Languages- Auslan

Communicating with the Specialist Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2023, and welcome your input:

Amanda Oakley (Languages- Auslan) Amanda.Oakley2@education.vic.gov.au

Welcome to Shar Stjerne

We are excited for Shar (Ms S) to join the teaching team at Upwey Sth Primary School. Shar has been spending some time co-teaching the Foundation and Year One classes, and looks forward to meeting students from Year 2 to Year 6 throughout the reminder of Term Four. Ms S will officially commence Auslan Classes with our Year 2-6 students from the first week of Term Four. 

Foundation 

The Foundation students have been working hard at remembering many new signs around the theme of mealtimes and food. Learning signs that are part of their daily experience has enabled them to create short phrases about what they eat and when.  Games such as food bingo (with green playdough caterpillars) and selecting when they eat certain foods has also contributed to discussions about how our families are all different.

We have been focusing on the story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, as a springboard for the students to create their own story. By using their knowledge of food signs and inspiration from the book,  they have drawn and coloured their ideas,  then shared their story with each other.

Year One

The Year One students have been putting their creativity into play through designing their Very Hungry Caterpillar stories.  At Year One, they are using more vocabulary when signing their stories incorporating numbers into their signing phrases such as how many of each food their Caterpillar ate.

The students enjoyed making playdough caterpillars for the bingo game as they revised the food signs.  Many students showed initiative by asking about foods that we didn't explicitly discuss, but that were familiar to them. It was great to observe them taking an interest in extending their vocabulary of signs. 

Both the Foundation and Year One students have been revising alphabet, number, colour and animal signs through card games such as memory, matching sign and numeral/letter cards and following simple instruction games.

Auslan Elective

We're looking forward to a busy two weeks of the Auslan elective, this week and next week, to build on the vocabulary and understanding of Deaf culture. The students expressed interest  in learning about food signs and how to ask for food. This will be our focus for the next session.