BSL Level 1: Part 2

This is for you if you have prior knowledge of British Sign Language or you have completed the Level 1 Award - Part 1 (Signature Unit 102 or iBSL equivalent). You will continue developing basic conversational skills to enable you to make yourself understood and to find out information in everyday situations. 

You will be taught by a trained and experience deaf BSL tutor enabling students to acquire real experience communicating with deaf people and have a better understanding of how interaction with signs takes place. 

Key information

Courses starting October 2024  

• Course: Mondays 6.00pm - 8.00pm
  Delivery: On-campus (face-to-face)
  Timeline: Starts 14 October - ends 16 December 2024
  Lengths: 10 weeks (30 learning hours)
  Fees: £150 with an additional fee of £44 for the exam - the exam fee can be paid at the time of enrolment or once the course has started. 

These courses will be taught in small groups. It requires a minimum of 7 and it can have up to a maximum of 12 students. The course fee includes all tuition, access to VLE (virtual learning environment), handouts and any tests/exams, but not a textbook.

Terms run from October to December. The full course comprises 30 learning hours. Lessons are two hours long and take place once a week. When enrolling you are committing to the full 10 weeks.

Enrol now

Entry level

You should have completed the Signature BSL Level 1 Award - Part 1 Unit 1.

Course content

Topics and content

• Meeting people (identifying common courtesies and information, understanding simple question forms, and the fingerspelling names & places)
• Work, school and/or college (identifying types of work or educational institutions, occupations or courses being learnt, length of time worked or number of years in school/college, e.g. final year)
• Using numbers (use of local numbering systems for counting people, things, telling the time, age and currency variants)
• Weather (identifying comments about the weather and seasonal variants)
• Instructions and Directions (being able to understand instructions and directions of what to do/where to go/how to do something)
• Opinions and Ideas (understanding the difference between facts and ideas/opinions in simple descriptions or statements)
• Use of simple linking conventions and prepositions (i.e. use of sign structures linking words and phrases)
• Signing Structure (understanding placement, use of verbs & phrases, non-manual features, sign order, handshapes, direction, orientation)

Comprehension skills

• Learners should demonstrate they can understand their teacher and others, answer questions correctly, and can read fingerspelling and BSL delivered at a pace and flow appropriate to the level
• Learners should be able to differentiate between facts and ideas/opinions in brief statements or descriptions
• Learners should demonstrate they can understand instructions being given to them, using appropriate placement, orientation and location of signs, and use of simple directional verbs

Intended learning outcomes

By the end of this course learners should be able to:

1. extract information in British Sign Language.
2. extract simple ideas and opinions in British Sign Language.

Assessment criteria

• Identify personal or social facts from statements or descriptions consisting of simple set phrases
• Identify work-related facts from statements or descriptions consisting of simple set phrases
• Understand instructions and directions given using simple, set phrases
• Understand the main points of simple statements or descriptions
• Understand personal, social or work-related ideas and opinions from statements or descriptions consisting of simple set phrases

Progression route

If you wish to gain formal accreditation for this course you can take the 'Level 1 Award in British Sign Language Studies' – Part 1 (Unit 102) exam, awarded by the Signature (Qualification Specification), for which there is an additional fee of £44 (Signature Fee’s Booklet 2024/25).

You may wish to continue your learning with the Level 1 Part 3 (103) course.