Instructor Haley Jensen, top left, and, clockwise from left, Stacie Lowry, Sarah Pruitt, Sarah Seago, and Joshua Jensen display their American Sign Language skills via video conferencing. (Photo submitted)

Learning how to communicate with the deaf or people who have hearing impairments was never more fun than in the MTSU remote classroom.

The Center for Accelerated Language Acquisition will offer two six-week virtual sessions of American Sign Language instruction on Wednesday evenings from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. The first session will last from Aug. 25 to Sept. 29; the second session will be available from Oct. 13 to Nov. 17.

Each session will be capped at 30 participants. The fee is $130 for the general public, $115 for MTSU faculty, staff and alumni and $100 for MTSU and high school students.

Instructor Haley Jensen leads the classes through games and other hands-on activities dealing with greetings, numbers, colors, body parts, the alphabet and elements of basic, everyday conversation.

“I think one of the best features is that Haley can easily see all of us and respond quickly and when she teaches,” Elizabeth, a librarian who took the classes, said. “I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything by taking the class online.”

For more information, contact Brian Roberts, assistant director of CALA, at brian.roberts@mtsu.edu or acceleratedacquisition@mtsu.edu or 615-898-5757.

— Gina K. Logue (gina.logue@mtsu.edu)