Welcome to the American Sign Language Institute! Established in 2020 as an extension of the American Sign Language Academy, this division of our school is specifically for our video courses. Asynchronous - prepared videos that can be watched anytime or synchronous - live video classes with guidance and feedback from a teacher. This may be 1:1 or a small classroom setting. Our live video class size is limited to 16. Our general courses are age 14 to adult. For families and younger students, we offer Build a Class. See that page for details.

We have a wide range of scheduled class times to accommodate various U.S. time zones. Check our ASLI Live! page to see what we offer. Our mission is to bring Deaf and Hearing together through education, so we are dedicated to finding a way to do it for as many who want to learn as possible.

Our curriculum is one that I wrote and it is a dynamic, rather than static document. That means it is continuously updated and edited with newly developed vocabulary (recent examples are coronavirus, Google and Amazon). It is designed for adult education students and utilizes practice and repetition as needed. It is a different approach, one that focuses on an aspect of the language that is important in attaining fluency - kinesthetic. This is the “feel” of the language - how it moves, how it looks, with emphasis on clear handshapes. Handshapes are your “pronunciation” in this 3-dimensional, moving language. It helps you store what you’ve learned in long-term memory and retain it. Our school curriculum is designed to bring students to fluency.

The typical student that takes classes with us may have no exposure to the language outside the classroom. They have no one to practice with and no opportunity to use their ASL outside of class, especially at the early stages of learning. With that in mind, the practice and guidance students receive in class is critically important. Our teachers are highly trained in using the curriculum to the best advantage of students.

The curriculum used by ASL Academy and ASL Institute is not new or experimental. It was piloted in the 1990s with a class of 21 students. At the end of five years, 14 students graduated from that initial trial. Since ASL Academy was formed, we have had two graduating classes - one in 2012 (10 students) and one in 2016 (20 students). A number of students from those classes are fully fluent and are now working in the field as teachers of the deaf, at schools for the deaf, at state Commissions for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and more.

This curriculum has been used by a number of college and universities. At one university, it is the curriculum used where ASL is a minor. At another, it is being used as they work to develop ASL into a minor. Students of ASL at another university have worked in the legal department at the National Association of the Deaf and for the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., working on discrimination cases. Other students who learned through this curriculum have established organizations to advocate for the rights and needs of deaf and hard of hearing individuals around the world.

So, if you are serious about learning and want to have a great experience, you are in the right place. We will be expanding our offering of classes as we develop ASL Institute fully. Please look through our class offerings, with specialized classes for Early Learning Centers, high school students, teacher assistants, Special Education teachers, and more.

We hope you will join us and join the growing number of students enjoying success in learning this fascinating language!

Manuel D. Martin
ASL Institute/ASL Academy director