In the Provincial schools, Deaf children are taught English, math, science, history, social studies, arts, health and physical education curriculum at an academic level. Do we have an ASL curriculum at an academic level in order for them to develop high ASL literacy skills? Currently, we do not yet; this is why we are in the process of developing an ASL curriculum.

This kind of curriculum is a new concept for all of us in the field of Deaf Education. If we examine the history of Deaf Education, it rapidly becomes evident that American Sign Language curricula never existed in any form in any school programs in North America. Before we move on, let me define different terminology that will be used in this article: American Sign Language (ASL), literature, ASL Literature, literacy, ASL literacy and the three components of ASL literacy.

American Sign Language (ASL) is a distinct language with its own content, grammar and principles that are not dependent upon English, and is a completely visually oriented language. American Sign Language includes phonology, morphology (including the lexicon and inflections), semantics (words and relationships between words), syntax (grammatical structures) and pragmatics including discourse or conversational structure and rules of use - (cited in CCSD ASL Evaluation Training manual).

Literature exists in two forms; oral (spoken or signed) and written. Examples of the oral literature in a spoken form are as follows:

Folklore scary camp stories

Poetry Double Dutch Skipping Rhymes

Examples of the written form are as follows:

• novels The Lord of the Flies

• poetry In Flanders Fields

Both oral and written literature require cultural harmony between the teller, the narrative, and the audience. Bahan (1991) quotes Edwards and Sienkewicz (1990) The teller and the audience must share a common cultural understanding of the literary work and its social context in order for it to be successful. Without the shared values, meaning and norms, the literature would not be understood. Literature has been a very important source for generations of children to acquire language, knowledge, values, morals, and experience of the world around them. It provides the foundation for developing literacy skills.

ASL has a literature of its own that has been passed down from one generation to the next by culturally Deaf people. It is conveyed in a visual-spatial dimension. It shares similar elements and functions of any literature in any language. For Deaf children, it is an important building block that presents them opportunities to learn language, knowledge, values, morals, and experiences of the world around them. It also provides them the bridge to English and other literatures. ASL Literature exists in two forms; 1) through the air and 2) on the videotapes. Examples of ASL produced through the air are as follows:

Poetry BAT by Lily Chin

Folklore The Deaf Tree

Examples of ASL produced on the videotapes are as follows:

Poetry Disasters by Julie Martin

A to Z ASL Story Fire Fighter by Andrew Byrne

However, there are at present few resources on ASL literature. Too often we use English Literature to adapt creative works such as allegories, fairy tales, poems, and novels. Deaf Cinderella is an example of this over-reliance on English literature. Translating literature from English to ASL is another example. This has resulted in Deaf people in the community limiting their creation of their own ASL literature works independently and separately from the literature of other languages.

What is Literacy?

ASL literacy leads to:

According to Karen Christie and Dorothy M. Wilkins, there are three components of ASL literacy: functional, cultural and critical literacy. ASL functional literacy involves ASL skills that enable an individual to use and communicate information at a basic level. ASL cultural literacy involves a knowledge of the values, history, heritage and shared experiences of Deaf people that allows us to understand and interpret the relationships of ASL literacy works by Deaf people for Deaf people. Lastly ASL critical literacy refers to the use and analysis of ASL literature works in a way that allows enjoyment of the work itself, as well as empowerment and an increased understanding of our DEAF- World in relation to other parts of the world and people of other communities.

Let me give you one example of one of our Deaf teachers where she gave a lesson on an ASL poem, #S-N-O-W to our nursery and Jr. Kindergarten students. Every student who has been exposed to that poem enjoys every minute of doing this. They laughed and laughed and they would do it repeatedly. This is how they internalized ASL poems. This will enable them to better understand English poems.

Not only did those students fingerspell the word, SNOW, but they also did so in artistic ways by using different movements, directions, handshapes and actions of the snow. This poem uses particular art forms found in the Deaf cultural context. The students apply cultural literacy in their poem. This poem reflects the symbolism of Deaf Spirit, as it is arranged in a visual form that follows ASL principles.

In terms of ASL critical literacy, we can see that there is a particular pattern of movement and action in the poem . If we ask students to anaylze what movement this poem, #S-N-O-W particularly reflects, it will exhibit that the movement for four different handshapes is the same. It follows the principles and structures of an ASL poem.

By doing that poem, the students are being empowered in comprehension and creation of an ASL Literature genre. They are developing ownership of the artistic features in their language. They practice, experiment and explore different movements, directions, handshapes and actions of the snow.

Including ASL literature in the school program helps them to expand their knowledge and understanding of the world around them. It also helps them to become literate in two languages, ASL and English. The Deaf teacher passes her literature works to students of the new generation and we hope to see these students pass their works on to the next generation. Students also learn the literary works of well known ASL poets, ASL storytellers and ASL folk tellers.

Having an ASL curriculum in our school program, we intend for students to develop complex ASL and ASL literature and text skills. It will also help them develop critical thinking and analytical skills. Having those skills can help them to take more control of their lives. It will help them to feel empowered to contribute to better standards of life in their community in order to make it a better place to live. The ASL curriculum will also give students opportunities to create new works expanding upon the existing literature by other Deaf people. In turn, this will enable us to have increasingly more ASL literature resources.

In our ASL curriculum, there are three strands. They are ASL Linguistic Construction and ASL Literature and Text Construction, ASL Linguistic Analysis and ASL Literature and Text Comprehension and ASL Conversation and Media. We use the three strands to identify and develop expectations for students to develop high ASL literacy skills. In each grade, students will be expected to meet specific skills that they need before moving on to the next grade. This will enable them to use appropriate structures of ASL and ASL Literature to meet the normal demands of academic and daily life. Having a strong language and literature base, they will be able to understand and formulate hypotheses and apply intellectual knowledge when creating ASL stories, poems and other elements of ASL literature at the next grade level.

Having strong ASL literacy skills, students will also be able to convey academic knowledge in other content areas more effectively.

If we want Deaf children to be prepared for the 21^st century, we need to provide a curriculum that will equip them with high ASL literacy to access deep knowledge and understanding of the world around them. The American Sign Language Curriculum is this golden key.

By: Heather Gibson