(Background to speaker’s right is a white wall. To speaker’s left is office equipment and desk. Speaker is wearing a teal blouse and has brown curly hair.)
Hi! I’m Rae, and I’m the owner of Rose Sign Language Interpreting Company here in Colorado. What we are talking about today, like most of our videos, comes from a question that we receive on a frequent basis, and that is: “Oh! Do you teach ASL?” Uh, we answer this in a couple different ways: as interpreters and as an agency.
So on the interpreter’s side for some reason, uh, it’s an automatic assumption when people find out what we do for a living they say “Oh, Oh do you teach ASL?” And…we….most of us just say no. No, uh, we don’t teach ASL. We interpret. We’re really good at interpreting. We’re fluent but (eye gaze down and to the left) most of us do not come from signing households. Uhh, unlike the early days of interpreting, most of us, um, learned ASL as adults or even teenagers but we didn’t come from deaf households. Um, that means that we are borrowing the language. It’s not ours. We use it during the day. We use it to communicate with our loved ones, colleagues, and friends in the deaf community but…we’re still borrowing it.
SO, on the other side, on the agency side, we were asked if we offer ASL classes. The answer is a resounding YES! Yes we do! We work with some amazing, uh, ASL teachers who are deaf. Umm, it’s, it’s time for me to stand up on my soap box here. Uh, it is the prevailing opinion in the interpreting community and a very closely held opinion, very dearly held opinion for this agency, that teaching ASL should be left to deaf professionals. As hearing people who are borrowing a language, we need to get out of the way! So, we work with some amazing deaf teachers who can’t wait to teach us some ASL. Great news, right?
Sooo, ummm a little bit about our classes. Maybe you think thaaat, ummm , they are not affordable. Uh nah nah! This is Rose. They’re affordable! It’s kind of our thing! They are highly tailored to what you need. If you need one lesson to help you prepare for an interview, maybe you’ve taken ASL in college, it’s been a few years, you need t…you need to brush up? We can do that! If you need a brush up in your office because you’ve got a deaf employee there or deaf client or patient and you’ve gotten some new staff in and you feel like you’re not really able to teach them everything that they need to know? We can help! If you have a brand new employee who is deaf and you want to make sure that your work team can communicate effectively when the interpreter is not there, we can do that! Are you noticing a trend here? Also, if you happen to live on top of a mountain and you have a good internet connection? Distance is not a problem. We have a great online video meeting platform that will allow you to have remote ASL classes. So, I, I don’t know how else I can say “We can make it work for you!” We really can! Annnnnd,Not..not only do we, do we adjust to your logistical needs, one of the things that I really love about how we offer ASL classes is how our educators tailor the content to what you need. This isn’t somebody coming in and teaching you the days of the week, and the weather, and holiday signs. I mean those are great things to know but our teachers will come in beforehand with an interpreter, and chat with you about what you need to be able to sign. What would be most effective for your work team, your church team, umm whatever organization you’re a member of…uhh…we’re not, we’re not offering you cookie cutter ASL classes. We are offering you classes that actually matter and match your needs. So, ummm, in a nut shell, interpreters – interpret, teachers – teach, ASL is awesome . Why not schedule some classes? I mean, this goes beyond learning language. This goes beyond access. Umm, one of the surprising things that we’ve heard after, running a series of classes … one organization told us that they kind of became their team building activity. They were working together on something that was pretty far outside the norm for them, and it became a really collaborative pleasant part of their day. Umm, they were encouraging each other. They were practicing on their breaks. They were able to sign little comments to each other throughout the day. Um, it was a really positive experience just for their team. Just the process of learning ASL, it was better for them as a team at the end than than they were in the beginning. So, again, the nutshell, Interpreters – interpret, Teachers – teach, ASL is awesome. Alright? If you want to book some classes, and of course I encourage you to do so, you can get in touch with us at (720)232-8370 or here on the website www.rosesignlanguage.com. (Both hands show the ILY – I love you – sign and she smiles).