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Earlier this summer, I put up a poll on this issue; 91% overwhelmingly supported the idea that ASL classes satisfy state’s foreign language requirements in secondary settings. Admittedly, I am still somewhat ambivalent about this. Don’t get me wrong; I love ASL and have taught ASL in a secondary setting before. I did have a “less than positive” experience in teaching ASL in a secondary setting, but that was due to my faults as a beginner teacher more than anything else.

Let’s say that a high school decides to offer ASL classes to its students, and that these courses can satisfy the foreign language requirement needed for graduation. Obviously, a lot of students would be interested and enroll in these courses. I would hazard a guess that the majority of them would think that ASL is an ‘easy’ class as opposed to traditional courses in French, Spanish, Italian, etc. The students may not even like ASL, may not take it seriously, or respect it as a language. In a nutshell, a lot of the students enroll in these ASL classes, usually all for the wrong reasons.

These high school students usually are in for a rude awakening once they enter the ASL classroom. Studying ASL requires the same amount of work, dedication, and discipline similar to those studying Spanish, Italian, Greek, etc. Student’s expectations and attitudes towards the ASL class falls apart quite readily, and leads to increased student dissatisfaction and frustration. Which in turn, adversely affects the ASL instructor and his/her expectations, goals, and teaching approaches in the class.

Granted, this ‘disconnect’ between high school students and instructors pretty much exists at any foreign language classes offered at high schools nationwide. There will always be pockets of high school students disgruntled with their studies in Russian, Japanese, Spanish, etc. Foreign language instructors, and ASL instructors are of no exception, need to utilize effective classroom management strategies in engaging their students and having a productive classroom.

There is one little difference when it comes to Deaf ASL instructors. If they have a frustrating experience in their classroom, how do they cope? Students may belittle or not take ASL seriously. How do they deal with these attitudes day in and out? How are their peer faculty treating them? (I know one ASL teacher that had won Teacher of the Year award at a high school in the past few years, so YMMV.) How do they deal with the ‘burnout’ that comes with the job, if they have it at all?

Now, if the ASL class was offered on an elective basis, these issues usually do not factor in an effective ASL classroom. High school students who take the class usually are the ones who want to learn the language, takes it seriously, and gives it the respect it deserves. The expectations, interests, and goals of the students are usally aligned with those of the ASL instructors. The ASL instructor usually has more latitude and freedom in teaching ASL, and having an enriched foreign language learning environment. The overall level of satisfaction for students and teachers involved in this classroom would be higher, I’ll bet!

However, offering ASL classes as an elective does not promote job security for the ASL instructor. Interest in the classes may vary year to year. A night school (available for high school students) once offered beginner’s sign language classes (with me as an instructor) and only one student showed up. Sure, a better advertising job could be done, but the end result was that I didn’t get this part-time job opportunity. Some regions (such as my area) may express little interest in ASL, and vice versa in other regions. The old adage, “Your Mileage May Vary” (YMMV), certainly applies here!

Now that I’ve laid out the ‘pro’s and con’s’ of offering ASL classes in a secondary setting, what do you, the readers of this blog, think? I’d like to hear from ASL instructors, especially those that have taught in secondary settings before.

(Blog entry coming soon: Should ASL be taught as a “Foreign” Language course when it’s a language as American as Grandma’s apple pie?)

If you haven’t done so already, check out my initial impressions of the Z-340 VideoPhone. I have been using this unit for one month now and have made/received P2P and VRS calls.

While not scientific, I did notice that the unit takes a while to recharge; took roughly 3 hours for a full recharge. The videophone’s ‘standby’ time (i.e., running on battery power and ready to receive calls) seemed to last for roughly 2 hours, 20 minutes. No idea how long the videophone’s battery would last on a ‘talk’ time basis, i.e., using the unit in making a call. (I suspect it won’t be as long as 2 hours, 20 minutes!) So, while the battery life of the videophone may be adequate, I’d suggest carrying the wall brick.

One annoying tendency is that when I power the videophone on, the battery sometimes can be depleted already, just when I know it should be fully charged. Maybe it could be the case that I didn’t ‘log off’ while turning off the unit for the day? I really didn’t test this further, as I can simply plug in the videophone and power it up.

I love its form factor! I can put it in my car’s glovebox compartment, or in a portable filing cabinet along with my files. Due to the nature of my job (I travel to different schools), this portability has been the videophone’s biggest asset. And connecting the videophone at various locations (either via Wi-Fi or ethernet) is really simple. No need to configure the router, adjust settings, etc. The videophone simply works.

As for making calls, the video quality is pretty good, quite clear, with very little artifacting and pixellating. This is probably due to the fact that I have high speed connections. I can easily make calls via ZVRS, and even have used ZVRS’s Espanol translation services. The wait time was fairly short (a few seconds at the most), and the quality of the interpreters were acceptable. Calls were made during normal ’9 to 5′ hours. I have not made any calls to any other VRS provider, so I really can’t comment on Z-340′s interoperability.

I also have made some P2P calls (admittedly to other users who have Z-340′s) and have been very satisfied with the video calling experience. Video was clear and smooth. My experience in calling Sorenson VP 200 users have been limited, though. I was able to call one person’s VP 200, but he wasn’t there. I haven’t received calls from a VP 200 phone. For what it’s worth…

My only snit with this videophone is the lack of a visual ring alert, and a lack of an alert for incoming P2P calls. (What is this “Who Just Called” feature?) The Z-Alert feature of ZVRS does work for missed VRS calls. I did get a ‘videomail’ sent to my regular email address instead of my blackberry email address. The end result of that snafu was that I did not receive this person’s message until I have gotten home. I have configured my Videomail settings and hopefully it’ll work this time around.