it in this video, but it would be cool to hear your thoughts on the matter on another video :)
I might make a video, but not sure.
Yeah I think for codas sign is „their“ language, “their” mothertongue or native language As well. Many codas also experience discrimination in different ways. In my opinion codas they have the skills and life experiences and knowledge to teach sign.
I appreciate your passion and understanding your stance on the subject. However, I sincerely want to learn sign language and it's easier for me to learn from a hearing person. I can see the signs as well as hear and correlate the two. For people to say only a hearing impaired person should teach is like saying only a person of color should wear braided hair extensions or dreads... It maybe a part of a certain culture but why can't we share with all who like the style?
Exactly! Everyone who wants to teach, should teach. Period. If you don't like it, then go to another channel and watch the lessons that you prefer. Her opinion is her opinion, and it is not necessarily shared by the majority.
It's disregarding people's circumstances, and the varying learning preferences of people in the deaf community. There will not be native teachers available for everyone.
Hello,
I’m a hearing person in my second year of college . I’m planning on becoming an educator and I want to be able to cater to all my future students. I want to learn ASL outside of my courses. Do you have any ASL learning tools that ASL native users approve of?
Cued speech is a best way
Thanks for posting this as there are hearing folk who are adamant on teaching ASL.
not related! but! after years of sickness and touch-and-go in college, i'm FINALLY going back for a degree in interpreting at a local college!!! i've lost a ton of reception and signing skills, so I'm perfectly happy with going back to the beginning, but man im so excited. I caught 30-40% of what you said with the volume off when I used to be able catch 90%ish. I'm so excited to get caught up and throw myself in a wonderful community again!! (and hopefully make a career out of it)
So glad that you are feeling better. Yay!! Good luck on your degree. 👍🏻😀
If my hearing teaching hadn't taught me I wouldn't have had the opportunity to learn anything ever. Representation can happen without exclusion.
Thoughts on native signers who are CODAs as ASL teachers? I'm not a CODA or an ASL teacher, I'm just wondering.
What are your thoughts on hearing people who are not necessarily taking actual teaching positions, but are ‘teaching’ basic sign vocab or doing “a sign a day” type daily posts on Instagram or Tik Tok and position their entire channel/profile around it?
They shouldn't be doing that, it's not their language to teach. There are plenty of qualified Deaf professors who have signs for all kinds of vocabulary, like Bill Vicars.
I think people should teach anything they know well. You are saying we should limit ourselves to only the language we know. Teaching is spreading love.
I had never considered this, but it makes sense. Whenever possible, languages should be taught by native speakers. When the community is marginalized, it's even more important.
This may be off topic, and I may have missed a video you already did about it, but is teaching signs to babies controversial? We didn't start out doing it, but our son has a speech delay, and having some signs has really helped him. In his school setting he actually seems to prefer to sign.
No we haven't made a video about that directly. But it's encouraged to teach babies sign language (whether hearing or obviously Deaf). It's a great way to teach early communication. It's also great for children or any people that have some sort of communication difficulties, such as speech delays. That's great you are using whatever tools you can to communicate with your child! :)
You don't have to be from France to teach French I think if you are skilled enough whats the problem? Disclaimer I don't know any deaf people and I'm just learning for fun and also to communicate for when I go nonverbal from time to time also incase I meet a deaf person there's nothing stopping me from being a friend. I want to practice with my friend who is a doctor who is learning to communicate with patients better is there anything wrong with that?
Interesting question. I am a non-native teacher of French (married to a French man), but I think the two are not comparable. I recently went on a teaching platform to try to find a sign teacher and I looked specifically for deaf people. At first I thought maybe that was weird but you confirmed what I was thinking. Part of it for me is that as someone who knows what is involved in second language fluency, I know that relatively few attain it, but I also just feel that when it comes to the Deaf, there is so much employment discrimination that it just doesn't seem right to not seek out a Deaf person trying to make it as a teacher, and there were plenty on the platform.
Love all what you say. 👍🏻
Does this apply to people like ASL Rochelle and ASL Meredith?
I would imagine so, they are both hearing.
Yes it does.
Yes, they should not be teaching ASL or have any platforms to do so. It just really rubs me the wrong way and puts a bad taste in my mouth when hearing people think they're more qualified to teach ASL than Deaf people.
