Ratheesh Chelakkattu

I've been signing for 15+ years and I can converse with Deaf people, but I've working to make my signing more ASL and less English. Ratheesh has been the most helpful so far of all the tutors I've tried on here when it comes to this goal, and I think I've tried most of the Deaf ASL tutors.

Every lesson with Ratheesh is a pleasure. As a teacher and speaker of multiple languages, ASL is a whole new world of expression for me, and Ratheesh just makes it all the more exciting and fascinating. He manages to teach ASL grammar and structure, while also tailoring lessons around me, my life, my interests, and more. Honestly, he's one of the best language teachers I've had!

He had a mini lesson plan that was really helpful

There are not enough words to describe Ratheesh; it would be best to just sign them :) As a foreign language high school teacher myself, I can say that he is truly an amazing educator. From day one our lessons have been filled with joy and laughter. There is never a dull moment and, after a long day of work, I always look forward to spending time and learning from him. From knowing absolutely nothing, he has opened up a completely new world to me that I never even knew existed. I look forward to continuing my lessons and diving deeper and deeper into the amazing world of ASL and everything it has to offer.

It has been years since I’ve signed, so rusty doesn’t even begin to cover how I feel. Ratheesh made me feel relaxed and comfortable trying to put together the basic signs that I remember. Plus, he remembered so many details of my background, work, family, despite the roughly three years since our last lesson. I was absolutely impressed and moved by the fact that he would have maintained any of that info in his head after all this time. I can’t wait until next week to try again and I feel assured as I always have been that he’s an extremely competent, cheerful, caring, and professional teacher.

Ratheesh is such an enthusiastic, fun, and patient teacher! I understand ASL receptively at a much faster pace than when I began learning from him, and my expressive skills are improving too. Now I’m able to understand and tell simple stories! Ratheesh gives excellent examples to help me remember specific signs. Today, we discussed world events and history. I learned many signs for countries and names of world leaders. We also spoke about several other topics that interest me, such as health and education. I look forward to my lessons every week!