American Sign Language classes
Pasadena Language Center offers American Sign Language lessons for adults and children all levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced and conversation. Learn ASL in a comfortable, casual environment and make it a fun, enriching experience! We serve the areas of Pasadena, South Pasadena, San Marino, Arcadia, Alhambra, San Gabriel, South Arroyo, Altadena, Monrovia, Sierra Madre, Glendale, Burbank, Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, La Cañada, Montrose, La Crescenta & Sun Valley.
About American Sign Language
American Sign Language, in the past, was primarily used solely within the Deaf Community. This has changed dramatically, as it's uses have been found to benefit many other people and in a vast array of situations.
American Sign Language (ASL) is for all people of all ages. ASL is our nation's 3rd most used language, next to English and Spanish. All across the country, it is quickly being accepted and recognized as fulfillment of foreign language requirements in a growing number of colleges and universities.
American Sign Language (ASL) is for all people of all ages. ASL is our nation's 3rd most used language, next to English and Spanish. All across the country, it is quickly being accepted and recognized as fulfillment of foreign language requirements in a growing number of colleges and universities.
curriculum and structure
The ASL weekly classes are structured into three levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced. Each level is divided into four sub-levels: A, B, C, and D.
For the Beginner and Intermediate levels we use the Learning American Sign Language: Levels I & II--Beginning & Intermediate (2nd Edition) by Tom L. Humphries (Pearson Publishing).
Note: The material needs to be purchased online (we recommend used copies on amazon.com).
Beginner A (Unit 1 - Unit 4)
Topics: introductions, personal information, going to class, objects in the classroom, showing you understand and asking for help, asking politely, giving thanks, interruptions and apologies, physical appearance, clothing, personality and character
Grammar and usage: information questions, Yes/No questions, simple affirmative sentences with head nodding, simple negative sentences with head shaking, repeating pronouns, answering Yes/No questions by repeating the verb from the question, THERE, HERE, information questions, verbs that change movement to show location, verbs that change movement to indicate subject and object, LOOK ^ LIKE? questions, adjectives used to describe hair, height, weight, descriptive adjectives before and after nouns, altering signs to show detail such as direction of stripes, topic subjects and objects, etc.
Beginner B (Unit 5 - Unit 8)
Topics: polite commands, requests, how you feel, opinions and preferences, anxiety, objects and their location, objects, number and location, how many, family information, family relationships, friends and acquaintances
Grammar and usage: verb pairs, noun-verb pairs, use of DON’T MIND and FOR ME, verb pairs involving turning things on and off, form of ALL-DAY, ALL-NIGHT, use of WOW!, negative incorporation, use of modals, classifier predicates showing size, shape, instrument to indicate movement, and locational relationships, plurals using quantifiers and numbers, past, present and future tenses using time signs, personal pronouns incorporating number, use of FINISH, etc.
Beginner C (Unit 9 - Unit 12)
Topics: how others look, personality, physical features, your residence, objects in your residence, what you do every day, the menu, quantities, prices, food and drink, offering help, declining and explaining
Grammar and usage: whispering in sign, use of numbers to show age, time, count, contraction of KNOW and THAT, variation on CL:B, verbs that change movement to show subject and object, classifiers representing category and with movement, form of EVERY-MORNING, EVERY-NIGHT, signs derived from finger-spelling, form of EVERY-SATURDAY, EVERY-TUESDAY, use of RUN-OUT, DEPLETE, negatives of modals, use of NONE to show no quantity and as a negative, finger-spelled abbreviations, classifiers to show thickness, width, and depth, 1-DOLLAR incorporating numbers 2 to 10, use of BLANK with dollar amount, 1-CENT incorporating numbers, non-inflecting form of HELP, use of BREAKDOWN, SHUTDOWN, WEAR-OUT, BREAK, structures for declining, etc.
Beginner D (Unit 13 - Unit 16)
Topics: satisfaction and dissatisfaction, agreement and disagreement, concern and feelings, an event, a past event, current activity, general future plans, time and place to meet, future obligations, directions, descriptions of places, instructions
Grammar and usage: ways to express satisfaction, conditional sentences, asking about someone, use of GONE and DIE, structures to express emotional or physical states, classifiers as quantifiers, FINISH as conjunction, conjunctions (WRONG, HAPPEN, FIND, FRUSTRATED, HIT), number incorporation in LAST-YEAR, NEXT-YEAR, structures for asking what happened, structures for commenting on competence or expertise, use of NOTHING-TO-IT, verb pairs GET-IN/GET-OUT, structures for indicating an obligation, use of body to show change in direction, use of apostrophe-S, use of LOCALE, location relationships using chaining of classifiers, use of CL:CC**, ETC.
Intermediate A (Unit 17 - Unit 20)
Topics: suggestions, time and place, advice, what others think, opinions, values, activities, a sequence of activities, seasonal activities, travel experience, places you visited
Grammar and usage: use of BORED, forms of EVERY-MONTH, EVERY-YEAR, confirming head nods and head shakes, use of APPROXIMATELY with time, age, and money, structure for giving advice preceded by SHOULD, BETTER, ADVISE, WARN, SUGGEST, MAYBE, verbs that change movement to indicate TWO, EACH, ALL, ways to express opposing values, quantifiers with count and non-count nouns, REPEATEDLY inflection of verbs with facial adverbs, CONTINUALLY inflection of verbs with facial adverbs, use of CHAT, SIGN-TALK, and SIGN-FLUENTLY, plural forms by reduplication, JOIN and SAY-OKAY, REPEATEDLY inflection of adjectives, CONTINUALLY inflection of adjectives, VERY inflection of adjectives, etc.
