Embedding French in the Primary Curriculum
A starter activity for Teaching the Alphabet (Literacy)
Teacher’s Notes:
Learning Objective for Literacy: Revising the alphabet. Learning deaf sign
language
Learning Objective for French: To teach the French alphabet
Resources: You Tube Video of British deaf sign language
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pwRDT71YCA
Explanation of the activity: teaching in bite-size groups (e.g. 5 at a time) the letters
of the alphabet with the accompanying deaf sign language gesture. Depending on
your class, you may wish to extend steps 1 – 4 over more than one lesson.
Step 1 Teach the 5 vowels; pupils watch you and repeat; then you gesture the
vowels one at a time; pupils copy your gesture and say the vowel
Step 2 Teach a,b,c,d,e. Same sequence : pupils copy you and repeat; when you
judge they are confident, you sign a-e in sequence, pupils copy the sign and say the
letter; then you sign a – e out of sequence, pupils copy the sign and say the letter
Step 3 Repeat step (b) above for fghij, klmno, pqrst, uvw xyz etc. Can be done
in groups of 4 or 5 depending on your assessment of your class. It is also useful to
recap groups of 10, then 15 etc, but these larger groups are best taught only in
sequence.
Step 4 Pupils copy and repeat your signs for the whole alphabet; then you sign only
and pupils copy and repeat; then pupils practise in pairs a – z.
Progression: (different starters over a series of lessons)
(a) teacher says random letters; pupils in silence make the appropriate deaf
language sign
(b) children write down words spelt out only in deaf sign language by the teacher
(c) pupils write down 4 or 5 letters signed by the teacher and then re-order them
into alphabetical order
(d) teacher signs a letter and says either that letter or a different letter; pupils
repeat IF the letter they hear matches the letter they see; they remain silent if
the letter they hear is not the letter they see
(e) teacher signs a sequence of 3 letters; pupils tick if they are in alphabetical
order or cross if they are not (could also be done as ‘thumbs up’, ‘thumbs
down’)
Teacher’s script (generic)
Translation into English
Voici l’alphabet.
Here is the alphabet
Voici les signes de l’alphabet pour les
sourds
Here are the signs for the alphabet for
deaf people
Les sourds (gesture deafness e.g. hands
over ears)
Deaf people
Copiez le professeur
Copy the teacher
Vous signez de ‘a’ à h / de ‘a’ à o / de
‘a’ à s / de ‘a’ à z
)
Sign the letters from a to h / a to o / a to s
/ a to z etc.
Je fais les signes; vous copiez le
professeur et vous prononcez les lettres
I will sign; you copy the teacher and you
say the letters
Je pronounce les lettres; en silence, vous I will say the letters; in silence you make
signez
the deaf language sign for that letter
Si le signe est correct pour la lettre, vous
répétez; si le signe n’est pas correct,
vous gardez le silence (gesture for
répétez (e.g. hand ‘speaking’) and for
gardez le silence (e.g. finger over
mouth))
If the sign matches the letter, you repeat;
if it’s not the correct sign for the letter,
you remain silent.
Vous comprenez ?
Do you understand ?
Qui peut expliquer en anglais ?
Who can explain in English ?