Learning Sign Language/BSL Resources?

[Garacesh]

So I've decided I want to learn British Sign Language (BSL), I figure it's one of those things that if I never need it, fine, but if I ever meet somebody (say, in a social setting) that's hard of hearing, being able to converse with somebody will mean the world to them. It's the little things, y'know? Anyway, to my significant annoyance, I've checked the course listings for the local council and they have literally nothing on about it. There's 4-day courses for prospective SEN teachers but nothing about learning to sign. So it looks like I'm gonna have to do it on my own back.

 

I've already signed up with Home | BSL Homework by advice from one of our TA's but besides that and YouTube, does anybody have any other resources worth looking at? Doesn't have to be free, I'm completely open to the idea of paying money for a properly structured course.

[AJWhite1970]

It's a good skill to have but it's something you have to keep using or over time you slowly forget it. In a previous life I used to teach ICT to blind and deaf students and used to use sign for a couple of students. That was 15 years ago now (geesh!!) and while I can still finger spell and remember a few basic words (and a few swear words they taught me) I really struggle to keep up with people who sign quickly. There is also the issue I ran into of regional dialect, I had a northern student and some words are/were signed differently. The best resource I can suggest is to find someone else who can sign and practice with them, it's much easier than CBT.

 

There is also Makaton SL which is becoming more popular with shows like "Something Special" and Mr Tumble (Justin Fletcher) doing great work in this field.

 

Good luck, it's a great skill to have

 

Andrew

Edited March 20, 2017 by AJWhite1970

[TechMonkey]

I'd definitely try and find a local group to join. It's been a while since I did any but picked a bit up myself and the my school did a taster session that led into a full blown course. It was really interesting comparing what I thought I had got to what was the actual sign and then finding out that some signs are regional and the signs to be careful of as they are close to ruder signs elsewhere!

 

Also, like a spoken language, you always learn quicker if you can practice against someone.

Edited March 20, 2017 by TechMonkey

[Pyroman]

I did a Makaton course and unfortunately I've forgotten the vast majority of it now because I didn't use it day-to-day. Agree with the suggestions here of finding a group to learn/practice with but it's an awesome skill to have. It also makes conversations in a noisy pub really easy!

[unixman_again]

There was quite a fad for it a few years ago with a group of jugglers I knew. They all did courses (cost lots) through adult education and practiced at the deaf club. I learned nearly as much by going to the pub with my deaf mate. I had to learn and he was willing to teach. He's moved on now and I can't remember it as you really do need to practice. One thing that I do remember is there are different dialects of BSL and some signs mean different things depending where you are. Maybe try your local council for adult learning courses - I think most councils offer it.

[Garacesh]

Bah, now I'm coming across issues of which flavour to learn. So far I've come across BSL, Makaton and SignAlong.

 

Makaton appears to be much more widespread than SignAlong. I can't find any information about SignAlong from anywhere but the SignAlong charity, which leads me to think that SignAlong isn't a commonly used method of communication. SignAlong also appears to be aimed at being used in conjunction with regular speech. Makaton appears to be aimed at people with learning difficulties. It feels like despite the slight regional variations, learning BSL would be the best option for actually communicating with other adults.

 

Local council are only offering courses for SignAlong though :/

Edited March 21, 2017 by Garacesh