Languages- Auslan

 Communicating with the Specialist Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2025, and welcome your input:

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

Shar Stjerne (Languages- Auslan) Shar.Stjerne@education.vic.gov.au 

 Term Four 2025 

Our Term 4 focus is sport.

The Deaflympics starts on November 15th this year! All year levels are exploring the signs of sports and discussing aspects of the Deaflympics, how they are similar and differ to the Olympic games that we are familiar with. Whilst the logo on the left represents the 'okay, good and great' signs, it also has a central circle that represents the iris of the eye, highlighting the importance of vision in the lives of deaf individuals. It serves as a reminder that deaf people rely on their eyes as a primary mode of communication, emphasising the visual nature of deaf culture.

Foundation - Year 1

Foundation and Year 1 students have been introduced and have been reviewing action/verb signs for movement that we do during sporting activities. Using these signs, we have been playing games such as Fruit Salad, bingo, dominos, creating obstacle course drawing , writing and signing sentences about our movements.

We will start to explore the signs for sport activities and dive deeper into the Deaflympics, discussing what technology, rules and strategies are implemented to ensure equity for Hard of Hearing and deaf athletes.  

Foundation

                                                                            Year One

Year Two

Year Two students have jumped straight back in with revising the action/verb signs that we do during sporting activities and practising signing types of sports.

The students continue to develop their confidence in writing sentences, drawing pictures and translating these into sign phrases.

We are looking forward to discussing the Deaflympics over the next month leading into the Tokyo games, with lots of information about the athletes and the development of technology that is used during the games. The students will also have the chance to create their own Deaflympics logo and I'm looking forward to sharing what they design.

Year Three and Four

The Year Three and Four students have been working on their communication skills with the card game - Go Fish. This has challenged the students to remember their Auslan numbers, take turns, ask questions and provide answers all in a well known game. We will be taking these skills further in the following weeks and making medal tallies and recording times and competition elements when we watch the Deaflympics. So watch this space in the next newsletter.

Year Five and Six

The Year Five and Six students have been diving into the Deaflympics with an exploration of the symbols and designs that have been a part of the Deaflympics history. Their task was to create their own design that reflects the spirit of the games with complimentary ideas around Deaf communication, sports excellence and International Deaf community. Their designs were distinct, colourful and thoughtful when representing the unique spirit of the Deaflympics as well as a celebration of their chosen city/Country's culture.