BSL Advent Calendar - Helping Adults and Children to Learn Festive Signs

On the run up to Christmas, I am always inundated with requests from students, friends and people I meet, to teach them some festive signs. This ranges from people wanting to say Merry Christmas through to a full translation and performance of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Whilst partly disappointed that people don’t necessarily want to learn for the rest of the year, I am always willing to give people a few simple signs, if for no other reason than the more people who use it, the more awareness there is of British Sign Language.

This year, I am pleased to offer my BSL advent calendar. It is aimed at Level 1 students and as a revision tool for Level 2 students. It comes in two parts. The first is aimed at adults learning BSL, and in a short clip each day I will show how to sign the day, the date and a festive word, using the South Wales regional dialect of BSL.

At the end of that short clip will be a festive sign that people can teach to children. You will notice the different use of facial expression to make these signs age specific, and I would urge you to copy that also when teaching the sign.

By the time Christmas Day comes around, you should know quite a few of the seasonal signs.

I hope you enjoy them.

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