Hello, hello, everybody. I'm really sorry to be slight. Hello, everybody I'm ever so slight. Sorry to be slightly late for you today, since I last did a live Facebook have changed what you need to input before you can actually go live. But here I am. So good afternoon, and welcome to the BFL fingerspelling alphabet inside little signers and friends. For those of you who don't know who I am, I'm Shelly. And I'm the founder here at little signers Cup, which actually started way back now in 2010. So I've been teaching all things Baby Signing and parenting for a very long time now. And that means I know rather a lot. And I do have a tendency to waffle on. So I'm hoping to keep this quite nicely on track today. But if you do have any questions along the way, please let me know. If I do miss them, I will go back after the live and we'll come and typing comments afterwards. So that you are have your questions answered. And hopefully that I've been able to help. Now this week, as you may have seen is sign language Awareness Week. And sign language I think is just one of the most wonderous and remarkable things for little people for you. And I'm really passionate about spreading Sign Language awareness of helping everybody to learn a little bit, not just for sign language itself, but for the amazing things that happen when you learn to sign. Now, the first and most important thing about signing is that obviously, it is a primary form of communication for the deaf community. And for some other people as well. So like my own daughter has auditory processing disorder at a level which is classed as hearing deaf and we've used keyword signing with her since she was born. So there are many people who benefit from signing not. And it's not confined to the Deaf deaf community, because obviously the deaf community want to be able to interact, communicate and belong with everybody. So the more people who know how to sign who use signing, the more everybody connects, the more everybody belongs and the more everybody gets to shine. And it is as I would settle my post earlier this morning, actually over on the main page, it's just a wonderous thing. And Marilyn Daniels, who wrote the book dancing with words, I really think sums it up most beautifully as Language in Motion. And it it it really is and little ones love signing because it just makes sense to them. So I thought what I do is I would start off with explaining why we continue to sign with older children and as adults. And then I'm going to go into the fingerspelling alphabet for you. One of the things that I think is really important about signing is that it's kinesthetic. And we know now that children learn better when they do. And some of you may know the lovely proverb that goes tell me and I forget teach me and I remember, involve me, and I learn. And this kinesthetic movement of signing really, really embeds language at a very deep level for children and for adults. And one of the beautiful things about signing is actually links the left and the right sides of the brain. So the pragmatic with the artistic and it becomes this beautiful expression that everybody can use and learn from. So that is probably one of the main reasons why signing is so useful for little children. And obviously as we go on and as our children become older, certainly in terms of the fingerspelling alphabet, we can use that to embed spellings because when they are doing spelling's, they're not just having to remember it by rote, they can do it on their fingers. And that means it's embedding a much deeper level. The fingerspelling alphabet is also one of those things that you may have actually learned maybe embrace or guide 2030 years ago, but if you haven't done it Recently, with a little bit of practice, it's all just going to come flooding back. It's like riding a bike. So you build this muscle memory, which is great for word retention and recall. And again, going back to those spelling's because you can remember to do it on your hands. So signing has so many benefits for early learning, for early literacy for communication, for belonging, as we've already mentioned. And I just think that when you learn signing, you have a skill for life. Now, you may not remember every single sign that you've ever learned. And you may not remember the correct syntax and grammar for British Sign Language, which has its own unique way of sentence structure and things like that. But if you can fingerspell, then people can understand you. Okay, and this is one of those things, as I say, you will just remember. Now, most people do process things that they see more quickly and things that they hear. So again, as this most, most beautiful, visual expressive language signing are really, really emphasizes what's going on much more quickly, if you think about stop, if I do stop, you're likely to see and process that, that image first. And it gives everybody a head start in what is required, and how to respond. And even that fraction of a second might just make a difference for somebody. So there's all these sorts of things as well. One of the other things that signing is absolutely brilliant for is for improving, or enhancing dexterity, and fine motor skills. Now some of you may have seen the, the wonderful graphic that goes around it was it was done, I think either by an OT, or a physio. And it shows the bone structure of little tiny hands, and has hope progresses. And you can see that the bones don't actually start to meet up until children are, I think is nearly in their teens, actually. So that the bone structure is very soft, very delicate. And it's actually the muscles in the hands rather than the bones that are providing the dexterity. And so little children's signs are clumsy, and not as well defined as ours are. But that doesn't matter. Because when we practice signing with our little ones, we're getting them to make all sorts of shapes with their hands. And this improves their dexterity, it improves their fine motor skills. And it gets those little muscles used to being in different positions ready for reading, and for writing. So every time we're signing was strengthening those little muscles, and we're aiding our little ones and our bigger ones, to be even more ready to use those hands to do the things that we want them to do academically, but also for increased independence. So if you think about how fiddly it is to tie laces, to do zips up to faff around with buttons, purrs, even fit simple things like cleaning of teeth, these all require quite a lot of fine motor skill and dexterity. And little children love to be independent. They want to be just like you, they want to add to their own experience, they don't necessarily want to be helped. And in fact, some children get very frustrated with being helped. So the more that we can aid our children to do for themselves, the more self esteem they have. And the more they're capable of doing for themselves, the more proud they are of themselves. And it just goes full circle back to everybody being able to shine. So whilst when we think about signing, we're thinking about communication. Let's never ever underestimate the absolute myriad benefits of learning to sign for everybody in terms of all the other skills that it can help with. And I just really like to share that with you because it's such a passion of mine and I think everybody everybody deserves to give it a go.
