Sacramento State University
EDS 153: August 3-7
EDS 154: August 10-14
Summer Immersion 2009
Monday through Friday
9:00 – Noon
Napa Hall
Instructor: Sandra Thrapp
Email: Thrapp@csus.edu
Course Description:
This course will provide students with the advanced skills and knowledge of American Sign Language. It will introduce targeted lexical items through readiness activities by means of structured and conversational approaches. Students will be exposed to commands, questions, and statements in ASL. Regualting behaviors, such as attention-getting devices and turn taking, will be introduced and demonstrated both receptively and expressively by students. Additional lexical items will be acquired under the grammatical topics of sentences types, time and pronominalization.
Thrapp’s ASL Classroom Policy
The following policies are intended to make the learning experience go well for all members of the class. If you break any of these policies, I may ask you to leave the class for the duration of the session.
Communication Policy
When you enter the doors of this classroom you enter a world intended to represent a Deaf signing world. This means that we will rely on visual means to express ourselves rather than verbal. Please keep your voices off for the duration of the class sessions. There will be no side comments of whispering during class. Consider that the purpose of no voice in class is to help students focus on ASL and not be distracted by presence of English. Students who habitually resort to voicing without signing may be asked to leave class for the day.
There are five main reasons for this policy.
1) To experience what it might be like for someone where people are using language other than your preferred language.
2) To train your mind to function in a visual environment and gain more fluency in an immersion-like situation.
3) To develop awareness in the presence of deaf people who cannot hear what you are saying and develop ways of communicating with them.
4) In Deaf Culture, it is considered rude to talk without signing when Deaf people are present.
5) It distracts students/you from maximing their/your language acquisition in a completely visual environment.
Attendance Policy
Attendance is essential. In order to learn the language well you need regular exposure and practice. Much of your learning will happen in class and it is vital for you to be present and participating to make the best progress possible. Each class session will build on previous sessions. Please make every effort to attend all classes. Students are expected to complete any assignments before class and to participate actively in class. This class may move at a fairly swift pace: students who miss class risk missing a great deal of new material. It is your responsibility to find out what material was covered during your absence. Students who arrive to class late after roll has been taken must inform instructor of their presence in class in order for their attendance to be counted.
Please be on time. Allow enough time to hunt for parking and arrive to class. Late entrance cause disruptions and distract from the learning process not only of yourself but of your fellow classmates.
Treat this class as you would a paying job, but your payment is in the form of an earned grade. As a courtesy to me and other students show up on time and let me know of any foreseeable absences before they occur via email. In addition, email me with any excused absences. Good attendance as well as following these courtesies will factor in to any discretionary points that may be earned as a bonus if your earned grade falls just below a threshold.
How to make sure your Attendance counts?
Remember to sign in at every class. It is your responsibility to make sure your presence is recorded. I will either take roll at the beginning of the class or have a sign in sheet near the door. If you are significantly late you will receive partial credit.
There are 10 class sessions during the week. You will need to attend 55% of the week before I will start awarding you points for attendance. For every class above that you will earn 10 points towards 100 possible points. Thus starting with the 10 class session that you attend you will begin to accumulate points.
You will do more than learn new information and reflect on what you already know. This means you will come to class prepared. Prior to arriving at class, you should have had enough rest, take care of your health and nutritional needs and prepared any assignments that are due. It is critical that you attend each and every class session. Students, who miss three consecutive class sessions, may be dropped from class. Coming to class or leaving class early is not acceptable, be punctual! It is your responsibility to find out what material was covered during your absence (please arrange for a classmate to collect handouts and take notes for you). Have a back-up plan! Please bring your own textbook to every class!
Deaf people have lived lives excluded from their hearing families and colleagues who did not learn to communicate with them through ASL. The best way to respect signing deaf people’s communication needs is to remember to use sign language or some other form of visual communication in their presence. As learner of ASL the no voice policy will help you develop these skills. Some of the teachers on staff are deaf and it will serve you well to reflect an attitude of respect for the fact that they cannot hear your chatter rather than an attitude of disrespect whether intended or not.
