Watch out Ontario high school students - a new class may be coming to a school near you. Stephen Lecce, the Ontario Minister of Education, announced in early March that a new ASL (American Sign Language) and LSQ (Langue signe de quebecqious) curriculum will be rolling out to select Ontario high schools this fall. Many members of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community took to social media to express their enthusiasm for the new program, but some also raised pressing questions about the potential issues of the delivery of the curriculum.
What Does the New Curriculum Look Like?
The ASL curriculum will have four main branches - ASL conversational discourse, comprehending ASL construction and content, constructing ASL content and understanding usage of grammatical structures, and understanding the connections between ASL language, culture, identity and community. Each strand has about two or three sub-expectations, with each sub-expectation having two to four specific expectations. The specific expectations for each have examples, prompts, and instructional tips for the teacher to use.
The expectations cover a wide variety of topics from comprehension skills, grammatical skills and even cultural norms and social cues. For example, expectation A1.1, “demonstrating understanding of ASL language features”, touches on timing, stresses, and intonation within the language. Expectation B1.3, “using comprehension strategies to understand ASL literary works and ASL texts”, focuses on methods to effectively comprehend ASL such as asking questions and using prior knowledge to help. Expectation D2.1, “inequity, social injustice, and the ASL community”, highlights the challenges within the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community such as audism and explains how ASL and other sign language communities have overcome and advocated for themselves.
Overall, this curriculum seems to cover the necessary topics required of an introductory ASL course and is thorough enough to guide teachers when developing a syllabus so that students throughout Ontario can receive the same quality of instruction no matter which school they attend.
Benefits of the New Curriculum in High Schools
Members of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community have been advocating for ASL and LSQ to be introduced in schools for years since it can provide many benefits for hearing people and those in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. Teaching sign language in schools allows for an accessible and free opportunity for teenagers to learn the language. Additionally, this class can bridge the gap between hearing people and the Deaf/HoH community inside and outside the classroom. The curriculum encourages teachers to bring in individuals who are Deaf and HoH as well as showcase and discuss ASL literature. Many high school students have part-time jobs at grocery stores or other customer service jobs, so learning ASL will help to reduce the barriers in the community for anyone who uses ASL. This is also a great opportunity for students who are carefully considering their future jobs to be introduced to careers in the Deaf community, such as being an ASL interpreter. Even if they have their heart set on a different career path, it can also open their eyes on how they can make their profession more accessible whether they would interact with clients or coworkers who use ASL.
Concerns from the Deaf Community
The biggest question voiced frequently and by many within the Deaf community is who will teach these classes? In the Deaf community, an ASL instructor must be Deaf or Hard of Hearing. It is imperative to have representation among the instructors and to ensure that the language is being taught by someone who is a natural signer and has been signing for most or all of their lives. However, in Ontario, to be able to teach in schools, teachers must have a Bachelor’s degree with an additional two years at teacher's college, which poses a barrier for potential Deaf ASL instructors to teach this course. There are qualified ASL teachers at schools for the Deaf, however, pulling staff from those schools will reduce the quality of education for those students and would be unethical.
If current high school teachers are looking to teach this course, it is unlikely that they would be fluent and comfortable enough with the language to teach others. For teachers to be considered qualified to teach ASL, they must take a program through the Ontario College of Teachers to become certified. Since most would be learning ASL shortly before learning how to deliver the course, it raises questions about how effectively they will be able to deliver the content, having recently learned it themselves.
A crucial component of this course is Deaf culture and community. Like many other ASL curricula, this ASL curriculum dives into Deaf culture, which is best explained by someone who is Deaf. It is difficult for someone who is hearing to effectively express and convey the perspective of an individual who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing, which would be a large component of the course. If the teachers are hearing, this component of the curriculum should only be done by bringing in members of the community to educate the class , which has been stressed in the curriculum outline.
The concern for qualified teachers is echoed throughout the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. David Wiesblatt, President of the London Club of the Deaf, said in an interview with CBC that there probably are not enough qualified instructors, and that one major piece of the program is to have Deaf instructors. He also stressed that the ministry must be in ongoing consultation with the Deaf community. The Ministry of Education has stressed that they have been working closely with members of the Deaf community, such as the Ontario Association for the Deaf, Theara Yim (a High School teacher for Deaf students), and RESO, or also known as Regroupement des parents et amis des enfants de sourds et malendenants frano-ontariens, which translates to a group of parents and friends of children of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Franco-Ontarians.
Hopefully, as the school year approaches, more clarity and comfort can be shared, and as the program proceeds, any concerns raised can be dealt with respectfully in ongoing consultation with the ASL community.
What do you think about the new curriculum? Would you take this course? Let us know below!
Shameless plug - If you are a Queen’s student who is interested in learning ASL for FREE by our wonderful ASL Instructor, Saryn, be sure to follow us on our social media for updates about registration in the new school year!
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