So, why the fingerspelling alphabet? Well, the finger spelling alphabet, it's actually one of the easiest places to start with British Sign Language. It isn't for the littlest of fingers. And I know some of you here are on Baby Signing yourself or may have come to Baby Signing classes either with me or with somebody else. And you may well have done. Old MacDonald had a farm. And in some Baby Signing classes, people go very fast with this and then insist on the E I E, I O, and it's too much for little fingers. But as our fingers get more dexterous, and certainly, I would say from four or five years onwards, if we're learning the fingerspelling alphabet, slowly, then everybody is able to join in. And it gives everybody such a sense of achievement. Now that I'm going to say there was a study done by one of the colleges in London, the link of which has sadly now been renewed and disappeared. But their study found that children are four to five years old, would still have problems with doing signs like rabbit because of the structure of their hands. So when we're thinking about the fingerspelling alphabet, do bear in mind that things like N might be quite hard. And some of the other handshakes might be quite hard for your four and five year olds, but it's just about practice. And the more they practice, the more they're going to be able to do it, the more their fingers, remember, the muscle memory, and the muscles of the hands build up. So take it slowly. And I think even for some of us, who are much older now, sometimes those those fingers shapes can be quite hard. Now, I'm going to go through the fingerspelling alphabet quite slowly. For those of you who are left handed, you are in a very privileged position today, because you will be able to mirror what I'm doing. Absolutely, exactly. For those of you who are right handed, I would actually need to be round the other way. But I do have another video, which is the right handed fingerspelling, which is on right handed, but it's going to be mirrored for you today, which is why left handers will find it easier. And I will put that up under this video once I finished the live, okay, so that you will have both ways to see and use which is comfortable for you. Some little children haven't established hand dominance. And so they may well be ambidextrous, they will choose what is most comfortable for them. Okay, so as long as you know, it doesn't matter. But you will perhaps need to pay more attention if you know that your little one hasn't chosen a side if you like a sidedness at the moment. And there will also be I will email you a handout later on that will it's a principle it will have the left hand and it will have the right hand. And it will also have a little bit about the benefits of fingerspelling. In for older children so that you can read through that as well. So I'll email that out a little bit later today. And I hope that you'll print that off and find it useful in your family. And obviously feel free to share if you would like to. So I've already waffled on for 16 minutes. So that was quite handy. So let's get on with some fingerspelling, which is what you're actually here to do. So this is a British Sign Language fingerspelling alphabet. And as I say I am right handed. But on this live, it's going to look mirrored. So if you are left handed, you will probably find it easier to follow along. I'm going to go through it quite slowly. And then we'll go through it again. Do slow the videos down I think Facebook has a thing where you can do that. Now. Take it really slowly until your fingers managed to catch up. There's no point in racing through it. Because you yourself need to build muscle memory. And it takes between 21 and 42 repetitions of doing something to really embed it into your own memory to be able to remember to do things. So come back, do it every day. Practice at home and you're going to have an absolutely great time. So here we go. And the reason I'm wearing black today so that you can see my hands so I might actually have to push this further away. But we'll see how Are we get on? Okay, are we ready. So we're going to start with a, and you'll have your working hands, obviously, and with all these all the vowels along here, so we've got a, e, i, o, and u. And when we're doing the foul, so what we do is we actually pull the relevant finger forward, so it's more clear as to what you're doing. So we're going to start with a, and can you see I've pulled my finger forward, probably easier on the black there. Okay, A, so that's actually my thumb, not my finger. Sorry, that's a bit confusing. pulling it forward and pointing. Okay, a, we've then got big, so I'm trying to work out where I am, B. So we've got these two bunched hands that are coming together in a B, sorry, this is really quite awkward. I hope you can see that B. Okay, and then we're coming into a C. Now that's quite a nice simple one to do.
And if you've very similar to the full C hand, which you'll know from
the sign for drink, but we're just using first finger and the thumb to do C. And then we're going to move our index finger up from our other hand, and that makes D, D. And then we're going back to vowel, so it's our hand up. And this time, we're going for our index finger, and we're going to pull that forward, E. Okay. And then F, some of you might use the F sign for father or daddy. Sorry, trying to see where I am. So we've got these two fingers together on each hand. And I'm going to show you on the slant, but actually, you do it on the flat, so f so it's on the flat, but you can see it, I'm just showing you how they cross over here.
