American Sign Language is a new course introduced by Adriann Hardin this year.

ASL is a world language that counts as a normal .5 credit of language. ASL meets college language requirements.

Hardin is the teacher of the class. She found interest in offering this class at chs three years ago. This year Hardin wanted to make a change to the only two languages offered to the 1900 students at CHS.

Hardin is happy to announce ASL will be a class at CHS from now on, and next year will be offering a 3-4 class. As for 5-6, she’s not sure yet.

A normal day in ASL consists of vocab and a refresher, then some new vocab and maybe partner work.  

Hardin says it’s a common misconception to say it’s just English, when it’s not. Students use more of their brain with the hand movements, and understanding of the specific movements, she said.

Hardin started off her love for ASL when she took toddler classes with her daughter. She realized her skills in the langage and took more classes at PCC and Oregon State. Hardin explained that ASL came easily to her.

She took seven years of Spanish and still isn’t a pro, but she said she “gets” ASL. Hardin said it isn’t “easy” and not to come expecting that, but it’s easier to maintain and get than other languages.