The Signing Time Academy has become a truly global organization with Instructors around the world. In the past month alone, we have added 70 new Instructors. We currently have Instructors registered in every US state as well as Abu Dhabi, Africa, Australia, Bahrain, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, South Korea, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Vietnam!

Signing Time Academy Instructors are:

• independent business owners who come from all walks of life
• committed to teaching children through American Sign Language signs
• free to choose their level of certification and the classes they offer
• authorized to sell  Signing Time, Baby Signing Time and Potty Time products
• ready to help your baby or your child experience the full benefits of signing

Find your local Instructor.

Apply to become an Instructor.

This blog post is part of our Deaf Culture series for Signing Time families.

If you would like to meet Deaf people in your community and get a chance to practice signing in a relaxed atmosphere, you might want to visit www.deafcoffee.com. This site provides a list of coffee socials for anyone who uses sign language. Florence Angelucci started the Deaf Chat Coffee in Batvia, Illinois. Attendance grew from a handful of people 5 years ago to about 70 people per month, including sign language students from Waubonsee Community College. Angelucci says, “We’re hoping that hearing people come here and get motivated to study sign language. We want to promote better communication between everyone, not just ourselves.”

Deaf Chat Coffee events are free and open to the public. If you want to attend with your child, you can take these steps to prepare:

• Visit www.deafcoffee.com and find a group near you
• Email the coordinator and introduce yourself
• Ask the coordinator if other children will be attending
• Brush up on fingerspelling your name and your child’s name
• Watch the Signing Time Nice to Meet You DVD and practice greeting signs together

This guest blog is by Signing Time Academy Instructor Vickie Wood in Norman, OK and is part of our Making A Difference series.

Several years ago my daughter discovered Signing Time when she was looking for a way to teach sign language to my grandson Cameron. Cam was about 2 years old then and he quickly learned not only to sign along with his spoken words, but to read and spell as well. After seeing the many benefits he and my other grandchildren experienced, I started using Signing Time in my special education classroom. Using ASL in the classroom has helped with communication, sight words, spelling, vocabulary, and even helps increase appropriate behaviors. My students love teaching the signs they learn to family and friends. We recently received a grant which allowed me to purchase two sets of the Signing Time Classroom Edition for our school and the themes fit in with those taught in several different grades. I am excited to share information about this wonderful program with anyone who will listen and even used research and materials from Signing Time on a bulletin board in our District Curriculum Center. This board will be up the whole month of April in the room where many meetings, including our School Board meetings, are held. Thank you, Signing Time, for making my job a little easier and a lot more FUN!