Little Languages celebrates Auslan

AS part of the first International Day of Sign Languages and the national and international Week of Deaf People, the City of Ballarat’s Deaf Access and Ballarat Libraries presented Little Languages in Auslan last week.

Briana Beath, a member of the Deaf community read a story to the Little Languages participants – children aged from three to five – in Auslan, assisted by another deaf community member, Ellen Jansen.

The reading was interpreted into spoken English through Auslan Interpreters.

There was some singing in Auslan and the opportunity to learn some basic words.

Auslan, which is short for Australian sign language, is a language developed by and for Australians who are Deaf.

This visual form of communication uses hand, arm and body movements to convey meaning.

City of Ballarat Councillor Belinda Coates said, “Just last year the UN declared, for the first time, a week for deaf people and today is the International Day of Sign Languages.

“The children here come regularly and they get to hear a story in a different language each time and this time it’s Auslan, so it’s a little bit different.

“This is a terrific program. The library run lots of these great sessions for families, carers and children throughout her week, and as you can see the library gets so well used, it’s pretty well loved and people love coming out to things like these. It’s a great social activity.”

Little Languages is a free intercultural story time session that features singing and dancing and is held every Tuesday at 10.30am at the Ballarat Library.