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Signs2Go : British Sign Language for Foreign Signers

For the majority of Deaf people who use a sign language as their first or preferredlanguage, the only realistic option is to learn a second sign language. The opportunitiesto do this, however, are extremely limited. The interest on the other hand, is high. Deafpeople travel abroad, Deaf students study abroad.In the Signs2Go project, we want to accomplish two objectives:1. to develop an on-line e-learing course to teach British Sign Language (BSL) asa Foreign Language2. to develop sign-bilingual methods and e-learning tools for teaching signlanguages as foreign languages, to sign language users.3. We will develop the course in e-learning format, 1. to reach as many Deaflearners as possible in our countries, and 2. to show as many teachers,educationalists etc., worldwide, how the internet can be used to reach andteach Deaf sign language users.To accomplish these goals, we will explore and verify creative solutions to the followingchallenges:a. Many Deaf learners are illiterate or semi-literate, even in their own nationallanguage. Both the language of instruction and the foreign language thereforewill be sign languages.b. As yet there is no generally accepted writing system for sign languages, we wiluse video instead of text. All text-based tools commonly used in e-learning willbe therefore converted to a video-format (hyper-video, video-linking, etc.).c. Many of our target group are true beginners in several respects: this may betheir first attempt at learning a foreign language, at e-learning, and at lifelonglearning in general. Thresholds will therefore be low, no assumptions will bemade as to prior learning; usability and attractiveness for the target group willbe high.The output of the project will be:1. An online e-learning course to teach BSL as a foreign language to Deafsigners in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Norway. The course can beused by independent learners at home, but also in traditional classroomteaching or in blended learning format. Guidelines and examples for teacherswill be included.a. 2.Verified generic methods and tools to teach a sign language as a foreignlanguage to Deaf signers.Dissemination and exploitation plans will describe the actions the consortium willundertake to encourage and support other organisations, who want to use productsdeveloped in the proposed project.
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