I wanted to pass along some information about American Sign Language courses for you to share with your students.
First, it will be helpful to remind students that there is a pre- or co-requisite for SHS 121 Introduction to American Sign Language. Those taking the class this semester must either have previously taken or be taking concurrently SHS 222 Language and Culture of Deaf Communities. Last semester SHS 222 was not offered so the pre-/co-requisite was not enforced. If you happen to get questions from students who took SHS 121 already but who have not yet taken SHS 222, they will not be required to take SHS 222 after the fact although they are welcome to do so. However, if they are currently taking SHS 121 this semester they will need to have already taken or currently be taking SHS 222 with it.
I also wanted to share that the Department of Speech and Hearing Science is acutely aware that there is particular demand this semester for the third semester of ASL, SHS 321 American Sign Language 3, and has tried to explore ways to address this. Unfortunately, due to the limited number of instructors who are able to teach SHS 321, it is not possible to offer another section of the class this semester.
However, at this time you can share with interested students that the SHS department is planning on offering SHS 321 for the first time this summer during summer session one (SHS 121 will also be offered once again during that session as well). Hopefully this will give students a heads up on another option if they cannot get into the class this spring than having to wait until next fall to try to take it then, which of course they have the option of doing.
Thanks again for sharing this with your students. I hope the start of the semester goes smoothly for everyone.