And then G again, some of you might know this as part of the sign for horse. And that is one fist on top of the other like One potato, two potato, if that helps you remember it G G and then h is coming down the hand like this. And some of you might know that as part of this P, H Ah next up is eye. And if you remember we're going to have our hand and eye is the middle finger. So we're going to pull that middle finger forward, which is actually quite tricky. And we're going to point to that middle finger. Okay. And then Jay follows on really nicely. So if you look at the palm of your hand, we're going to come down from, it's difficult for you to see isn't it down from that middle finger, we're going to swoop into our thumb down from the middle finger and sweep into the thumb, J K, you're going to make this knuckle shape bringing the index finger and we're going to make a stem with our other hand and we're going to make a K okay. Now l m n are all quite nicely on the palm of your hand. Now I'm going to have to show it to you upright so that you can see but it is on the flat okay. So we have L which is your first index your first one your index finger on the palm of your hand. And so like the brownie or Scout Promise if you remember that that again on the palm of your hand. And if some of you use the mummy sign on the palm of your hand your will know that was more than on the head. So, L
and then n is two fingers. All right. So l and but you will do it on the flat l Okay, so give that a practice. And then we're back to our vows. So remember, we're back to this hand here, and oh is your forefinger along. So we're going to pull that forward, which is quite tricky. And point to that. So he will go grown up school struggling a little bit with Oh. Maybe it's just because I'm nervous I don't pee, we're going to make a circle with one hand and a stalk with the other. And we're going to bring them together, p p. And then Q is a circle with the other hand, and you're going to take your index finger and place it in the circle, Q. R, is a bent finger, and again, I'm going to show you but it would be on the flat like this, but so that you can see it's goes on the side of the palm, turning back towards your wrist, but you would do it on the flat. Okay, S is one of my favorites, obviously, because it's showy, and it's too curved little fingers. And you're just pulling them together like that S T, you're using a flat pan and your index finger and you're printing it on the side, T tea and then you went back to these vowels here. So it's the fifth vowel and we're pulling our little finger forward and pointing with our index finger to the little finger. You V is your two fingers apart. Okay, so you index and your middle finger. And again, you're doing this on the flats of the hand, I will do it up so that you can see. Okay, so we're coming in from the side of the hand, and you would do it on the flat like this. V w is all your fingers interlaced together w x your two index fingers crossed over x y, you're going to make this lovely shape here with one hand and you're going to make a stalk with your other hand and you're going to put one stalk in front of this V shape here. Okay, and that's the Y just make that shape and then said you're going to make my tangles with one hand and have the other hand flat and you're going to bring them together okay, sorry, this really isn't easiest thing to do over a live but I thought we'd give it a go. But the the other video will be available for you later to have a look at. So, who's feeling confident should we give it another go right from the very beginning? Yeah, ready? Okay. So a b c, d e f G H, I J K L M N O P Q o s t, u v W, X, Y, and Zed.
So as I say, I will put another video down, because you might find that easier to, to understand when it's just the hands rather than me, I tried to wear a laptop so that you can see, but actually the angles, perhaps not really conducive for you to learn properly. As I say that I will be emailing out a handout for you as well, you'll find that really useful. These are calf Smith's lovely graphics, which you'll be used to if you've got any of her books. And they're really, really clear. If you've got animal ABC, they're in there as well. But you'll be able to print them off. If you have a look. You just see there, how lovely and clear that is. And once you've got a little bit of guidance from the video, plus the lovely handouts that you can print off and stick on your fridge, you'll be able to practice a lot more easily. So I hope you find that interesting and useful. And if you do have any questions, then please let me know. Give it a go. Don't be afraid to get really stuck into it. If you need any help, then please just let me know because that's what I'm here for. I love signing, I think it's absolutely brilliant. I think it's brilliant for everybody to do. And I have a lot of expertise and knowledge. And I'm able to help. I know that and use little one who I think is at sculpt today actually, she's going to be doing fingerspelling alphabet as well. And learning alongside and G so that is brilliant. But give it a go. Don't be afraid to give it a go. And once you have mastered the alphabet itself, one of the really nice things to then do is to start spelling family names. Because they'll be familiar. And it means that everybody can join in, take it slowly, because it's one thing to learn it for yourself, but it's another to see it and then interpret it and be able to sign back. Okay, so you have to practice what we call receptive language skills, as well as doing it for yourself. So you need to be able to understand what somebody is saying, as well. So keep it really slow. I think that's one of the major points about signing anyway, especially when you're learning, keep it slow. Remember that you're beginning and just give it a go. People are patient and they are genuinely kind and they will see that you're trying. But I think when you make the effort, people understand that. So honestly, I really just wish you a lot of joy with with getting this down. As I say I will put the other video up very, very shortly. Once this has finished processing and do enjoy Sign Language Week. And, again, please do remember this isn't for the very tiniest of fingers because they'll just get frustrated. If you've got four or five six year olds that have got really good fine motor skill development now anyway or who want to give it a go. Then by all means, learn together because that's one of the very best ways to learn. Thank you for keeping me company this afternoon and hopefully I shall come back and do some more with you another time. Take good care. Bye