Gotta Learn Those Signs!

My school, Satelllite Academy, is now 25 years old and on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Our student body is made up of the "rejects" of the Department of Education (DOE). We take in students who have been rushed through other schools, some with thousands of students. They have been lost along the way. Others have failed in several other programs and come to us as a last resort. And still others have been discharged because they are bringing down test averages. We are a motley crew indeed. That being said, the payoff in watching them succeed makes it well worthwhile. As a foreign language teacher, I struggle to get the students motivated. Why bother learning someone else's language? Thankfully, American Sign Language is unique among languages. It is visual and perceived as "secretive" or "pretty." That usually gets them interested. However, when they find it's actually a language with vocabulary and grammar, they settle in as if it were any spoken language. My class is often larger (around 26) than the ideal 15, and I do not always get to every single student who has a vocabulary or grammar question when they are working in pairs or small groups. Therefore, I am requesting 10 copies of some top notch CD-ROM's: Instant Immersion American Sign Language Deluxe (Topics Entertainment) and American Sign Language Dictionary (Multimedia 2000, Inc.). I would like these for a few reasons. First, American Sign Language (ASL) dictionaries in print are flat. They are not very good at showing the 3-D nature of sign language. The movements are not clear, and the students find them taxing. Secondly, there is no written form of ASL. So, unlike French or German, I have nothing to send home for them to review and test their improvements. With these CD-ROM's, the students who struggle can use them as a tutoring tool or sign them out before an exam. In class, we have access to laptops that students use in pairs. Up until now, there have been rudimentary websites with bad, choppy or still pictures that do little to aid the students in learning this fluid and subtle language. I see this tool as a way to change that. CD-ROM's offer a great opportunity for students to look up signs, try phrases, and quiz each other. In class, sections they have reviewed can be projected and used for a class activity, language game, review or quiz. I believe that having these CD-ROM's will help the class to be more interactive, visually stimulating, and informative, while helping students to increase their knowledge and use of the language. I thank you for your kind consideration of my request.