Now there is a range of dictionaries to help Children (and their parents and teachers) learn Auslan (Australian Sign Language) with little or no reading.
These books are designed to help you learn signs on a topic and then use those signs in your daily life. For example, use the 'Fruit and Vegetable' category in Volume 1 to learn the signs and then practice them during fruit break at school or when preparing dinner at home.
Who are these dictionaries for?
These dictionaries have been especially designed to help children learning Auslan as a LOTE (Language Other Than English) at school, as their first language, or to communicate with friends or relatives. They are also very popular with parents, carers and teachers. Volume 1 and 2 do not require reading, with page numbers also being able to be navigated pictorially. Due to the increased complexity of material covered, Volume 3 does require some reading.
Each sign has (where possible):
- Title of the sign in English
- Description of how to do the sign
- Picture of the item being signed (especially beneficial for pre-readers and deaf children, for whom English is a second language)
- Illustration of the Auslan Sign.
- State usage notes, where relevant. (For example the sign for 'blue' is different in NSW & QLD vs VIC, WA, SA, TAS & NT)
The series aims to gently guide children through vocabulary building to sentence development and eventually structured conversation, with each volume increasing in complexity.
This is the new 2013 edition of the very popular first volume in the children's picture dictionary series. It includes descriptions and now includes 480 signs (up from 300 last edition).
Signs will be found under the topics:
- Animals
- Descriptors
- Eat, Drink, Cook
- Around the House
- Places, People and Family
- Activities and Games
- Daily Communication
The dictionary includes an alphabetical index - no reading or page number naigation required!
The dictionary also includes a pictorial representation of the subcategory, located next to the page number at the base of each page. These cross correlate with the pictorial based content page; making this dictionary easy to navigate for young children, without the need to be able to understand and navigate page numbering!