Auslan

From Caen & Simone, Auslan Teachers

Reviving, Refining and Building

We are so glad to have everyone back for a brand new term of Auslan learning! It’s been wonderful to see our students return from the break refreshed, re-energised, and eager to jump back into the classroom. We hope everyone had a relaxing and restful holiday—ready for another exciting chapter in our Auslan journey!

Over the past two weeks, we’ve focused on reviving, refining, and building on the skills students developed in Term 1. Our two main areas of focus have been:

Revision of Term 1 Learning including Greetings and Questions

We started the term by revisiting everything we covered in Term 1. From fingerspelling and colours to family, school signs, animals, and numbers, students had the opportunity to review, practise, and apply their learning in a range of interactive ways.

We used games, group activities, visual prompts, and partner tasks to help students recall signs, use them in simple sentences, and correct any misunderstandings or habits. It was so rewarding to see students confidently signing with each other and building on what they had previously learned.

Activities included:

Sign Match Challenges – Matching English words with their correct Auslan sign.

Group Signing Games – Small groups worked together to form full signed sentences from a pool of words.

Mini Signing Conversations – Using previously learned vocabulary to hold a simple back-and-forth conversation.

This revision week served as an excellent refresher and a chance to build confidence before moving into new content.

In Week 2, we introduced one of the most essential building blocks of communication: greetings and basic questions. These are the signs that help students start and sustain a simple Auslan conversation.

Through structured role-playing activities, students practised using these signs in short conversational exchanges with their classmates. We encouraged students to combine these new signs with vocabulary from Term 1, allowing them to create more complete and natural-sounding conversations.

We also introduced a “Sign a Friend” game, where students interviewed a partner and then introduced them to the class using Auslan. This helped reinforce vocabulary and build confidence in presenting in front of a group.

It’s been fantastic to see how quickly students are settling back into the rhythm of Auslan learning. They are not only remembering what they’ve learned—they’re beginning to use it independently, creatively, and confidently.

We’re looking forward to a term filled with more conversation practise, storytelling, and cultural learning. We’ll be building toward longer conversations and incorporating more descriptive and expressive signing, as students deepen their understanding of Auslan grammar and structure.

As always, we encourage you to ask your child to show you what they’ve learned—whether it’s a greeting, a question, or a full mini conversation. Practising Auslan at home is a great way to strengthen memory and build confidence!

Thank you for your continued support, and we’re excited to see what the rest of the term brings!