Together, hearing and Deaf, we are help others have access to sign. 👩🏼🏫
Language isn't anyone's property to gatekeep, no matter what the mode of communication. anyone can learn any language they want in order to communicate with other human beings. The only reason to put up barriers like this is because people want to have a victim mentality. It actively discourages people from interacting with the deaf community, and that helps nobody.
These days, society gives points to those who are "different" and "oppressed". I think this is an extension of that. If everyone could use sign, the deaf community wouldn't have any reason to claim that they have a "disability" and would lose that social status. I think those who are opposed to 'hearing' people learning the language, even from other 'hearing people', have a huge chip on their shoulder.
Prejudice stems from the inability to communicate with one another - the more we can 'speak' and understand one another, the better our society gets. Telling people they aren't allowed to learn a language so they can speak with you properly is just dumb, ignorant and harmful to the deaf community.
so as a parent as a deaf child i am learning to sign and am no way fluent but is it okay for me to show some people in my family signs to help them learn or kids my child is around to show them some signs? Where i live there really aren’t a lot of deaf people around at all
I can't imagine most people in the deaf community agreeing with this video. It's sad it's making you feel the need to ask permission for that..
Is it alright to "teach" (help) my mom learn the vocab? There are no classes or teachers that I can find anywhere in my area and I'm using reliable sources (that I know of). I've had trouble thinking about this in the past and could always use another perspective. Ask any questions needed! (I also have some articles on culture so she can learn about that too.)
If your mom is not in the position to take a class, I think you sharing some signs is fine. But I would suggest even more that you redirect her to online sources like Bill Vicars. I think this is more about teaching forms classes is the issue.
@@TheStews Thank you so much!
It sounds like you're providing your mom with "peer learning support"-- not holding yourself out as professional teacher. People helping each other is okay, especially when you acknowledge the limits of that and point someone to Deaf resources.
I mostly agree. The biggest exception I can think of is hearing people teaching interpreting classes. Would you consider that as a separate thing from hearing people teaching sign language? In my interpreting program I had one hearing and two Deaf teachers. They were all great but when it came to voicing and transliteration, we were taught by the hearing instructor.
Yes hearing people can definitely teach interpreting classes. That is different than teaching sign language.
My ASL teacher was profoundly deaf, and I honestly think having that kind of immersion was super helpful for learning.
For sure it is! That is one of the best ways to learn.
My aunt whom is deaf teaches sign but ASL is something everyone in America should know.. Hearing or deaf.
Who is your aunt? 😀
What should happen in cases where a school or community wants to offer an asl program, but no deaf educators are available?
I really wish they would have told us this in college!! :( I wish I could go back 8 years and change my major. But like you said, we can always go back and become interpreters. I am trying to transition from teaching ASL, to maybe interpreting or something!! BUT I AM TRYING! GIVE ME A YEAR OR TWO!
Elon Musk said “What’s the point of sign language in a video if you have substitutes? Am I missing something?” He is right because most deaf people couldn’t understand that closed captioning “illiteracy”. ASL is not great to teach deaf children or a bad education because they struggle how to read sentences. I am still unhappy if ASL exists in some public schools except deaf schools. Hopefully, cued speech will teach them instead in the future. Sigh poor deaf children 😢 STOP TEACHING SIGN LANGUAGE. CUED SPEECH IS THE BEST CHOICE INSTEAD!
A lot of people (including me) have tried teaching foreign languages to peers as a way of solidifying new information. I think the most respectful way to do this is to position oneself as a study buddy. Eg "This is what I learned today and here are my sources". Link to the places where they actually learned the stuff, that way when the inevitable corrections come, they aren't in the position of a teacher being incorrect but rather a fellow student who misunderstood a piece of info.
I don't think there's anything wrong with "helping" in informal ways. I think it's more of a "formal" class where Deaf should be teaching. Obviously, if you can learn all from Deaf people, that would be great. But study buddies of all types are great!
Yeah having a study buddy that you can reinforce the information with back and forth is super helpful. But definitely, no formal teaching if you're a hearing person.
