- CAN I WATCH LATER? Yes! Sign-up and we'll email you a recording
Event Description
Join us for an engaging introduction to British Sign Language (BSL). Each session builds on the last, helping you develop essential communication skills while deepening your understanding of Deaf culture.
Week 1
- What is BSL, and is it universal?
- New Topic: BSL Alphabet & Rules
Week 2
- Recap: Alphabet & Fingerspelling Rules
- The Role of Fingerspelling in BSL
- New Topic: Meet and Greet Signs
Week 3
- Recap: Alphabet & Introduction to Receptive Skills in Fingerspelling (Quiz)
- Recap: Meet and Greet Signs
- New Topics: Clarification Signs & Lipreading Task
Week 4
- Recap: Clarification Signs & Alphabet Games
- New Topics: Leave-Taking Signs, Family Signs & Attention-Gaining Strategies
Week 5
- Recap: Leave-Taking & Family Signs
- New Topics: Travel, Transport & Basic Time Signs, Humour in BSL
Week 6
- Recap: Travel, Transport & Basic Time Signs
- New Topics: Directions Signs & Introduction to Sign Language Poetry
Week 7
- Recap: Directions Signs
- New Topics: Deaf Awareness Strategies & Guest Speaker
- Duration: 7 x 60 mins
- Online Zoom event: Join from your computer, phone or tablet (a recording will be available)
Meet the Host, Emm Sharpe
Emm Sharpe works across the UK providing consultancy services as well as offering commercial and private training provision with a focus on helping individuals, local services and businesses understand their obligations to the Equality Act 2010 and more recently, the British Sign Language (BSL) Act 2022.
In the last few years, at Study Sharpe, we are proud to have developed a range of quality bespoke and accredited courses designed to educate organisations and staff teams how to provide accessible and inclusive workplaces, working with the advice of local Deaf people, and drawing from her knowledge gained whilst gaining her Deaf Studies Degree. We teach staff teams to adopt a D/deaf friendly environment, enabling staff and management to adopt Deaf Aware practices, supporting them to be able to effectively communicate in BSL at a basic, introductory level with their D/deaf employees and clients/customers. We are also proud to hold registered Centre status with Signature, the UK’s premier Awarding body for BSL qualifications.
With her expertise and commitment, Emm Sharpe remains loyal to her ambitions to provide excellence, passion, fun, engagement and enjoyment at all levels of education, whether that be through commercial or mainstream teaching, and she continues to support, and differentiate for, Deaf and hearing learners to gain an invaluable insight into the amazing language of British Sign Language, encompassing a solid grounding in the cultural aspects of the Deaf Community at the integral start of their Sign Language journey.
Preparing for the Event
For the best experience, you will need to have Zoom downloaded onto your computer. Please ensure you're connected to broadband/wifi rather than using your mobile phone connection (3G/4G).
We also recommend that pets are either calmly sitting on your lap or in another room, and any refreshments you may require are within your reach!
Resources
Introduction to BSL – learn some basic British Sign Language (BSL) in 7 weeks! has supplementary learning materials provided by the event host. Once you book an event, you will get access to these resources.
More Information
What if I can’t make the event?
If a recording’s available for the event, you can still register for it and we will send you an email with a link to a recording shortly after it ends.
Will my camera be on and will I be visible to the other people?
Your camera and microphone does not need to be on for you to enjoy the event. The choice about whether to do this is completely yours.
How do I watch the live event?
Rest Less events are hosted on Zoom, a computer application that allows you to attend online events just by clicking a link. For detailed instructions, please go to our "FAQ" page, which you can find a link to in the nav bar at the top of the page.
How do I sign-up for and access the recording? (Recorded events only)
Book the event as normal (as if you are attending live). After the event ends you will automatically receive a post-event email with a link to the recording, as long as the event was recorded. You do not need to do anything else and there is no separate booking process for recordings only. Please note it can take up to 24 hours for Zoom to process recordings.
