MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State University is now offering an asynchronous American Sign Language telecourse through the Center for Accelerated Language Acquisition, the language training partner of the University Honors College.

Classes are prerecorded, so students can watch and participate anytime to suit their schedules. All materials are included with the cost of the four-week course.

CALA’s sign language course has drawn considerable community interest since it was first offered in fall 2018.

Students will learn naturally through games and other hands-on activities dealing with greetings, numbers, colors, body parts, the alphabet and elements of basic everyday conversations.

Organizers say the course uses CALA’s teaching method of Total Physical Response, an instruction process that engages students in storytelling to help them absorb the language.

Brian Roberts, associate director of CALA, said participants will gain a 30-day access to the ASL telecourse, which features nearly eight hours of instruction.

Cost is $70 for the public, $60 for MTSU faculty/staff/alumni, and $50 for MTSU students, and high school students and teachers.

To get a glimpse of what the course will entail, visit mtsu.edu/cala/competencies.php.

To register, go to http://bit.ly/asl-cala. For more information, email acceleratedacquisition@gmail.com.

CALA also offers asynchronous online telecourses in Spanish, French and Chinese. For more details, visit the registration site at https://tinyurl.com/CALAtelecourses.

— Nancy DeGennaro (Nancy.DeGennaro@mtsu.edu)