ASL Group Practice Sessions

HOW TO JOIN

We know how hard it can be to learn sign language without someone to practice with. And we understand that the pandemic has made it even harder to find opportunities to interact with other signers. That’s why we started our free weekly ASL group practice sessions in April 2020. It is our goal to help you connect with others and to improve your expressive and receptive skills with others who share your passion for sign language.


What others are saying

  • Awesome community! Thank you Chris and Johnni! – Juliana Russell from The Language Mindset
  • Thanks to @aslbasics for the opportunity to connect with others and teaching ASL! – Stephanie
  • Really impressed with this group and sooo happy I can keep learning in this group every week! Very supportive. – Elizabeth
  • I started this last week and made ASL friends. Friends are the best to improve and enjoy language learning. – Kaori
  • So awesome, thank you! – Adam
  • Made a new friend, practiced my ASL signing and my receptive skills. These group sessions are helping me improve and meet others learning ASL. I really appreciate this opportunity. – Kieran
  • I loved it today, it was fun, especially meeting other signers. – Alejandra
  • I feel so comfortable here and think this is the best for everyone! – Haley
  • This has been a wonderful reintroduction for me to a language I’ve missed for a long, long time. Thank you! – Gale
  • It’s been incredibly hard to learn by myself, thank you guys so much for creating this group! It means so much to me. – Steph
  • Wednesday’s are my favorite! – Jordan ASL
  • “I love the group sessions as they provide a gentle introduction to a wonderful language.” – Gale Leach
  • “The weekly group practice sessions have been a great way for me to improve my signing skills, while meeting a lot of great people.  Every week is a little different, but everyone is always positive and it is helpful to practice signing with different people each week.” – Rachel Eglash


How to Join

We host free sessions every Wednesday at 5:00 PM Pacific time (8:00 PM Eastern) on Zoom. To increase the security and safety of these Zoom meetings we send out the link and password to those that are subscribed to our free newsletter. We value your privacy and time, so we only send out emails that are relevant and valuable to you. Our newsletter is designed to keep you informed and inspired about sign language and you can unsubscribe at any time. You can learn more here.

Sign up for free


What to Expect

In the clip below, we briefly discuss what you can expect from our weekly practice sessions.

The first few minutes will be spent pairing each student with a practice partner that is of a similar skill level (beginner, intermediate, or advanced). Then each pair will be put into a “breakout room” where they can turn off their voices and use what they’ve learned to make the communication happen.

This is a great way to both increase your exposure to the language (comprehensible input) and have an opportunity to put into practice what you have been learning (comprehensible output). You can learn more about what comprehensible input and output are and why they are so important to learning a new language quickly with the video below.

The 3 Keys to Learning Any New Language

To help speed up the process of pairing up students at the start, you can add New, Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced to the end of your name. For example, if your name is Kimberly and you are a beginner, then on Zoom you can change your name to Kimberly (beginner).

I started this as a beginner and now I am an intermediate level because I met wonderful ASL friends here!

Kaori

During these sessions, I encourage you all to be patient with each other and please be kind. Remember that we are all at various stages of learning and that we’re all in this together. 

As mentioned earlier, we wholeheartedly want to offer this service to everyone for free for as long as possible, so if you would like to help support these types of programs to continue in the future, please consider visiting our Patreon page.

If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know down in the comments below or you can contact us directly at chris@aslbasics.com. We look forward to meeting you and hope to see you at our next session. In the meantime, stay safe, take care, and keep on learning!

46 thoughts on “ASL Group Practice Sessions”

      1. Hey Chris, my name is Willet Debrah and I emailed you about the group zoom information. Is it possible to email it to me?

  1. Christopher Wilson

    I missed the first practice session, with all that is going on around the world, I checked out for a couple of days and went to the lake and just fished, now I’m playing catch up. So sorry I missed the first session when is there going to be another? I am very interested in learning for my self as a retired Sheriff’s Deputy it would have come in handy a few times, but I had to relied on a note pad and a few basic phrases to get by and get the answers I needed. Stay safe, keep those talking hands washed, until next time thanks. Also I have questions about training my new puppy with hand signals or a few basic signs. Thanks guys.

    1. No problem, I understand needing to get away with everything that is going on. We will be doing another group practice session next Wednesday at 5:00 PM Pacific Time. You’re more than welcome to join us then. If you’d like, I’ll post some of signs you can use for you dog in our private Facebook group, which you are also welcome to join if you’d like (the link is in the FREE Resources post)

      1. I just found this group today! I hope to be able to join tonight (God willing I’m still welcome and can figure it out.) This is amazing, Thank you!

      2. I’d love to join the group but love to make friends with the deaf culture as well um I am also trying to figure out how to join if one would or could help me with that that be so outstanding and awesome

    1. That is great! If you would like, you can check out these ASL Lessons here or go to the Videos page on the website to see all of our free lessons. Let me know if you have any questions or need help with anything.

  2. jerry a williams

    hey Chris thank you for your time. on wed for group pratice, looking forward to next time. i have a question i may have misunderstand you on wed, are you haveing a group pratice on today which is friday i live in columbia south carolina

  3. Im eager to learn asl, but i dont have anyone to practice with to remember what i learned. Ive studied alot alone. Im excited to begin practice with the groups.

    1. These practice sessions will be perfect for you. A lot of other students have been finding them incredibly useful in networking and practicing with others. A few have even jumped from being beginners to being intermediate in just a few sessions. Hopefully you’ll be able to make it to our next one.

  4. Hello! Idk if the other comment posted or not but I just wanted to say that this little practice group is so cool. I have been looking for a community online to participate with. The only issue is I have my ASL college class at 5:30 pm on Wednesdays… is there any way that there is another day for these sessions. It looked super fun from what I can tell. Thank you!

    1. We are currently holding practice sessions on every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the month of August for those enrolled in our 30-day course. We also will be holding a live workshop this Saturday for those enrolled in our Beyond the Basics (which you can sign up for free). If you have any questions about either of those programs, please feel free to reach out to me or email me at chris@aslbasics.com.

  5. I can’t wait to begin. I’ve watched many of Chris videos. Now i need someone to practice with to help me remember what i learned.

  6. Hello Chris,

    I am a college student taking ASL 101 at the moment. I would love to get in on joining and connecting with other signers. Am I too late to the party?

    1. That’s great that you are taking ASL in college. We are still holding free weekly practice sessions for anyone interested in getting some practice in with some others at their skill level. You are welcome to join any time you wish. Let me know if you have any questions in regard to joining the group or what to expect.

  7. Hello, I am from Jamaica, I’ve been watching your youtube videos lately and while I am slowly but surely learning, I don’t have any one to practice with. I’d love to join your practice sessions but i dont know how.

  8. Hi,
    Just wanted to say thank you for all your videos. I’ve started to learn with your videos two weeks ago.
    I’ll be joining the the next practice session on zoom! This is very important to me.
    Dolly

  9. Enjoying your beginner videos. Hoping to join practice session Weds. Oct 14, 2020. Is there a theme we should prepare for?

    Thanks!
    SB

  10. Im 9 years old and i love sigh I’ve been trying to learn sigh for a few days now and I learn 10 sighs every day with that I’ve learned 100 sighs

  11. Are you all still doing these group meetings?
    I’m a beginner, but I’m really eager to start practicing ASL with actual people instead of just signing things by myself at home. XD

  12. Can new people join? Are there themes every week?

    Also, I am a teenager, are under 18 people welcome?

    Thank you, your videos are great.

  13. Can new people join? Are there themes every week?

    Also, I am a teenager, are under 18 people welcome?

    Thank you, your videos are great.

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