Welcome to the Educators Lesson Plans for Signing Families!

The first lesson in learning sign language is actually talking to your students about Deafness and why some people may “talk with their hands”.

Great resources to set the groundwork for older students to talk about Deafness and Gallaudet.edu

How to approach the topic of Deafness?  Preliminary assignments for students.

1- Ask your students if they have any experience within the Deaf community. You may be surprised to find out that some have quite a bit of knowledge.

2- Do any of your students have previous exposure to sign language. Perhaps they know signs such as MOMMY and DADDY or the alphabet / numbers?

3- Some students may benefit by being given the assignment of watching television with no sound or captions for 30 minutes. Can they follow the storyline?  (Older kids should be encouraged to watch a variety of shows, such as the news. Discussion points can include what was easier to follow?)

Second portion of this assignment can include asking students to watch television or videos WITH captions! Another discussion can be the value of closed captioning and the laws that enable closed captioning for equal access.

 

**FIRST SIGNS to TEACH:

Preschool students: (These signs are ready for download on our GALLERY PAGE)

MOMMY

DADDY

I WANT

MORE

FINISH

 

**Kindergarten age and up:

ALPHABET : VIDEO for learning:

NUMBERS 0-10: VIDEO for learning

 

PRACTICE:

Practice letters by first signing common objects and names.  2 letters. Then 3 letters. Then more.

Practice in front of mirrors.

Practice by spelling names of movies, books, famous people and family and friends.

How to reinforce learning creatively:

MANUAL ALPHABET:  Play games such as SCRABBLE, Hangman, Word Search, Crossword puzzles

NUMBERS:  Math problems, memorizing digit series, Sudoko, Battleship

EXTEND LEARNING FOR OLDER STUDENTS (Middle/ High School)

1- Do all countries use the same sign language?  What country is American Sign Language most akin to?

2- Deaf people often learn to sign to communicate. Could sign language be a good communication method for non-deaf people and if so, which circumstances?

3- How do you think sign language can help you learn other subjects (such as spelling or math problems)?