My 18 month old daughter is hard of hearing. She has minimal hearing ability and while we work through getting her set up with services, there's no other way for her to learn at the moment- her father and I are teaching her as best as we can with what we have access to. (luckily for all of us, baby sign is not difficult to use currently- but for fluency she really needs someone qualified). We don't live in an area that has good resources for toddlers who are hearing impaired. I agree that teaching as a job- should be taught by those within that community. I think the job should be offered to those who are deaf before anyone else- but in a situation where there are no deaf services and their only option is to have someone who is hearing teach or have no teacher- something is better than nothing. I'm excited to see how my daughter blooms once she is receiving the resources she needs to thrive. She's amazing and will be successful wiitih the right support. This is a journey for all of us not just her. Our entire family is getting involved as well as friend's of ours (they're having their child learn sign language so she will have other people to play with who can communcate with her) the support has been amazingly uplifitng. I don't think anyone can stop anyone within this community from succeeding, we just need to help find the right niche for everybody. I think all children should be taught sign language from infancy through grade school (and further if they choose) just like a lot of schools teach foreign language. It would definitely make the world more accessible for everybody.
Thank you for bringing this up!
The sad news is that Lola from ASL_For_Teens/ASL_with_Lola does this kind of thing for clout. She is a 15 year old student who claims she is learning Sign for 4 years and teaches it all wrong. She said she wasn't teaching. Sadly she is not going to listen to reason cause everytime someone from the deaf community tries to correct her or give her pointers or tells her to stop, she immediately blocks them and continues teach ASL.
I agree with you. Like you said as a hearing student, I learned the language better from an actual deaf person versus learning it from a hearing teacher. In my undergrad for asl 1&2 my teacher was hearing and she told us that she learned asl in college to make us more comfortable but I think it did more harm than good in my honest opinion. When it came to interacting with actual deaf professors for asl 3&4, I found myself still struggling and it was really nerve wrecking. I think like you said, if you wanna take the language amd culture seriously, you have to be around deaf/hard of hearing people to have a better grasp of the language. I'm taking asl again at a junior college and the teacher is hard of hearing but oddly she doesn't recommend bill vicars 🤔.
Anywho, sorry for the long reply lol.
Thanks for the video!
Yes, I loved my Deaf professors. I think having a Deaf professor from day one is best. It can be nerve wracking if you have never had a Deaf professor before for sure. Not sure why they wouldn’t recommend Billl, but there are other resources out there.
Even though I identify Deaf now I am always hesitant to “teach” w/o native signers leading. I don’t teach. Ultimately it’s not my first language though it’s my preferred communication method. I have corrected friends who are signing to communicate with me. But formal teaching. No ur right.
That’s perfectly fine. You need to be comfortable to teach. It’s great you realize that.
I’m curious about what you think of hearing people posting videos of ASL covers/interpretations of songs? My gut feeling is that it’s okay ONLY if they have a disclaimer somewhere telling people that they’re not deaf, they’re a hearing student, they’re not trying to teach people asl or say that this is the right way to sign, etc. I also think it’s really important for them to take feedback and criticism, especially from the Deaf community, to heart, and for them to really know the difference between and specify if they are using ASL, PSE, SEE, or something else. It would probably also be great for them to include links to other Deaf people’s videos/channels too, to promote authentic learning? Anything else? I wanna support people learning ASL who want to share their own “projects” for learning sign, and have even considered it myself, but where do you and the Deaf community stand on it? (And/or do you have any videos on it?) :))
I'm of the opinion in general that we should leave song interpretation to Deaf people (unless at a live concert and you are the feeding interpreter to a CDI/DI). I understand that some hearing interpreters make musical interpreting their niche and are very good at it. That is where I'm a. little gray area, if that makes sense. I don't see why beginning interpreters or people in general need to interpreter songs. There are plenty of other ways to practice. Deaf people are often overlooked on musical interpreting and we should let them take the spotlight. I don't speak for the Deaf community (as I'm not Deaf), but if someone who is hearing is going to interpret music, then yes, they definitely need to accept criticism and use it. Being careful of tilting your videos (PSE/ASL, etc) is very important too.
Great video! Another point that I think is important is that Deaf people can often have trouble finding work, and a job teaching ASL is one that they are more qualified for. If the ASL teaching jobs are also taken by hearing people, then it will be even harder for Deaf people to find jobs.
Maybe in some areas there are such small Deaf communities that no Deaf people are available to teach sign, but I think it's more common that hearing people just choose to hire other hearing people.
