There are ten courses in total and each one has a specific theme around which the literacy course is built. The theme or content of each course is arbitrary as the aim of the course is to improve literacy.
The course levels vary but in general they centre around the A2 classification from The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). A detailed breakdown of each course and lesson can be seen here.
Each course consists of two main parts.
- A section composed of texts and comprehension exercises + other exercises as necessary.
- A grammar and punctuation section – which introduces grammatical terms and further exercises.
Literacy courses with British Sign language have a BSL ‘translation’ of the general (or main) texts and also has an BSL explanation of grammar and punctuation.
The interactive elements (quizzes and exercises) are meant to be fun and attempt to encourage the student to learn un-assisted. Currently these interactive elements DO NOT keep any scores or reports on student progress, however this can be implemented in future versions.
Part of the initial funding for these materials came from a European project called DEAFLI (now defunct) which aimed to provide an on-line learning resource for Deaf students. However, the project ran out of money before this aim could be achieved so I have produced this resource in my own time and at my own expense.
I hope that these courses are useful to those of you who wish to improve your literacy and I also hope that future collaborations with Deaf schools and organisations will enable me to offer a range of courses in the future.