Introduction to ASL and the MTC

Hello everyone!

I have to apologize for the late posting tonight, but it's still Tuesday!

First of all, I want all of you to be aware of what American Sign Language (ASL) is and what does the Missionary Training Center have to do with ASL? ASL is a language primarily used by the deaf community to communicate with each other using hands, facial expressions and body language. ASL came to origin when Laurent Clerc from France visited Thomas Gallaudet, who had a friend who had a deaf daughter and wanted an education for her, to teach him sign language. Clerc and Gallaudet founded the first deaf school in America in 1817 (for more details, click here). The first picture is of Laurent Clerc while the second one is Thomas Gallaudet.

Today, over two million people use ASL to communicate. American Sign Language is now officially recognized as a separate language from English in several states. Many colleges, universities and high schools offer courses in ASL.

Now, what does the Missionary Training Center have to do with ASL?

The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints sends missionaries all over the world speaking in hundreds of different languages, dialects and so on... The church also sends ASL missionaries mainly to big cities in America such as Los Angeles, San Jose, New York City, Houston, Miami, Phoenix and many other cities to teach the deaf who is interested in joining the church. I served my mission for two years in the California Los Angeles mission and it was an awesome experience for me.

The MTC is a place where missionaries gather to learn the language and prepare before leaving into the actual field of work. Usually, missionaries called to proselytize in ASL stay in the MTC for 9 weeks to learn the language. We, as MTC teachers, have the responsibility to faciliate their learning to becoming proficient ASL signers before the leave to work in their areas where they have been called to serve.

We had a new group of missionaries who arrived last week Wednesday. There are 18 missionaries, 12 elders (male) and 6 sisters (female) called to serve in various cities over the United States in ASL! We have 6 skilled signers, 5 of them are deaf and one's a certified interpreter, and the rest of the group knows a little ASL or none at all. They're about to embark the journey of mastering the language in 9 weeks!

The next blog will be more about the missionaries and their progress in learning the language. The next post will be much more fun to read, I promise!

Please leave a comment if you have any questions or comments about the blog!