I’m hearing and I totally understand you’re reasoning. But I remember when you mentioned at 2:48 about how they can’t talk with them and stuff. So I just wanna know how WILL they talk with them? And by that I mean how to ask questions and more. Thanks ✨
I want to learn ASL because I'm studying to be a special education teacher and I find it cool. I remember going to a musical with my class and I was glued to the Interpreter and their signs.
Elon Musk said “What’s the point of sign language in a video if you have substitutes? Am I missing something?” He is right because most deaf people couldn’t understand that closed captioning “illiteracy”. ASL is not great to teach deaf children or a bad education because they struggle how to read sentences. I am still unhappy if ASL exists in some public schools except deaf schools. Hopefully, cued speech will teach them instead in the future. Sigh poor deaf children 😢 STOP TEACHING SIGN LANGUAGE. CUED SPEECH IS THE BEST CHOICE INSTEAD!
I'm learning sign language for my kids. And l teach them what I learn. I'm hearing in one ear. Their ear can't hear. I would like to be more involved with the deaf people one. My son can hear but he has trouble talking. And my daughter is a baby. So signing work will for my family my kids sign alot more than they talk
I learned through my college and it was always voice off only signing so like you i had to learn. Having a Deaf teacher is better mostly because you get better quilty. I knew that my Deaf teacher always signed 24 7 and was involved in the community. So i knew he signs where right. Personally i liked to think of myself as fluent but because i am not active in the community i risk teaching the wrong sign.
Yes, having voice off is the best and having a Deaf teacher gives a different experience.
@@TheStews I was surprised to learn some schools have hearing teaching ASL.
Yeah, I not sure how actually common it is, but it's more than it should be. I think more Deaf teachers are in the college/university levels more than k-12.
@@TheStews from what I've seen it seems like very few high schools and even colleges teach ASL. I mean the one college I actually took ASL in didn't even count it as a language.
What about Hearing people who grew up in Deaf families whose 1st language was ASL despite being hearing? Are they considered Native speakers and should they be allowed to teach ASL as well? Any one who is Deaf I would love to hear your thoughts. I’m mostly curious because my professor who teaches ASL applies in this situation.
Yes, being a CODA (or something to that extent) I feel is a sticky situation. Yes, they have more right than someone who is hearing and isn't in that situation. I would always say Deaf first, but if that is not possible (all avenues are exhausted) then CODAS or similar would be the next best. It's hard to be in that situation.
I know some saying language, but I need to learn more. I am actually partially blind and I have hearing loss.
Im confused about one thing. How come I see hearing ppl signing..but they're not talking as they sign? There's facial expressions..but is it kinda like your hands go too fast for your mouth to catch up? Does that make sense?
Um I have a question I've been learning asl from people on yt that is not deaf is that ok I want to learn and with quarantine my family cant afford them.
Bill Vicars is a Deaf teacher and all his videos are on UA-cam for free. You don't have to pay for a course right now if you can't afford it but start with a qualified Deaf professor like Bill Vicars.
Laura Berg and Meredith are excellent at teaching ASL online! :-) I refer to them all the time for clarification. They explain not only how to make the sign, but they also describe various similarities to non-ASL references that help you to remember the signs. They make sense out of ASL so that hearing people can learn more effectively. :-) Good luck!
Elon Musk said “What’s the point of sign language in a video if you have substitutes? Am I missing something?” He is right because most deaf people couldn’t understand that closed captioning “illiteracy”. ASL is not great to teach deaf children or a bad education because they struggle how to read sentences. I am still unhappy if ASL exists in some public schools except deaf schools. Hopefully, cued speech will teach them instead in the future. Sigh poor deaf children 😢 STOP TEACHING SIGN LANGUAGE. CUED SPEECH IS THE BEST CHOICE INSTEAD!
AMEN to all of this 💯 thank you for creating this video!!!!!!
