When Jan and I are chatting, it’s often obvious that what I think I heard makes no sense at all. When that happens I repeat back to Jan what I think I heard. She can then see where I’ve gone wrong, and clarify in whatever way she feels is best.
If she knows that the mistake I made would be clear if only I look at her, she will do a ‘watch my face’ gesture and repeat; sometimes she will check that the radio transmitter that she wears around her neck is switched on; often she will rephrase what she said; sometimes she will fingerspell the bit where I went wrong; sometimes she will use a bit of gesture/signing.
So we have a lot of tools available to us, but we felt it would help if we learnt more signing.
I mentioned back in October that we had enrolled on a sign language course being run by an organisation called ‘Commanding Hands’. Commanding Hands is a charity with a mission; they want to make British Sign Language resources freely available to encourage as many people as possible to learn the language.
This was the first time they had run the course, and we were privileged to be among their first students. The course is now finished, so now is a good time to assess how it went.
The course was run by an enthusiastic group of volunteers who were giving their time freely for the simple reason that they want us all to sign. It was great fun, and we learnt a great deal.
What is most important, I think, is the fact that we have built up some momentum, and will continue learning, thanks to Commanding Hands. They are hoping to run more courses throughout the country over the next few years. I really, really, wish them well, and hope they succeed in their mission.
A striking feature of the course was the number of young people who attended. One of the other students commented on Commanding Hands Facebook page: “A brilliant course, my 12 year old daughter loved it and wants to carry on learning, well done Commanding Hands!”
I think that says it all.