ASL 1 Beginner — Kids (Ages 7–12) · 24-Week Course
$15 per class or $360 for all 24 classes
Welcome to a fun and friendly introduction to American Sign Language.
In this 24-week course, learners build beginner ASL skills step by step. Topics include the ASL alphabet and fingerspelling, numbers 1–100, greetings, family, feelings, colors, food, animals, school signs, calendar and time, weather, home, hobbies, questions, sentence building, and Deaf culture.
Each 30-minute class includes a quick warm-up, visual slides, teacher modeling, guided signing practice, and a game or activity. Learners will see signs, copy them, answer questions, practice short conversations, and use ASL with classmates.
The teaching style is upbeat, patient, visual, and encouraging. No previous ASL experience is needed. Optional videos and games are provided for extra practice, but there is no required homework.
What Your Learner Will Do
- Students will sign and recognize the ASL alphabet, fingerspell names and common words, and use numbers 1–100.
- Students will use beginner vocabulary for greetings, family, feelings, colors, food, animals, school, time, weather, home, and hobbies.
- Students will ask and answer simple questions and build short ASL sentences using clear facial expressions and respectful visual communication.
Syllabus
24 Lessons · over 24 Weeks
Week 1: ASL Alphabet, Names and Beginning Fingerspelling
Students learn the ASL alphabet, clear signing position, and beginning name fingerspelling. They practice signing A–Z and fingerspelling first and last names clearly.
Week 2: Fingerspelling Fluency, Palm Orientation and Sign Parameters
Students improve fingerspelling clarity and learn the major sign parameters: handshape, palm orientation, location, movement, and facial expression.
Week 3: Numbers 1–30 and Number Handshapes
Students recognize and produce numbers 1–30 with correct handshape, orientation, and movement. They practice counting objects and communicating ages.
Week 4: Greetings, Introductions and Personal Information
Students use greetings, manners, name questions, ages, and personal information to participate in a short introduction conversation in ASL.
Week 5: Zoom Classroom Practice and Weeks 1–4 Review
Students practice online classroom participation, camera framing, alphabet, numbers, greetings, and introductions while reviewing Weeks 1–4.
Week 6: Numbers 31–100, Ages, Birthdays and Personal Numbers
Students use number-family patterns for 31–100 and apply numbers to ages, dates, birthdays, addresses, and phone numbers.
Week 7: Colors, Shapes and Describing Objects
Students identify colors and shapes and combine them in simple topic-comment descriptions of objects, including color, shape, and size.
Week 8: Family, Pronouns and Identity
Students use family signs, pronouns, pointing and indexing, possessives, and signing space to introduce and describe family members.
Week 9: Feelings, Emotions and Common Phrases
Students ask and answer how someone feels using emotion vocabulary, common phrases, and facial expressions that match the meaning.
Week 10: Food, Drinks, Likes and Dislikes
Students use food and drink signs with preferences, wants, hunger, thirst, and topic-comment sentences in questions and conversations.
Week 11: Animals and Expanded Descriptions
Students recognize animal signs and combine them with colors, numbers, size, and other details to create expanded descriptions.
Week 12: School Vocabulary and Classroom Communication
Students use school vocabulary and clarification phrases to identify classroom items and ask for help, repetition, or slower signing.
Week 13: Days of the Week, Months and Calendar Signs
Students use days, months, dates, birthdays, and yesterday, today, and tomorrow in basic calendar conversations.
Week 14: Time, Schedules and Daily Routines
Students communicate time, parts of the day, schedules, and daily actions while practicing TIME + TOPIC + COMMENT sentence order.
Week 15: Weather, Seasons and Clothing
Students describe weather and seasons, give a simple weather report, and choose clothing that matches different conditions.
Week 16: Home, Rooms, Furniture and Chores
Students identify rooms, furniture, chores, and location words to describe the home and explain where objects are located.
Week 17: Hobbies, Sports and Free-Time Activities
Students discuss hobbies, sports, interests, likes, dislikes, and favorite activities through questions and short conversations.
Week 18: Describing People: Appearance and Personality
Students use respectful general-to-specific descriptions for appearance, clothing, and personality to describe people clearly.
Week 19: WH Questions: Who, What and Where
Students ask and answer WHO, WHAT, and WHERE questions with appropriate WH-question facial grammar.
Week 20: WH Questions: When, Why and How + Yes/No Questions
Students use WHEN, WHY, and HOW questions and compare WH-question facial grammar with yes/no question facial grammar.
Week 21: ASL Sentence Building and Word Order
Students move from individual signs to clear topic-comment and TIME + TOPIC + COMMENT sentences using familiar vocabulary.
Week 22: Verbs, Negation and Short Conversations
Students use common action signs, negation, CAN and CAN’T, wants and preferences, and connected questions and answers in short conversations.
Week 23: Deaf Culture and Respectful Communication
Students learn respectful visual communication, attention-getting methods, eye contact, access, name-sign respect, and basic Deaf-culture concepts.
Week 24: Final Review, Games and Student Presentation
Students review ASL 1 skills, complete a receptive challenge, and present a short connected Meet Me in ASL message.