I thought it would be nice to do a short post about BSL. I did my BSL Level 1 and got my certificate in my first year of university. Seeing as I want to work with children labelled as having SEN I thought it would be invaluable to learn a bit of BSL and I was right.
For the past two years I have been volunteering in SEN school and BSL has been incredibly useful when communicating with the students. Learning BSL to be able to communicate with Deaf people in a way that is inclusive to them I think is a really important thing to do, as well as so many other reasons. Throughout my time working with children, I have learnt that you can use BSL in any context. I have found it most useful when communicating with students who have learning differences but it can also be and I think it should also be used in mainstream. I have just done a whole dissertation on language and using diverse ways of communicating so I could go on for days about this topic. I think if youngsters were taught BSL and grew up learning and using it the world would be so much more inclusive and understanding towards individuals with impairments who use diverse ways of communicating. I will probably write some more about my dissertation once I have had my marks and feedback in July.
When I learnt BSL I had a Deaf tutor named Simeon. It was actually so useful to have a Deaf tutor. For the first few lessons he was supposed to have a translator with him but the translator was a no-show so we had to use BSL from the get go. I am so glad the translator didn't turn up because having to actually use the language you are learning to communicate with someone it a fantastic way of remembering and developing these new skills. I remember Simeon asking us to gesture to the class a phrase or word before learning any BSL. This made so much sense because a lot of signs are something you would use to gesture/describe that phrase or word anyway. It is quite difficult to write about without being able to show you what I mean. I will try to give you an example! Think about how you would gesture a boat. How would you use your hands and not your voice to try and get another person to guess 'boat'? Well the actual sign for boat is putting the tips of your fingers together to make an upside-down 'V' and pushing your arms forward. If you actually try this it makes sense that that is the sign for 'boat'.
I hope if you haven't already you do consider learning even a bit of BSL! I do think it will be so useful and inclusive for teaching and I hope to use it in the classroom. I will definitely do another post to discuss language in the classroom!
I am unable to post videos on here but I will definitely put some on my Instagram for you to see because I think it is nice to see it being used. I have cut the videos down because they are quite long and I include details about my family.
Take care and be sunny!
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