Looking to learn sign language - for free!

tiamai_d

I am looking to learn sign language, but all I can see is online courses that I would have to pay for.

I would also like to teach it to a youth group afterwards.

Are there any courses available free of charge?

consultant31

There are books available from the library!

Savvy_Sue

I'd be astonished if there were any free courses out there: it's like learning a new language, separate grammar etc, and if you don't go to a class how will you know if you're making yourself understood?

There are classes often run by the adult education service in your area, but they're not usually cheap. And it will take YEARS before you are qualified to teach!

Fen1

Contact your local library; county council - a good one if you are officially involved with a youth group and would like to pass the knowledge on; adult education centres; local groups for the deaf. Your employer might also be willing to help, as getting someone on the staff with such a skill is a bonus for them.
Learing sign language from a book is far from easy as you need to get the angles of your hands correct, and, like any language, you need to converse in it to learn and become proficient.

Grumpelstiltskin

I have to agree with Sue it will take you years to become proficent enough to teach it to anyone else. Image trying to learn Chinese from an online course and then go and teach it, then multiply the difficulty by 10. You can learn the finger spelling alphabet from online material - but that is totally different from BSL.

kisto

tiamai_d wrote: »

I am looking to learn sign language, but all I can see is online courses that I would have to pay for.

I would also like to teach it to a youth group afterwards.

Are there any courses available free of charge?

I started on a course learning BSL - for free. The course was available free to anyone working or volunteering with under 6's. At the time of starting the course I was working at the local infants with a profoundly deaf 6 year old. It is 50 weeks long (one evening a week) and unfortunately I wasn't able to find regular childcare, meaning I had to quit before taking the first exam.

I'm not sure who was offering the course for free...I guess my local LEA, but I was referred by the school I was working at.

heather38

my local deaf childrens society offer free classes BUT they teach either makaton, baby sign or bsl for children. they are very different types of sign and are the simplified versions for children.
we did baby sign at the local surestart centre, which was free, some signs are the same but most are simplified to make them easy for children to do or different altogether.
there are some signs here http://www.ucl.ac.uk/HCS/research/EBSLD/index.htm

Savvy_Sue

Fen1 wrote: »

Learing sign language from a book is far from easy as you need to get the angles of your hands correct, and, like any language, you need to converse in it to learn and become proficient.

Yes, there's a fairly recent thread (I think on this board) about whether a particular sign which a children's group is being used with children is 'rude' or not - it all depends where you have your hands! :rotfl:

Far more widely useful, IMO, is teaching young people how to talk to those with impaired hearing ... face to face, clearly, with your hands and hair away from your face, but not shouting or exaggeratedly slowly. DS3 has a delightful habit of letting his (long) hair flop forward over his face, and then muttering behind it ...

heather38

that's makaton usually taught to special needs children. the sign for happy means sex in bsl

Spendless

There's a school and college for Deaf students in my area. My friend works there as a student support. She did learn some sign language before working there, but others have worked there and the school/college has paid for sign language lessons.

Savvy_Sue

I think there's a difference between an employer paying for classes, and finding free ones, which is what the OP was asking about!