Well done to all participants at Deaf Links Dundee who participated in the introduction to Training the Trainers course over 4 (very busy) days!

We covered (at least):

Learning cycle
Learning styles
Identifying learning needs (LNA)
Aims, objectives & learning outcomes
Planning, preparation and delivery
Using resources
Group dynamics
Teaching methods
Giving feedback
Evaluation

And that was just the ‘How to teach’ – we also looked at ‘What to teach’ by breaking down course specifications, learning outcomes & assessment criteria with everyone delivering training sessions on a number of topics.

Thanks to Alana Harper at Deaf Links for securing funding and identifying willing participants. Also to the continued support of Elizabeth Adams and David Johnston who generously shared their experience as long standing BSL tutors. And to Denise Ryan for the ‘intro to linguistic’ session which was invaluable.

Deaf Links Dundee day 3 of 4

Day 3 of 4 at the Training the Trainers course at Deaf Links in Dundee.

Participants were demonstrating their teaching skills they have been developing over the weeks by delivering a number of short training sessions to group members. At the same time group members were tasked with providing feedback after spending a whole session on ‘How to give feedback’

Deaf Links – Dundee

Fantastic start to a 4 day Train the Trainers programme with potential Deaf BSL tutors in Dundee.

Training will span over 4 full days on a fortnightly basis and will cover all the basics in developing materials, planing and design of a training session, assessment and evaluation. Also looking at how and why people learn and how this affects our teaching methods/strategies.

Edinburgh Zoo – Deaf Aware

IMG_20161101_115656 Edinburgh Zoo (RZSS) recently held 2 x 2 half day courses for their staff – everyone from administrative roles, gardeners, animal keepers, animal demonstrators (to list a few) all actively took part in a Deaf Awareness & Communication Tactics course with an introduction to work based signs.

The park, which receives 1,ooo’s of visitors every year many of whom will be deaf to some extent. Remember that around 1 in 6 people will be deaf to some extent. The Park and the staff are keen to make visitors experience as memorable as possible and that includes being aware of the small changes in their communication tactics can make a huge impact and difference with a deaf or deafblind person.

http://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/

efsli2016

That’s the efsli2106 website just gone live :o) http://efsli.org/2016/

Intu bite-sized training continues

Delighted to have completed a total of 16 bite-sized Deaf Awareness and Communication Tactics courses at Intu shopping centres: Dudley, Nottingham (2) and Derby (collaboration between Intu & Signature).

Staff at each centre exhibited a positive and encouraging attitude to the training and all look forward to better serving the 1,000s of people who walk through the shopping centre doors – many of whom will of course be Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Deafened or Deafblind and now have the extra confidence with increased confidence and communication skills.

Bite-sized training at Intu

IMG_20151013_184436 Woking with Signature (Commercial) we were delighted to be asked and to deliver 4 training days to a number of Intu shopping centres (Dudley, Nottingham & Derby). The first took place at Merry Hill, Dudley in October with the remaining days taking place in November.

IMG_20151013_092726 The training days consist of a number of bite-sized deaf awareness & communication tactics sessions aimed at Intu customer facing shopping centre staff.

Feedback received has been extremely positive.

Well done Intu.

BSL version – attainment of pupils with a sensory impairment

Completed in very short time-scale the BSL version of the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Culture Committee’s 10th report on the attainment of deaf and visually impaired pupils.

“The Education and culture committee held an inquiry in May to find out what is going on in deaf education and education for children with visual impairment in Scotland. They have just published the report – attainment of pupils with a sensory impairment.
More work is needed to be done to improve access to education for deaf children.”

Dr Audrey Cameron

Care Inspectorate – Promoting Continence

@commtacs have just completed producing a short #BSL version for the Care Inspectorate @CareInspect ‘Promoting continence for people living with #dementia and long term conditions’ – an ideal resource for care providers and the wider community.

BSL (Scotland) Bill

IMG_20150917_180348~2 History in the making as the BSL (Scotland) Bill is passed in the Scottish Parliament on 17th September 2015 – a date that will be remembered very proudly by Scotland’s Deaf and Deafblind communities.

The even in the Parliament was a near ‘sell out’ with tickets (which are always free) becoming like gold-dust. This may have been the very first time that the Parliament had to arrange a ‘spill out’ room to accommodate the crowds that gathered to witness the passing of the Bill.

The Bill was a Private members Bill introduced by Mark Griffin MSP – (pictured) who gave a short presentation at an after party sponsored by the Scottish Council on Deafness (SCoD).

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