Even though you may wish to verbalize a relevant question please use creative strategies to ask the teacher or another student. Draw on your skills in miming, acting out scenarios, and drawing pictures. Imagine that you are in a foreign land communicating with someone who doesn’t understand English. If all else fails, you can write the question on the board.
As learners of the language you may face frustrations, especially as beginners, in trying to express yourself. View these moments as opportunities for creative learning. At same point you may be in a situation communicating with a deaf person or even with a foreigner where you need to be creative in order to get your point across.
Cheating and Plagiarism
Cheating and plagiarism are very serious and will result in you failing the assignment, and will result in you being report to the administration.
Behaviors, which will be viewed as cheating, are:
· Talking (voice) and Signing (ASL) during the exam
· Looking at another student’s work
· Informing other students what the tests look like
Plagiarism occurs anytime you use someone else’s ideas and represent them as your own. If you use the phrasing or sentence structure (or paragraph or entire paper) of another person and don’t give credit to the source, you have plagiarized. Even if you use your own wording, but still use the ideas of others without citations, you have plagiarized.
Exam Make-Ups and Late Homework:
No make-ups without an obituary of a close relative and a copy of the “program”
From the service or note on the funeral home’s stationary, or a note from your medical professional specifically stating that you were too sick to take the test, or from school administrator on school letterhead. If you do have an excused absence I reserve the right to either give you a new test, or to substitute the equivalent score of one of your previous or future tests. No late work will be accepted without following the same policy. Your instructor will give you two homework assignments this semester.
Disability Policy
If you are a student in need of special student services, please check the disabled student handbook on the requirements of obtaining services that will help facilitates your participation and success in this class at the BEGINNING of the semester, rather than the end of the semester. This will be helpful to the instructor as well as yourself, as the student, in getting the help you need from the get-go. Students with disabilities who wish to receive services and/or accommodations must submit a form from the Services to Students with Disabilities office. Receiving services and accommodations will not affect your grade. Students who need to sit in a reserved area MUST have post a reserved sign with a day/times. This information will be kept confidential.
Pager/Cell phone policy
When you enter the classroom please make sure your pagers and cell phones are silenced and put away in your bags. If you do have particular family or work circumstances that require you to be on call please notify me before class.
Minor annoyances
Arriving late, chewing gum, hats, sunglasses, and super-long fingernails. Sign language is a visual language and all of the above listed factors can prove to be distractions from what you have to say. Instead of paying attention to your message, your listener may be paying attention to your colorful flitting fingernails. Or they may be unable to see your full expression and meaning hidden underneath your hat. Please refrain from using these items in the classroom.
Assignments
Exams: There will 3 quizzes (Units 15, 18, 19) The purpose of these exams is to test your receptive skills and comprehension of ASL.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via email: Thrapp@csus.edu
Grading System
Participation: 200 points
3 Quizzes: 300 points
Expressive Exam 250 points
Receptive Exam 250 points
Total points 1000points
The quizzes will be expressive which means that I will sign the test and you will write what I sign. (ENGLISH in order, no ASL grammar is allowed). No make-ups are permitted for missed quizzes. Make-up for the final will be permitted only in the event of serious illness or problems and the instructor must receive prior notice and approve. No expectations!
Phone and Pagers: Please turn off the sound on these during lecture.
There will be no eating or drinking – no chewing gum or water bottle during class!
Bring your textbook to every class!
Schedule
August 3
Welcome: Pre-Testing & Review
August 4
Review Chapter 15: Personal Life
August 5
Chapter 15: Continued
August 6 CR: Cumulative Review
August 10 Chapter 18: Narrating Unforgettable Moments
August 11 Chapter 18: Continued
August 12 Chapter 19: Sharing Interesting Facts
August 13 Chapter 19: Continued
August 14 Review: Testing