British Sign Language
Introduction
British Sign Language (BSL) is a language of our community here at The Colman Schools. It’s a wonderful language that we all enjoy using and BSL is a subject in our Year 2 and Year 3 classes.
Throughout our Junior and Infant schools, we use sign language to:
- Say hello!
- Spell words
- Tell stories
- Say how we feel
- Chat to each other
We also love singing and signing! That means signing while we are also singing. It’s really fun and Colman are fantastic at this (we’ve even won competitions!).
Everyone sings and signs during assemblies.
We welcome different members of the Deaf community into our schools, who tell us about their lives and help us learn more about Deaf culture.
Year 2 BSL
In Year 2, you will learn how to…
- Fingerspell the alphabet (do you know if you’re left handed or right handed?)
- Sign your name
- Greet your friends
Year 3 BSL lessons
In Year 3, you will:
- Develop an understanding of BSL grammar and different handshapes
- Learn a wide range of vocabulary in BSL
- Be able to chat in BSL with each other and members of the Deaf community who will join us throughout the year
- Become more Deaf aware
- Learn about Deaf culture and Deaf history
- Learn how to ‘translate’ from English to BSL and vice versa
- HAVE FUN! Learning an amazing new language!
Fantastic BSL resources
There are some fantastic signed programmes for you to enjoy at home!
BSL Zone has a brilliant section for children to watch.
The programmes are signed but with someone ‘voicing’ English if you want to ‘hear’ what they are signing.
They’re really fun and you will learn more about the Deaf community and all kinds of other things – we love ‘Let’s Go Wild’ series about a zoo with Deaf presenters.
Visit their website – https://www.bslzone.co.uk/children.