Rose Ayling-Ellis Old Hands New Tricks

[Redstrampoline]

I watched the first episode of this last night. I can not find a thread for it. Is it a repeat that I missed the first time it was on television?

I really enjoyed it. Rose Ayling-Ellis went to a retirement village and brought in an excellent BSL teacher to help some older people who are losing their hearing to learn how to sign. After some initial reluctance a small group started to learn together. We learn a little about some of the older people and their lives. It also highlights how isolating it can be for people who have been hearing all of their lives to lose their hearing.

Rose is lovely. She is determined, empathetic and eager to help people to learn. I will watch the second episode when I can.

It's not a repeat no.

I really enjoyed it. I see my parent struggling and think it’s a great idea for the older generation to learn BSL.

It's a new programme.

I think learning anything new is great for all of us as we get older.
Having to concentrate and think is great for the brain, and meeting up with the rest of the group and going on the outings is great for the social aspect.

However 'm not really sure the group will meet enough people who can also use BSL, for it to be a useful skill for them.

It's an interesting watch though.

BSL should be offered in schools. And I’m not sure if it’s considered an official language of the U.K. I hope it is.

Its a new programme - at the end of the second episode (both are available on Iplayer) Rose reads a letter from the daughter of one of the group who had subsequently died, saying how when she could no longer speak in hospital she was able to sign and be understood - sign really is a skill for everyone to learn. Its a very moving programme

That is amazing and so emotional.

It's a brilliant programme and really highlights how useful BSL can be. I don't think the aim is to make them fluent BSL users, just enable them to communicate their needs through things like fingerspelling or key words and phrases. Hopefully enough will keep it up / learn more and they will inspire others... I've often wondered why BSL isn't used more for people who can hear but maybe struggle to talk because of other issues and this show highlighted how useful It can be. It is such a good way to communicate and ultimately would be more useful for most people than learning to speak a foreign language.

I watched the first episode and i thought it was a really brilliant programme

Really enjoyed watching it and I was trying to pick up some signs. The only reason I haven't done signing is because of money

And he looks like a great teacher
Made me laugh how she said he was a big naughty when introducing him!

If you're interested in learning BSL but can't access lessons, there are loads of BSL vocab videos on YouTube. Commanding Hands is a good channel. There are others too but that's the one I used the most. Also SignBSL is a free dictionary app you could download.

Thanks I will have a look

I’ve got bright bsl app on my phone.

The more I think about it, the more I think that learning Makaton would have worked better, for this situation.

Makaton is "Sign supported English" - so you sign the key words in any sentence that you are speaking.

BSL, OTOH has a different sentence structure, (similar to languages from other countries having different sentence structure) so, for the people on this programme learning something new, when not deaf, it would have been easier for them to learn signs to things they are saying as they speak, rather than having to try to remember how to use BSL whilst also speaking.

Rose herself said it is difficult even for her (who has used BSL all her life) to sign and to speak at the same time.

It's been an interesting watch, and the letter she read out at the end, was lovely.

Mark seems way younger than the others

The ending 😭

I watched episode one and looking forward to seeing the second. What a great programme. Not the least bit patronising but really heartwarming.

I think it's New Zealand that has three official languages: English, Mäori and NZ Sign Language.

It would be brilliant if it was more widely available in schools and colleges here. There's been talk about a GCSE for years and I hope that's put in place soon.

I did my BSL Level 1 years ago, partly because I thought it might come in useful at work and partly just for the interest and the challenge. I'm very rusty now although the alphabet has stuck in my memory so could use that if nothing else. This programme has inspired me to go back and pick it up again.

@Punk4ssBookJockey thanks for the useful links above.

No it’s not.

its a made up system of signs that bear little relation to BSL signs.

makaton is very restricted and has a limited vocabulary - you cannot have a proper conversation using it unlike BSL which is a rich language.

Yes it is

BSL was legally recognised as an official language in the UK in 2022 - and there are 90,000 people who use it as a first or preferred language. Makaton does use some BSL signs but as the Poets Wife says has a limited vocabulary - its aimed at a totally different user group

I've watched the first episode and recorded the second. I use BSL as Wilf is profoundly deaf. I do struggle with it due to my dyspraxia.. Wilf did his level 1 at school and recently did his Level 2 and. 3.and passed both. It's very expensive so we are waiting a bit till level 4. He was very fortunate as we kept in touch with his Occupational Therapist from.school and due to Wilfs dyspraxia he got extra time and someone with him.
Wilf volunteers a lot with people with learning disabilities and during lockdown he did all his Makaton levels too so he is fluent in both. ♥️
When I was first learning, Wilf was about two and I inadvertently signed that our friend was going home to eat her rabbit instead of feed her rabbit..😫😪
That took a lot of explaining!!!

I am aware of the differences, which is why, IMO, for this group Makaton would have been better.

Yes, if BSL is your first language, then you are obviously able to use far more language in it than you would with Makaton.
Yes, if you have hearing loss as a child, or suddenly become deaf as a young adult, then learning BSL will give you the capacity to express yourself more widely to others BSL users although not to the majority of the World who don't use BSL.

But the group in the programme mostly had about 80 years experience of spoken language, and (for the most part - there were 2 exceptions) wanted some support for when they weren't 'catching words' in busy / noisier environments.

It is much more difficult to learn new things in our 9th decades, so starting to learn a whole new language, with new structure to it was always going to be quite challenging for most of them. Whereas, as they were learning to support their speech then using the system designed to support speech would seem to be the sensible thing to do.

As always, other opinions are available.

@CarpetKnees

you’re coming across as patronising with the use of underlining etc.

makaton was designed for people with learning difficulties. And the number of people who know makaton compared with those who know some BSL means it’s probably more practical to use BSL.

It’s also well known that learning a new language is good for your brain.

I thought this was such a good programme. Some of the new learners picked up BSL amazingly quickly. It’s clearly great for your general mental agility, as well as not becoming socially isolated.
And the man who was deafblind (I can't remember his name) and the astonishing hands-on signing he and his signer were doing I had no idea this existed before! I found it incredibly moving.

Theres a play tonight - BBC1 at 9 with deaf prisoner - and Rose Ayling Ellis as a character so presume lots of BSL!