The Sign Language Alphabet

Click Here for your printable American Sign Language Alphabet Chart!

American Sign Language (ASL) is a comprehensive and complex language that uses signs made with the hands and other motions, including facial expressions and numerous postures of the human body. American Sign Language is the first language of most deaf North Americans and one of many communication options available to deaf people throughout the world. It is said that ASL is the fourth most commonly used language in the U.S.!

Alphabet Chart: A-Z



Numbers Chart: 1-10

The summer program at Gallaudet is thought by many to be one of the best due to its intensity and almost total "immersion" into Deaf culture while you are there. The summer program consists of 3 two-week intensive classes scheduled between mid-June and mid-August. Each one costs about $500 ($1000 if you are Canadian/foreign). You would typically take two courses during the summer, which would... including room and board and tuition, cost you about $2000 for four weeks ($3000 foreign/Canada).

This is the course that I took myself in the summer for four weeks (two sessions). All of the courses are taught by Deaf people (of course) and are excellent. Being in DC and Gallaudet being the closest to total immersion that you can get... it's highly recommended.

Gallaudet University
800 Florida Ave., N.E.
Washington, DC 20002 USA
(202)651-5551 v/tty

Aaron Laird writes to me about the program at the University of Tennessee: "The University of Tennesse has a wonderful program for anyone interested in Deaf Education. A student majoring in this subject will spend an extra year to finish, but will receive a Masters Degree for the effort. They offer classes in ASL from beginner to advanced in a four semester program. The degree program also offers many classes in Education, Holistic Learning and Speech and Hearing Pathology. The final year of the program is spent with a few lecture classes, but also entails an intership at Tennessee School for the Deaf. TSD , like most specialized schools, houses students from all over the state. It ranges from K-12 grades or the age of 21 (I believe). I am bringing this to your attention because I didn't see any references for either of these two institutions on your WWW site. So, I thought I would submit the URL's for both sites in case you wanted to add them."

Univ of Tenn: http://www.utk.edu
Tennessee School for the Deaf: http://mamclaus.opup.org/~tsd/