Sign Language

British Sign Language, or BSL, is the main sign language used by Deaf people in the UK. It's a complete visual language that uses handshapes, movement, facial expression and body language instead of spoken words. BSL has its own grammar and word order, separate from English, and it's officially recognised as a language in its own right.

Sadly not, which would have made life a lot simpler. Countries have their own sign languages, and British Sign Language and American Sign Language are quite different, even though both countries speak English. The quickest giveaway is fingerspelling, where you spell a word out letter by letter. BSL uses a two-handed alphabet, while American Sign Language uses one hand. BSL also has regional variations, so a sign in one city can look a little different somewhere else. Think of them as accents.

Your Activity Leader starts with the fingerspelling alphabet, so you can spell out your name. Then come the everyday essentials: hello, the date, how old you are and how you're feeling, whether that's happy, tired or in need of a coffee. Colours follow, and before long you're holding short conversations with the person next to you. To finish, you learn to sign along to a well-known song, which is a surprisingly moving thing to do as a group.

In BSL, your face is part of the grammar. Raised eyebrows can turn a sign into a question, and your expression shows how big, small, good or awful something is. A blank face can change the meaning completely. So leave any self-consciousness at the door and let your eyebrows do some heavy lifting.

Perfect, because everyone starts with the alphabet. Signing is visual and hands-on, so it tends to stick quickly, and there's something deeply satisfying about realising you can say a whole sentence without making a sound. It's a genuinely useful skill too. Knowing even a few signs means you can say hello to a Deaf person in their own language, and that goes a long way.

You might also like Mime, African Harmonies and Ukulele.

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