Intermediate B (Unit 21 - Unit 24)
Topics: occupations and professions, job activity, work history, physical conditioning, health and health problems, emergencies, recent news, current topics of interest, current issues, a process, width, length and height, measurements and weight
Grammar and usage: use of agent suffix for some professions, rhetorical questions, use of UNDERSTAND to precede a qualification, condition or stipulation, use of GET-REGULARLY, use of body pronoun, use of PAIN, use of NEVER and NOTHING as denials, reduplication in different locations, clause as topic, use of WORSE, classifier predicates showing manner of flow, distance from one point to another using CL:1-TO-CL:1, questions about measurement: HOW-MUCH, etc.
For private class availability, please contact us.
For the Beginner and Intermediate levels we use the Learning American Sign Language: Levels I & II--Beginning & Intermediate (2nd Edition) by Tom L. Humphries (Pearson Publishing).
Note: The material needs to be purchased online (we recommend used copies on amazon.com).
Beginner A (Unit 1 - Unit 4)
Topics: introductions, personal information, going to class, objects in the classroom, showing you understand and asking for help, asking politely, giving thanks, interruptions and apologies, physical appearance, clothing, personality and character
Grammar and usage: information questions, Yes/No questions, simple affirmative sentences with head nodding, simple negative sentences with head shaking, repeating pronouns, answering Yes/No questions by repeating the verb from the question, THERE, HERE, information questions, verbs that change movement to show location, verbs that change movement to indicate subject and object, LOOK ^ LIKE? questions, adjectives used to describe hair, height, weight, descriptive adjectives before and after nouns, altering signs to show detail such as direction of stripes, topic subjects and objects, etc.
Beginner B (Unit 5 - Unit 8)
Topics: polite commands, requests, how you feel, opinions and preferences, anxiety, objects and their location, objects, number and location, how many, family information, family relationships, friends and acquaintances
Grammar and usage: verb pairs, noun-verb pairs, use of DON’T MIND and FOR ME, verb pairs involving turning things on and off, form of ALL-DAY, ALL-NIGHT, use of WOW!, negative incorporation, use of modals, classifier predicates showing size, shape, instrument to indicate movement, and locational relationships, plurals using quantifiers and numbers, past, present and future tenses using time signs, personal pronouns incorporating number, use of FINISH, etc.
Beginner C (Unit 9 - Unit 12)
Topics: how others look, personality, physical features, your residence, objects in your residence, what you do every day, the menu, quantities, prices, food and drink, offering help, declining and explaining
Grammar and usage: whispering in sign, use of numbers to show age, time, count, contraction of KNOW and THAT, variation on CL:B, verbs that change movement to show subject and object, classifiers representing category and with movement, form of EVERY-MORNING, EVERY-NIGHT, signs derived from finger-spelling, form of EVERY-SATURDAY, EVERY-TUESDAY, use of RUN-OUT, DEPLETE, negatives of modals, use of NONE to show no quantity and as a negative, finger-spelled abbreviations, classifiers to show thickness, width, and depth, 1-DOLLAR incorporating numbers 2 to 10, use of BLANK with dollar amount, 1-CENT incorporating numbers, non-inflecting form of HELP, use of BREAKDOWN, SHUTDOWN, WEAR-OUT, BREAK, structures for declining, etc.
Beginner D (Unit 13 - Unit 16)
Topics: satisfaction and dissatisfaction, agreement and disagreement, concern and feelings, an event, a past event, current activity, general future plans, time and place to meet, future obligations, directions, descriptions of places, instructions
Grammar and usage: ways to express satisfaction, conditional sentences, asking about someone, use of GONE and DIE, structures to express emotional or physical states, classifiers as quantifiers, FINISH as conjunction, conjunctions (WRONG, HAPPEN, FIND, FRUSTRATED, HIT), number incorporation in LAST-YEAR, NEXT-YEAR, structures for asking what happened, structures for commenting on competence or expertise, use of NOTHING-TO-IT, verb pairs GET-IN/GET-OUT, structures for indicating an obligation, use of body to show change in direction, use of apostrophe-S, use of LOCALE, location relationships using chaining of classifiers, use of CL:CC**, ETC.
Intermediate A (Unit 17 - Unit 20)
Topics: suggestions, time and place, advice, what others think, opinions, values, activities, a sequence of activities, seasonal activities, travel experience, places you visited
Grammar and usage: use of BORED, forms of EVERY-MONTH, EVERY-YEAR, confirming head nods and head shakes, use of APPROXIMATELY with time, age, and money, structure for giving advice preceded by SHOULD, BETTER, ADVISE, WARN, SUGGEST, MAYBE, verbs that change movement to indicate TWO, EACH, ALL, ways to express opposing values, quantifiers with count and non-count nouns, REPEATEDLY inflection of verbs with facial adverbs, CONTINUALLY inflection of verbs with facial adverbs, use of CHAT, SIGN-TALK, and SIGN-FLUENTLY, plural forms by reduplication, JOIN and SAY-OKAY, REPEATEDLY inflection of adjectives, CONTINUALLY inflection of adjectives, VERY inflection of adjectives, etc.
Intermediate B (Unit 21 - Unit 24)
Topics: occupations and professions, job activity, work history, physical conditioning, health and health problems, emergencies, recent news, current topics of interest, current issues, a process, width, length and height, measurements and weight
Grammar and usage: use of agent suffix for some professions, rhetorical questions, use of UNDERSTAND to precede a qualification, condition or stipulation, use of GET-REGULARLY, use of body pronoun, use of PAIN, use of NEVER and NOTHING as denials, reduplication in different locations, clause as topic, use of WORSE, classifier predicates showing manner of flow, distance from one point to another using CL:1-TO-CL:1, questions about measurement: HOW-MUCH, etc.
For private class availability, please contact us.