If you’ve found that learning ASL on your own has been a little haphazard, you will love our progressive format where every lesson smoothly flows into the next. Instead of being overwhelmed with an entire course curriculum all at once, we have broken down each class level into manageable, easy to digest “chunks” or Units – you can just take it one lesson at a time. Our course is set up like a true in-person ASL course. Most ASL websites only have the basics and are not in “class form” where ours is a real course full of fantastic material that you will find both challenging and enjoyable. We use real life situations and conversations in our course. While most basic ASL lessons start you off with little signs like “dog” or “cat,” we get you started with conversations and activities right away. We get you involved in the learning. We don’t want to teach “at” you, we want you to be involved in the learning process. Each lesson builds on the next in a way that just makes sense so you can see tangible progress with each unit you complete. There is so much more to learn than you may have realized – and you will love every minute of it!

All you need to do is click My Courses at the top to view all of your currently enrolled courses as well as your progress. You can then click the course you are currently working on and you will immediately see where you left off. While most ASL sites are outdated and the material is either crowded, scattered, or downright hard to find – you’ll love how our website is simple, clean, organized, and very easy to use.

After joining, you will get immediate access to all three levels of our ASL course – ASL 1, 2, and 3 – and you can get started learning right away! Each level of our course is packed full of material and is roughly equivalent to one year of a foreign language in high school and one semester in college – that’s three years of high school classes or three semesters of college classes packed into one complete easy-to-use online course.

Start ASL 1

Our ASL 1 course is the best class for beginners or refreshing your skills and will get you conversing right away. 

This course is packed full of information and includes 13 units covering:

• Fingerspelling,
• Numbers,
• The five sign parameters,
• Word order,
• Sentence types,
• Pronouns and indexing,
• Verbs,
• Identifying people,
• As well as lessons on Deaf culture, Deaf history, and more!

ASL 1 also includes:

• Over 550 vocabulary and phrase videos,
• 60 lesson videos,
• 30 activities and quizzes,
• 9 Reading Assignments from the DJSC! Student Guides,
• 1 writing and 3 Deaf event assignments,
• And 1 signing assignment for which you will receive instructor feedback.

Start ASL 2

Our ASL 2 course is full of advanced lessons that will target your grammar skills and help make you a more confident signer. 

This course is full of great grammar examples and includes 12 units covering:

• Sentence types,
• Time,
• Duration,
• Regularity,
• Temporal aspect,
• Classifiers,
• Pluralization,
• Distance,
• Inflection,
• Describing rooms, objects, and locations,
• And more!

ASL 2 also includes:

• Over 350 vocabulary and phrase videos,
• Over 30 lesson videos,
• Over 15 advanced activities and quizzes,
• And 3 signing assignments for which you will receive instructor feedback.

Start ASL 3

Our ASL 3 course is our most advanced course and will teach you how to sign more abstract ideas – including popular stories! 

This course is full of fun signing and storytelling examples and includes 11 units covering more advanced signing like:

• Role shifting,
• Narratives,
• Giving information,
• Sign language games,
• Literature,
• Storytelling,
• And interpreting songs.

ASL 3 also includes over:

• 200 vocabulary and phrase videos,
• 20 advanced lesson videos,
• 17 advanced activities and quizzes,
• And 5 signing assignments for which you will receive instructor feedback.

If you’ve ever taken an ASL class before and felt like they left it to you to figure out how to use correct grammar or worse, let you get away with signing in English word order – you are not alone. Many signers find themselves defaulting to English grammar or just kind of winging it when signing and hoping nobody notices. This is unfortunately extremely common and our course will teach you everything you’ve missed in explicit detail. We have ASL word order and sentence structure all laid out for you – easily explained in a way that will allow you to practice the grammar correctly and effortlessly apply it to any sentence or conversation. If you want to be more than just an “ok” signer – if you want to have command of the language and know what you’re talking about – then this course is for you.

Did you know there is a lot of incorrect ASL vocabulary floating around the internet? If you’ve ever tried learning ASL from Youtube, then you know exactly what we mean. When you’re learning on your own it’s difficult to know if what you’re learning is correct or not. And sometimes, especially with books, even if the vocabulary is correct, it’s difficult to replicate it accurately and remember what you learned. For this reason, you will love our “popup” vocabulary videos and our interactive activities that test everything you’ve learned. This helps your memory to reinforce what you’re learning so you can always have the right vocabulary ready for any conversation.

At Start ASL, you’re joining a community of students who are all learning together. If you don’t know anyone in your community who’s deaf or anyone else who is learning ASL – you are not alone! Most of our students who practice together found each other in our exclusive student community group. And many choose to practice with our ASL tutors as well. Our courses may be self-study, but you’re not by yourself! You may have poured over ASL books or surfed ASL dictionaries alone in the past, but that can end here when you join our community!

We have tutors available for your use whenever you need with the Start ASL Tutoring Program. They will tutor you, for a separate fee, via Skype to provide help with any topics you may need help with. Having a conversation with a Deaf person doesn’t need to be a daunting or intimidating task – you can practice here, in a safe place, and confidently ace your next interaction.

Our online courses are extremely flexible – they are completely mobile-friendly, self-study, and at your own pace. If you think you will struggle to find the time to learn, you will love how flexible our program is. You can learn for a few hours every day or one hour a week – it’s all up to you! You can learn from your new iPad while waiting at the doctor’s office or from your old computer in the next state over after you move next month. We’re here for you whenever you want, wherever you are, for as long as you need!

Signs in ASL are sometimes signed differently in other areas of the country and, like with accents in English, are usually slightly different from signer to signer. With Start ASL, you are learning from nine different signers which gives you a unique advantage to be able to practice seeing the same signs done by different signers. This may be a little frustrating at first, but after having your first conversation in ASL, you will quickly realize how powerful this learning tool really is.

Are you asking yourself right now, “Will I be able to do this?” “Am I going to be able to successfully learn this online?” You’re definitely not alone, but more importantly – you absolutely can! We promise that after completing just three units you will already begin to see progress. After completing each activity or quiz, you will see your results right after clicking “Submit.” You will even get to compete with scores for the student Leaderboard! You can also review each question to see what you got correct or incorrect to further improve your progress. You also have the ability to slow down or speed up any of our videos. This is a great way to catch any sign you might have missed or give yourself an extra challenge.

Do you think you struggle with discipline or are wondering if you will be able to stick to it? Then our exclusive Start ASL Student Newsletter was made for you! Packed with great tips, resources, and gentle reminders about your progress, you will be supported throughout your entire journey. Did your momentum start strong with other resources in the past and then just kind of fizzle out? We want to make sure that doesn’t happen. We want you to succeed and you’ll see that we’re here for you the whole way!

If you’re learning to earn credit for school, to gain a promotion at work, or to just check this item off your “bucket list” – this is your seal of approval! Print your certificates with pride as you have successfully completed a full ASL class and can now communicate in ASL – something not everyone can say they have done. With the Gold membership, you can receive verified completion certificates and grade reports if required by your school or employer.