On your BSL learning journey, you will converse about education and it can be a useful conversation starter. Here you will learn about places of education, subjects and more.
Places of education
There are two commonly used signs for SCHOOL; depending on your location one may be more prevalent than the other. Both are demonstrated here.
To sign the year number, first sign YEAR followed by the relevant number. Examples below are YEAR 1 and YEAR 2.
Subjects
Levels and assessments
General vocabulary
Example sentences
I like Maths is signed MATHS I LIKE.
I don’t like Science is signed SCIENCE I DON’T LIKE.
What’s your favourite subject? is signed SUBJECT YOUR FAVOURITE WHAT?
My favourite subject is British Sign Language is signed SUBJECT MY FAVOURITE BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE.
I am a student is signed ME STUDENT.
Exercise: Compile 5 short sentences about your education. Below are some examples, change them to suit your education and preferences.
1. SUBJECT MY FAVOURITE MATHS
2. HOMEWORK I DON’T LIKE
3. ME COLLEGE STUDENT
4. ME STUDY WHAT? DRAMA A LEVEL
5. MY SON UNIVERSITY STUDENT, STUDY WHAT? POLITICS
Key points to remember
1. School subject signs are often visually representative of the topic (known as iconicity), for example the sign for SCIENCE depicts an experiment and COMPUTING depicts typing on a keyboard.
2. The sign for SCHOOL has two common variations and depending on your location, there will likely be a preference towards using one over the other. These are known as regional variations.
3. Some signs have the same handshape and movement as others, so your lip pattern is important. For example the sign for DRAMA can also mean THEATRE.
Useful downloads and links
A PDF version of this page will be available to download soon.