Personally I don't think a language belongs to anyone, it has it's origin and native speakers and always will have. But languages in general are changing over time while used, how do you think so many words from other languages made it into your own? There's a good amount of french words in the english language, there's a lot of english words in the german one. Although it's better to learn a language from a native speaker, I don't think other's should be allowed to teach and share still. The more people speak a language, the more people become aware that something like this exists, and the more people will ask questions about the origin and then seek information about the culture it's connected to. If only deaf people teach sign language and share sign language online, there would be way less people even knowing about it. I'm experiencing it in my area. 1 Person taught it for 2 years, now I can't continue to learn it in a course cause it none exists in the whole area. I'd have to travel to the other end of the country to go to one which I'm unable to do due to work. And there isn't much information online either. I can't go to meet ups because I'm not allowed to and don't speak the language, so rip me. And although my english teachers had a bad accent that's native to my own language and made lots of mistakes, I'm glad they did teach me english afterall, or I wouldn't have gone talking to native speakers afterwards to further improve it. I probably never would have learned more than a few words, pronounced them in a really awkward way, never gotten more into the topic and just unwillingly ignored everything that has to do with it because it just wasn't available. The fewer people teach and use asl, the less people will be aware that it exists and find out that there's way more behind it.
I agree that more and more people should learn ASL or their countries sign language (if not in the USA). I’m not sure where you are from. ASL does adapt overtime, but unlike other languages, only Deaf can make new signs to adapt to new words or concepts. As for availability, at least for ASL, if there is not a place to learn in your area, there are a lot of great resources online. ASL is a language from an oppressed and marginalized group. So it’s important to let Deaf people teach their own language. It is a hard concept for many to understand since it’s not the same for majority languages such as English.
@@TheStews I agree there's plenty of resources online for ASL. Doesn't help me though as deaf people in my area speak german sign language. They really differ a lot from each other. And unfortunately there's not much resources online for that one. Hope that changes in the future.
100% right, Shugo! If anyone wants to learn, or if anyone wants to teach, you are correct in saying that the more people there are, the better! Do not let one person's biased opinion deter you from realizing how rich all languages are or from the fact that all people have the right to teach and share them!
This is a random question. I’m currently learning ASL, how do you know what to do with your mouth? I don’t mean like not showing oo ee cha. It’s almost like your talking but not.
But I agree, it’s a cultural thing. Deaf people miss out on jobs they are truly qualified for. Getting the privilege to be taught by my Deaf teachers, I learn from their experiences.
What if they can hear but not speak?
can we talk for a minute about how its not only the deaf community that uses sign language... as a matter of fact the autistic community does as well in many cases for example when they cannot have their aac with them or are too overstimulated to use it.... teaching, i agree deaf people should be given 1st opportunity to teach, however as an autistic person myself, and an auditory learner but with vocal words that dont work right much of the time i had to learn to sign, in order to communicate in my own life and its complicated enough as my signing is modified as well so, but from a learners perspective as an auditory learning having someone use their voice to explain the signs helped me alot. i dont think i could have learned without that and honestly, then id be really stuck if my aac ever didn't work for whatever reason. i am a multi modal communicator, high tech aac, low tech aac, sign, and verbal vocal speech and pen and paper i use them all... my mom was a teacher for many many years with spec ed, juvie kids, system kids, etc and she always said and even told my schoool teachers, if someone cant learn the way you teach, maybe you need to teach the way they learn.
Honestly, I could care less who teaches it. As long as they are good, it's okay in my opinion. To me thats like telling someone who learned my language to not teach my language in my country just because they are not one of my people. I moved to China for a few years from the States and before I went, I studied Mandarin and brought myself to a level where I could communicate with the locals. Then I taught in schools using the Mandarin I knew. I never needed an assistant but whenever I had an assistant, it never bothered me. I never told them to stay out of my way just because they wasn't native and never told them that they shouldn't teach English. I can agree on many things that would benefit the deaf community. I can agree that deaf people face discrimination, and that sign language should be as mandatory as learning English. But I could never agree with telling someone that they can't or shouldn't teach ASL just because they are not deaf. Who comes up with these rules? It sounds like tribalism
It's like having a white teacher teaching the history of African-American oppression when they've never had the experience of being oppressed. It is not tribalism, and it's not right for you to teach a language from an oppressed group. Hearing people CANNOT teach ASL because it's not their culture, language, or life experiences to teach. Deaf people will innately have an understanding of what it's like to be Deaf in a Hearing world, not a Hearing person.
