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

Understanding similarities between Auslan and English languages.

Over the past few weeks, all students and staff have been becoming familiar with the adjusted Talk Moves signs to align more closely to Auslan signs.  They are now on display in all learning areas and in the school entrance area. As many of you know, the Talk Moves signs enable both teachers and students to communicate , invite ideas, and share thoughts in non threatening ways that in turn build confidence in students. 

Foundation

The Foundation students have settled in well with Auslan lessons. We have established a routine and they are developing their understanding and recognition of the class greeting, watching for the first letter of their name during roll call and group expectations such as ‘voice off’ and ‘eyes on me’ signs.

The past few weeks we have been focusing on the sign ‘have’, pronouns and labels for family members such as mother, father, brother, sister, baby, and using the ‘s’ sign to communicate ‘step’ when combining step with a family label, such as ‘stepmother’ and so forth. Students have been able to make short phrases with these signs and share information with peers and describe who they have in their family. They have been drawing these descriptions in their Auslan workbook.

This week we have started to focus on fingerspelling the alphabet and building confidence in signing the letter at the beginning of their name. This supports their understanding that Auslan, written and spoken English have similarities.

GRADE 1

Grade 1 students have been working towards fingerspelling their first name, and creating bookmarks that they will shortly bring home. We have been playing games such as Eye Spy and signing a letter to which they need to locate the object that starts with the letter sound. In addition, we have played ‘Who has the Cookie?’ game and students have been asked to sign “Yes, I have the cookie/No, I haven’t got the cookie”, to practice using the ‘have/haven’t’ sign in short phrases. They have also used this sign to describe who is in their family including Grandmother and Grandfather.

This week, Grade 1B made playdough letters and demonstrated the fingerspelling sign for the first letter of their name. They were very industrious and worked with focus, communicating the first letter of their name with others on their table. Many are also now signing their full first name. Grade 1A will commence this activity next week.

Our focus over the remainder of the term will be numbers 0 -10, pets and revision games.