Schools Home | Primary Shows | High School Shows | Workshops | Education Kits | Testimonials

	Education Kits Each primary and high school show comes with a free education kit covering general information on Deafness and Sign Language plus specific topics related to the show. The kits include both facts and lesson activity ideas. Here is a sample of some activity ideas you will find in the kit 1. What are they talking about ? An Activity to explore lip-reading: Video tape a television program. Play the program to the class with the volume off. Ask the class to write down or discuss what they think the program was saying. Then replay the tape with volume on. Try this activity with different types of programs to demonstrate how important facial expressions and gestures are to enhancing lip-reading (e.g.: a newsreader versus play school). 2. Hand Shapes Sign language is based on many differing hand-shapes. Some signs are iconic. That is they look like or are obviously connected to a concept or idea. Based on this principal, this activity is designed to help students understand how hand shapes can be used to develop a simple classroom sign language. Ask students to demonstrate what they can do with a variety of hand shapes . For example how many activities can they do with: - one finger (e.g. signal a taxi, dial a phone, scratch) - with five fingers extended ( e.g. wave, put on a glove, open a draw) - with pointer finger and thumb pinched together (e.g. pick up a flower, write with a pen, do up buttons) 3. Some Sounds are Easier to Hear than Others (Suggested for upper primary. This exercise is mathematical requiring investigation, measurement, and note-taking) Divide students into small project groups (that can be well spaced out). Allocate each group objectives/activities that make different noises of varying levels (e.g.: stop watch, sports whistle, jangling keys, clapping, hands, spoken and whispered words). With one child blindfolded, others in the group make the sound starting close to the blindfolded child and moving further away until the sound cannot be heard. Repeat for other sounds. Plot results on a graph and discuss the results (i.e. pitch and volume).

	Copyright: Australian Theatre of the Deaf, 2003. All Rights Reserved