@@annieswatches Language is not history. Language is not cultural studies. You're mixing them up. I've never had a language teacher, whether it be latin, spanish, french, english, mandarin or Japanese, teach me about the history of those places. That's for history, that's for literature, that's an entirely different topic. Teaching the language is teaching the grammar, teaching the vocabulary, teaching immersion. There are plenty of hearing people who speak ASL as their first language, and could easily teach it.
As as example: My cousin who was born in Taiwan speaks English fluently because she was adopted at 3 months old...she can teach English. But if you were to talk about the history of Taiwan and its oppression by the Chinese government, then yes, having someone who lives there is better than someone like my cousin who hasn't lived there since she was a baby. It is a different matter entirely.
@@sj4iy The language, history, and culture are all entwined in ASL. If you ever took an ASL class online or in person, the culture and history is an essential part of learning the language. All of my professors have been Deaf, and they know their language, culture, and history the best. It’s not the same idea as spoken languages.
@@sj4iy You are correct, sj. Annie seems to have some personal issues dealing with oppression, and she is letting it interfere with what should be the simple teaching of a language. If the teachers of any language had to be native users of that language, thousands of language programs in thousands of schools would be hindered because there wouldn't be enough native speakers in every area of every city to cover all of the jobs.
I'm interested to know what your opinion is about hearing creators sharing videos in ASL. Not teaching, just signing their content. Some Deaf think it is just for attention but I don't agree. What if the person just wants to make their content accessible and they are fluent in sign. I agree with you hearing should not teach sign language, especially online. That's my question thank you.
I don’t personally know the reason al hearing people make videos in sign, but mine are not for clout or attention. Honestly I think making videos in English is more appealing to the mass audience and gets more views. But there may be people who do it for clout. I can’t say.
I'm hard of hearing, and have been diagnosed as profoundly hearing impaired, but I'll never feel comfortable fully adopting "deaf" as my label because I grew up hearing well enough and still feel like an outsider to the culture, and therefore I would never teach ASL - even though I'm considered deaf by outsiders, I would still feel like I was appropriating in some way.
I think that some Deaf/deaf people would not be as suited to teach as others. If you feel that way, then I would say not to teach. If you feel differently in the future, then reassess.
I'm kinda half and half about it. I would always prefer a Deaf person teach sign language though. They can do a better job at the end of the day
Yes, it is better to have a Deaf teacher. I loved mine.
The one and only class I took in college I had a Deaf professor. I unfortunately could not continue with the classes beyond ASL 1 so I made sure to go out into the community and learn that way. Learning from Deaf people is the best way to do it. Though I also learned from watching glossed songs and glossing my own. I know that is also a controversial thing on UA-cam with the community but I learn better with music so it helped me grow faster as a signer in combination with using sign in the community.
Elon Musk said “What’s the point of sign language in a video if you have substitutes? Am I missing something?” He is right because most deaf people couldn’t understand that closed captioning “illiteracy”. ASL is not great to teach deaf children or a bad education because they struggle how to read sentences. I am still unhappy if ASL exists in some public schools except deaf schools. Hopefully, cued speech will teach them instead in the future. Sigh poor deaf children 😢 STOP TEACHING SIGN LANGUAGE. CUED SPEECH IS THE BEST CHOICE INSTEAD!
I can understand why it would be better to have a Deaf teacher, I wonder your opinion of teaching ASL to hearing kids?
It's good to teach ASL to hearing kids, as long as a qualified Deaf professor/teacher is doing it, and not a hearing person.
Respectfully, I feel this is a gatekeeping mentality. Very few hearing people are able to look at a deaf person doing a sign, and intuit what they mean. We're just not wired that way. We learn by seeing a sign, and simultaneously hearing someone explain what it means. Written text may also work, but if we're reading a subtitle, we're not watching the sign being performed.
Allowing only deaf people to teach ASL ensures that very, very few non-deaf will learn it. Case in point, I'd estimate less than 5% of the hearing population knows any significant level of ASL. You're making it inaccessible to most people. (Yes, you're going to say that *you* learned from a deaf instructor, but you also are in a relationship with a deaf person and that's a huge leg up)
Exactly! Gatekeeping and stereotyping
She should've stopped at its usually best to learn from natives.. the rest really is just unnecessary gatekeeping. She's not taking into account other people's circumstances and preferences both in and outside the community.
Is it also bad if you learn sign language if you can speak and hear? I am learning basic of ASL so I can also communicate with people who cant or hardly hear. I thought it would help me in the future when I have to communicate to a person who use sign... I saw some people receiving hate just because they are learning sign language...
