Things You'll Need:
- "The Joy of Signing" book
- Day planner
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Step 1
Give your information to whoever teaches your college's sign language class. Let him know that you are fluent in sign language, and that you would be willing to offer your services as a tutor to anyone who needs them. If you are charging a fee (which you should), let the teacher know that information, too. Remember when you set your fee that you are dealing with poor college kids. Don't charge as much as a professional would or they won't be able to afford you.
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Step 2
Set up a meeting place and time. The campus library is probably the best location. Choose somewhere that has a lot of foot traffic, because you won't know the person you are going to tutor, and a crowd helps eliminate danger. Use your day planner to keep track of who you are tutoring on what days. This will keep you organized and help you see what times you still have available, or if you are all booked up and can't take on any more students.
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Step 3
Have your student purchase the book "The Joy of Signing." It is as close to a sign-language dictionary as you can possibly get. If the student can't afford the book, you should copy pages for her that relate to the lesson you are working on that day.
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Step 4
Begin with the alphabet. When a person can sign the entire alphabet, he will be able to spell any word he does not know to a hearing-impaired person. Have your student sing the alphabet with you, and as you do so, go through all the signs. Keep doing it until he has them all down. If the student is a little rough, have him practice for homework and be ready to show you all of the alphabet next time.
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Step 5
Teach basic needs next. Basic needs include words like "hungry," "eat," "drink," "more," "all done," "bathroom," "sleep," "bath," etc. Many of these signs are so easy that you should be able to cover the basic needs in one day. You will then need to encourage your student to keep practicing them throughout the week so she does not forget them.
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Step 6
Teach relationships. These include words for the family and friends your student is going to see on a regular basis. That means "mother," "father," "sister," "brother," "uncle," "aunt," "cousin," "grandmother," "grandfather" and "friend." You always want to teach sign language in relevant groups. Don't go in alphabetical order. That will only confuse your student and make no sense to him. Even the book "The Joy of Signing" is listed in groups and not alphabetically.
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Step 7
Continue teaching one new category at each meeting. Always spend time reviewing the category you covered the previous week, to make sure the student remembers it or doesn't need to work on it some more. Do this as long as the student needs your help--or until she runs out of money. To help with the latter, you could consider offering a coupon that entitles the bearer to a free lesson with every five lessons paid.
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Step 8
If your student has a computer, you can encourage him to buy a program like "Instant Immersion--American Sign Language v2.0." Using the computer is a great way for the learner to test himself to see if he remembers the signs. You should only use this method as a quiz or a test, though, since sign language should constantly be practiced on the hands and not with keyboard keys or a mouse.
