Presentation on signing with babies and children

[Guest Wolfie]

I'm planning a 30 minute presentation/teaching session on the why, what and how of signing with babies and children, which will end up with the group being able to sign a simple rhyme. I've got some ideas and am starting to pull it all together but any further suggestions for activities and/or resources that other people have found useful would be very gratefully received!

[SueJ]

I did my dissertation on signed spoken English and as a setting we do lots of signing with the children. The link below takes you to an old Teachers TV clip which is v. informative. Other BSL resources including free signing sheets for colours and a couple of songs are on the link below that.

 

http://www.creativeeducation.co.uk/videos/

 

http://www.widgit.com/resources/bsl/index.htm#contentsSyncId=CDF644D7-C51C-5548-A7F9-CC3B8AC50058

 

Made up our own booklet to sign Old MacDonald with just pictures of different animals that the children could choose to sign.

 

Dancing with Words by Marilyn Daniels is v. informative reading for signing with hearing children.

[Guest]

Sue that is great advice I like the idea of Old MacDonalds farm book.. Only know two songs to sign to and that's Humpty Dumpty and Baa Baa black sheep. I must have them somewhere if you can't find them let me know and I will look them out and email them to you.

 

I too will be checking out your links Sue ;0)

 

Let us know how it goes Wolfie.. I would be interested in seeing your presentation [ if electronic] as I would love to show my boss as I feel that its so important and doesn't just need to be for if you have a hearing impaired child in your setting its good for all children.

[Guest Wolfie]

Many many thanks for you replies, that's really helpful. The sign language that I've always used with children is Makaton and I shall be using that during the session - can anyone tell me the main differences between that and BSL and whether there is a problem when children move from using one set of signs to the other! Just something that occurred to me!

 

Kazwalters, my presentation is a micro-teach, part of me being assessed for the PTLLS qualification if you've come across that? I've got to incorporate assessment opportunities for the group of adult that I'm presenting to, as part of the 30 mins, hence why I'm going to end up with them all signing a rhyme! I'll gladly share the whole thing with you when it's done.

[SueJ]

This is an extract from the FAQ section of the makaton website

• Is Makaton different from British Sign Language (BSL)?
  
  • 
    Makaton is designed to help hearing people with learning or communication difficulties. It uses signs and symbols, with speech, in spoken word order.
    BSL is the language of the deaf community in the UK. It is a naturally evolving language, with its own grammar, word order and has regional variations.
    Wherever Makaton is used in the world, the signs from the sign language of that country are used. Our sign advisors select signs that look like a word and are easy to make. Once a sign is selected to be used with Makaton this becomes the sign that is used across the whole country. This means that if a Makaton user needs to move to another school or town, the signs used there will be the same as they use in their current location.
    
  • 
    In my setting we use BSL signs alongside spoken English using normal spoken English syntax (the concept is referred to as Signed Spoken English or SSE) (BSL as a language in its own right uses a syntax that is different to English as it is spoken) and we don't always use pictures as is the case with Makaton.
    
  • 
    A number of Makaton signs are derivatives of BSL signs but there are some subtle differences and as the makaton site says BSL also has regional variations. Most early years settings in my area are being encouraged to use BSL and our local child development centre has moved away a little from Makaton to BSL too.
     
    

[Guest Wolfie]

Many thanks for that Sue - interesting reading! I wasn't aware of settings moving away from using Makaton, I shall make inquiries around here about that. Are the signs for say animals the same with bothe systems - pig, duck, horse, sheep, etc. ?

[SueJ]

Its a while since I used Makaton and am now so BSL brained that my Makaton is too rusty to say - BSL for pig is a round motion in front of your nose, duck is bird beak (opening and closing) to the side of the face, horse (there are two signs one like you are riding holding the reins and the other a sort of clip clop hand in front of you, sheep is a curly horn motion using little fingers of both hands (one either side of the head) - hope that helps

[Guest Wolfie]

Well from what you say, the signs are the same for Makaton and BSL with all of those, which makes me very happy! Thanks Sue.

[lawchaz]

I'd be really interested in seeing your presentation if that's possible? I'm always 'preaching' about how important it is so would love to see how you deleivered it?

[Guest Wolfie]

Hi - as a matter of fact, I'm delivering it this Thursday! I'll gladly share with you what I'm doing, though it's not as in depth as I would like - I only have 30 minutes and am doing it as a "microteach" in order to achieve my PTLLS qualification. The majority of the session will be spent teaching my "students" some signs and playing Bingo to assess whether they've learnt them (!), though I am going to go through some theory at the beginning, using true/false statements to get some discussion going. I've found doing the research for it really enjoyable - loads of good stuff out there on baby signing websites. If you want to message me your email, I can share that way? Or can I do it on here ... technophobe alert!

[SueJ]

:1b Good luck - let me know how it goes

[Guest Wolfie]

If anyone is looking for a video clip of signing in action, this is the one that I'm using -and Katja has been extremely helpful in providing ideas for the presentation too!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD7M6LxVjfs&feature=player_embedded