It's not bad to learn ASL. I don't understand why some people would receive hate because they're learning sign language if they're learning from a Deaf professor who knows all about the culture, history, and linguistics of ASL.
Elon Musk said “What’s the point of sign language in a video if you have substitutes? Am I missing something?” He is right because most deaf people couldn’t understand that closed captioning “illiteracy”. ASL is not great to teach deaf children or a bad education because they struggle how to read sentences. I am still unhappy if ASL exists in some public schools except deaf schools. Hopefully, cued speech will teach them instead in the future. Sigh poor deaf children 😢 STOP TEACHING SIGN LANGUAGE. CUED SPEECH IS THE BEST CHOICE INSTEAD!
I know the video is old but I agreed with you... 100%!
I’m hearing, started learning American & Israeli SL as an adult, so I don’t have the same perspective and familiarity with Deaf people’s particular needs, but… there are plenty of non-native teachers of many other languages, including obscure minority ones. I know a hyperpolyglot who teaches a range of languages that are not his native one, and his perspective is that having a non-native teacher (AS WELL AS a native one) can be beneficial in some ways, because they would have a better understanding of the technicalities that come naturally and subconsciously to a native speaker but a student has to learn cognitively.
I think it’s great to learn many languages. If there are not enough people to teach that minority language then that would be an exception. More often than not, there is a Deaf person that could teach. Therefore they should teach and not a hearing person. I’m sure there are some extreme exceptions.
What if you're hearing and you have, in the past hurt your own ears with your own voice and you have one person in your life that knows Sign but again, they're hearing so they deny you the knowledge that you know they have that will save you a lot of pain in the future? So, now I'm forced to struggle alone on UA-cam with nobody to communicate with, because I only know hearing people. That can only take me so far because, I have yet to get a single response to any question I have asked on UA-cam. And my ears hurt all the time because everybody is so loud. They YELL! All the time they're yelling. I can wake up and have the volume on my TV down to 1. Once or twice it's hurt my ears at that volume, so it's time to turn it off and read the CC which is probably already on because if the sound effects are so loud that they are hurting my ears, then they are probably too loud to hear the dialogue over, when the volume was at 1. I can't turn down the volume of the world so, I regularly walk around with a finger in one or both of my ears (usually just on the side with traffic.) I also watched a video today about how hearing people will never be able to sign like a deaf person because we don't think the same. Hearing people think in words. Deaf people think in pictures. This to me, sounded like he was telling us hearing people that we shouldn't even bother because we'll never be good enough, because it's "Not our language." I call reverse-ablism. Now, I'm going to create a parallel. Anglophones, stop teaching French. It's not your language. You're taking jobs away from French people in your area. I had three French teachers, and none of them were French. So, why is it acceptable for them to teach French but not for a hearing person to teach Sign.
I agree , there are A LOT who are posting things in sign language, there's also a interpretor teaching signs on utube
Yeah, I'm not as picky on people just posting in sign language as teaching. That is a whole other story. :)
You do realize that ASL was literally created by a hearing person right? You wouldn't have ASL without him. This is like saying a Spanish person who speaks fluent English shouldn't teach anyone English. I have found the deaf community to be so toxic and hatful. Who cares who's teaching it if people are learning correctly and making things more inclusive.
This is an interesting point. I think it's ok for a hearing person to teach their baby how to sign... babies can communicate as young as 6 months old...they can't actually talk to communicate that young. Why wouldn't you want to teach your baby how to communicate as young as possible? I am hearing with alot of Deaf/deaf friends. I can't exactly just tell one of my friends to come teach my baby sign language. Otherwise, I agree with you. It's like hiring Deaf actors to play Deaf people!
I think that simple things like that are different. I speak more in the formal sense. Teaching actual classes. Now is you are gonna take an actual class to teach your baby, then yes, again it should be from a Deaf person. If you are just teaching them on your own, then utilize online free sources like bill vicars. 😀
Thank you I have been interested in just learning more about sign language cause I started to learn a long time ago when I did meet someone
That’s great you are interested in sign language! You should pursue learning it. There are many great resources online. My first recommendation is Bill Vicars. He is a great teacher!
