Level Two Log Book, 201 exam and learning experience!
So once again, let me apologise for neglecting the blog for so long, but study seems to take up a disproportionate amount of my time of late, hopefully it’s all worth it!
So a few things that I’ve recently thought “I’ll blog about that” and never got around to include the following;
The child in my class (no not me!)
There’s a young girl in my Level Two class, I think she’s 10 or 11, I’m not positive. Two observations about this; firstly that the level two qualification equates to at least a GCSE, which in my opinion is material too advanced for a child of this age (although if they’re one of those super kids who do A Levels at age 5, maybe not) unless that child has extensive experience in the language, for example is deaf or has deaf relatives who they have been signing with for a long time. I wonder if it’s just me who feels this way, I don’t talk to many of my classmates about the subject as I don’t want to come across as being mean. I think it’s great that someone so young is interested in sign language and knowing more, but I think the material on level two is just that bit beyond what an 11 year old can comfortably comprehend.
Secondly, the atmosphere in the lessons is noticeably different depending on whether the young lady is with us or not, the atmosphere feels a lot more relaxed and indeed more “adult” topics of conversation are covered in her absence. I can’t decide how I feel about that, whether I think it has a negative impact, or is simply something to accept. However I wondered if anyone else has had similar experience with a young person in their class and how you felt it impacted your learning experience? How I see it is, I’m paying for these lessons and I want to gain as much as possible from each and every lesson I attend, and if that is being held back by a younger class mate, is that fair on the rest of us? Obviously, I have no experience of level two with a class of just adults, so have nothing to draw comparison from, so any comments on the topic would be greatly appreciated!
Level Two – 201 exam
So I took my 201 exam on 7th February and it was much better than I was expecting. The exam involves watching a person signing a story in four sections, and blocks of four multiple choice questions at the end of each of the four sections. In preparation for the exam we watched some example videos which were extremely fast paced and included some regional signs I had never seen before! However on the day of the exam we were lucky enough to get a signer from the North West, in fact just up the road from Blackpool in Lytham St. Anne’s and additionally a topic which we had covered recently so the signs were fresh in our memories! Not quite sure how we came to be so fortunate, but I’m definitely thankful, and hopefully got at least the 9/12 you need to pass. I’ll keep you posted.
BSL Log Book
Something that I’ve found particularly difficult about this course is the number of hours required as part of the qualification. Level Two includes at least 30 hours of “practice” which can be anything from watching signed TV, clips on YouTube, theatre, guided tours or conversations with Deaf or Hard of Hearing people.
To date I have 13 hours, which is mostly television and internet. I watched an hour long video on Diabetes the other day, just so I could put it in my log book! I also attend a local Sign Club, which runs fortnightly at the Devonshire Arms in Blackpool, but I’m struggling to get more exposure to deaf people in my local area.
I’ve decided that tomorrow I’m going to visit the V Fresh Cafe in Blackburn which has some Deaf employees, in order to get another hour or so for my log book, but I’d love to hear any other suggestions for how to get hours with the community in? Someone recently suggested trying out oovoo which is a video messaging client which a lot of Deaf people apparently use, so maybe I’ll give that a go if I find some friends to add!
So there we are, some of the topics I’ve failed to blog about since the new year! Hopefully you found them interesting to read, and I’d really appreciate your comments on any part of the post, so feel free to add your thoughts.
Lally.