I am qualified to CACDP level 2 in British Sign Language?

Question

I currently work as a volunteer for the Social Services department as a befriender within the Deaf community. I feel that this is beneficial to an extent, but wonder if there is anything else i could do to expand my knowledge of BSL. I dont particularly want to study to level 3 yet as i dont feel confident enough to do the course. Can anyone offer any suggestions?

Answer 1

The best thing that helped me is to actually have a Deaf friend who is a native BSL user.  Going to signing pubs and Deaf clubs is ok, but they usually only have a night once per month when hearing people or BSL learners can visit.  I found from experience (depending on the part of the country) that these clubs tend to attract the older generation who were forced to learn to speak at school and use SSE.  So it's not the same as the voices off and pure BSL you need for an exam.

So I had a friend who was a native BSL user and used to spend time with him.  You learn so much and it's not like a formal club atmosphere, you just chat normally as friends and do friend things together.

The one difficult thing is that you can't just ask someone to be your friend just so you can learn BSL, so a friend like this is difficult to find!  I am very grateful to mine, because we just care for each other and it's equal give and take.  A real friendship not just a BSL one :))