I’m hearing and I love American Sign Language but I also see it on Tick Tock and it’s not my language to teach. So I got a little confused of why people think they can teach other people sign language it’s annoying to me it’s beautiful, I’m not a teacher and no one else needs to try and pretend to be on it’s not their language to teach ok I’m done with my rant! Love your channel and your family. 🥰
You know, normally when someone makes something telling one group they shouldn't be doing X, Y or Z I'm annoyed. Uh not this time. If I were Deaf I would be beyond annoyed and pissed off to lose out on a teaching job that my natural skill set made me perfect for because someone hearing was filling the position. As a hearing person who's hearing seems to be getting worse and worse I also don't want to learn ASL from someone who is hearing! I have been down the ASL video rabbithole and what I see time and time again is a hearing person making an ASL video teaching ASL and the comments are full of members of the Deaf community pointing out basic mistakes and being argued with. Uhm I'm dyslexic and learning ASL is HARD lol I don't want to worry about "am I being taught wrong? Am I missing subtleties or parts of Deaf culture that someone who is actually Deaf would be making sure to tell me?" In terms of my own life the videos the Deaf community are putting out have helped me understand that even if I see an audiologist and they recommend hearing aids....they won't magically return my hearing back to the way it ways like my husband thinks they will. THAT was important knowledge that no hearing person could ever tell me.
Yes, unfortunately it's hard to for people to understand this topic. I'm glad to hear that you are learning and learning from the right people. I hope it all works well for you and you find a new community to embrace you. Thank you for getting the video. :)
@@TheStews Thank you! I try my best to treat people with respect and empathy. I'm sure it will, it's made me realize the pressure I felt to get hearing aids isn't needed. Even if the hearing loss is confirmed I don't HAVE to get them. Makes the stress over it better lol.
I’m curious as to what you both are experiencing now that most people are wearing face masks because of the pandemic. Does it make it harder to understand people ever without lip reading and some facial expressions being hidden, or can you easily rely on physical gestures? I know that sometimes I can’t hear my students across the room without seeing their mouths moving simultaneously, especially if they’re talking quietly.
Well in am hearing so masks are not a big bother to me. But yes Jenna has said it’s har see to understand without being able to lipread some. But there are many other ways to communicate. Even understanding sign with masks is harder. It’s definitely a challenge but it can be done.
@@TheStews I do know you are hearing, but even for myself who also is hearing, mine isn’t great, so I realize I actually do rely on lip reading simultaneously with listening. I also always find it strange to be smiling under my mask as I pass by someone and I’m now trying to smile more with my eyes to be friendly lol.
Even though ASL isn't Bill Vicars' native language, is it still ethical that he does because he's physically and culturally Deaf, so he has the lived experience? Versus if a hearing person learned it later in life, it wouldn't be the same because they haven't experienced life as a D/deaf person? Just asking out of curiosity if it's acceptable to teach ASL if you're D/deaf, even if it's not your first language?
Preach!!
Any good videos, books, or movies for teaching asl to kids if my family is hearing?
Go to Bill Vicars' UA-cam channel. He has dozens of playlists and so many resources on his websites lifeprint.com and asluniversity.com
Fine but does this mean Deaf get to teach English? As someone who has learn tons of different languages I see no problem from learning a non native. Obviously any good program will have both hearing and Deaf teachers.
I’m not sure what you are getting at? Yes hat does this have to do with Deaf teaching English? Sorry I just don’t understand.
My concern is that this isn't how its done in other languages. And example: my German teachers all were non natives with head of staff being from Germany. Deaf culture is the only community I have ever met having an issue with a non-native teaching their language.
I had a wonderful Deaf teacher who taught English in my highschool (may she R.I.P). English was not her first language but she was qualified for the job. She met every requirement asked of her. Applying the rule of non-natives not teaching, did she have the right to teach a language that wasn't hers? Is it okay for the Deaf to teach a language that isn't theirs but a hearing person be banned from teaching ASL?
@@katiemills9841 Having a deaf person teach English is fine. You can be a native of more than one language. I’m guessing your deaf teacher learned English growing up and used it all the time. Deaf people read and write in English you know...
@@katiemills9841 Excellent point, and I see that she didn't bother to answer...
I learned ASL from two of my deaf friends in elementary and middle school!
Thats great! :)