Skip to main content

Sign with me

People use sign language for a lot of reasons – can you learn to fingerspell, and sign your way to success?
Plan a session with this activity

You will need

  • A BSL (British Sign Language) fingerspelling alphabet sheet for each person
  • One copy of the ‘my name is’ sheet
  • One copy of the sign language factsheet
Hello my name is
PDF – 195.7KB
Download Hello my name is
Sign language facts
PDF – 77.4KB
Download Sign language facts
Right-handed fingerspelling
PDF – 270.2KB
Download Right-handed fingerspelling
Left-handed fingerspelling
PDF – 275.9KB
Download Left-handed fingerspelling

Learn a phrase

  1. Everyone should sit in a circle. Give everyone a copy of the BSL fingerspelling alphabet.
  2. The whole group should practice their alphabet together – the person leading the game can show everyone how to make a letter, and then the group can copy.
  3. Once the group has practised the alphabet together, everyone should take a few moments on their own to practise fingerspelling their name.
  4. Everyone should get back in the circle, and practise signing ‘Hello. My name is…’.
  5. Everyone should put the two parts of the phrase together. Now, they can introduce themselves, and understand someone else telling them their name.

Practise your phrase with a game

  1. Everyone should move around to mix up – they could run, skip, or dance.
  2. When the leader makes the sign for ‘sign’, everyone should get into a pair with the closest person to them.
  3. The pairs should take it in turns to introduce themselves.
  4. Keep playing until everyone is confident introducing themselves, and understanding a word someone else is fingerspelling.

Reflection

This activity helped you to develop your communication skills. Is it important to be able to communicate in a variety of ways? Can you remember who might use fingerspelling or sign language? Do you think fingerspelling is a useful skill? Was it easy to understand when people were using signs or fingerspelling? When else might sign language be useful? How is sign language different to other ways of communicating?

This activity also helped you to learn to respect others, regardless of their background. What do you think it feels like to speak a language not many other people understand? Do you think it makes life more difficult when people don’t speak the language you use? What could your group to change this – do you think it’s important to try to learn some basic words and phrases? How might that change things for people who use sign language?

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. Do a risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Always get approval for the activity and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Make it accessible

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.