Using Sign Language in the Classroom
I really like to teach children to use sign language both ASL and BSL. It is important for kids to understand about different types of disabilities and hearing impairment. Teaching young children to use sign language can also be incredibly helpful for Special Needs and behaviour management.
Teaching children to sign can happen seamlessly in your lessons, here are some ways you can incorporate signing in your classroom
Displays
Putting posters, signs and displays around the class which show the signs are a great way to remind children of the words they are learning. Display the alphabet, colors and days of the week. In your classroom and children will see them throughout the day.
My sign language classroom display products are here.
Spelling lessons
If you teach your class to finger spell the alphabet, they can use this when practising spellings. I put the children in partners and they have to spell out the words on their lists to their partner using finger spelling. It is fun and helps the children remember their spellings
Songs
Teaching the class to sign a song can be a lot of fun. They can join in the signs and it helps them to remember the words to the song as well as includes any hearing impaired parents which might be coming to see special plays and events. This works particularly well at Christmas.
Story time
If the teacher knows some signs it can be great to throw in some signs during story time. Choose a few words which are repeated often in the story (Wolf for example) and make the sign whenever the word is said. After a while you can stop saying the word and just use the sign instead. Encourage the children to join in.
Greetings and goodbyes
Welcoming the class and saying goodbye in sign language is a fantastic way to help children remember the signs. Depending on time you can do a whole class greeting or allow each children to spell their own, or someone else's name.
I really believe that every classroom should use sign language! Please check out my sign language products in my store.
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