This week is Learn to Sign Week.
I spent 3 years learning BSL in Adult Education classes, and I’m lucky to work in an environment where I use it regularly, so my sign language is competent (although I need to brush up on my receptive skills), but if you don’t sign at all – where do you start?
If you want to learn to sign fluently, your best bet is to enrol on a BSL Level 1 course, but if you just want a few basics there are plenty of options available to you.
A useful first step is to learn fingerspelling. If you have children they may well have learnt it at school, or at Brownies or Scouts, so they may be able to teach you. If not you will find a free download of both left and right-handed fingerspelling at Deaf Books.
After this you could learn a few greetings in BSL – there are various YouTube videos you could watch: Good Morning, Please and thank you, and a few more greetings/introductory conversation.
A BSL dictionary is a great investment, and this one is ideal for beginners.
My last suggestion is for those of you on Twitter – you could follow @BritishSignBSL for a new sign every few days.
If you feel confident after these basics, why not add your support to the Life and Deaf “Good morning” campaign.
Happy signing !