Auslan Teaching Resources

Bring Auslan into your primary classroom with printable flash cards to learn fingerspelling and different signs, language videos, Auslan alphabet decor, and more to integrate sign activities in your lessons.

This teaching resource collection is packed with Australian Sign Language resources for primary teachers that cover numbers, letters, nouns, and everyday language.

New to Auslan, or looking for new ways to use it with your students? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!

What Is Auslan?

Short for Australian Sign Language — a coinage widely credited to Australian linguist Trevor Johnson in the 1980s — Auslan is the sign language used by the Deaf community in Australia. It's been recognised as an official language in Australia with its own unique grammar and vocabulary.

The visual language uses a combination of hand gestures, facial expressions, and body language to convey meaning.

What Makes Auslan Unique?

While Auslan shares some similarities with other sign languages used around the world — such as American Sign Language (ASL) or British Sign Language (BSL) — it is a distinct language with its own regional variations and dialects that are uniquely Australian.

For example, AUSLAN follows a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) sentence structure, while ASL and BSL follow a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) sentence structure, which means the order of words in a sentence is different between the languages. Likewise, in AUSLAN, signs are often oriented toward the body, while in ASL and BSL, signs are often oriented toward the person being addressed.

How Can Teachers Use Auslan in the Classroom?

You may or may not be teaching Deaf students this school year, but integrating Auslan into your lessons is a great way to create a more inclusive space and expose your students to a second language.

Looking for some specific ideas? Why not give these a try?

1. Teach Some Basic Signs — Students can learn some signs they can use in your classroom such as bathroom, pencil or water, as well as learning to fingerspell their own names or names of their classmates.

2. Storytelling — Tell stories in Auslan or with Auslan interpretation, using facial expressions and body language to convey meaning. Your students can follow along and learn new signs through the story.

3. Song and Dance — Incorporate Auslan into songs or dances that relate to the lesson topic. Students can learn the signs and movements and practise them while singing or dancing.

4. Speak and Sign in Maths — Try out a spoken and signed Maths warm-up for your lower years students – counting to 10 or counting in twos verbally and in sign language. During Maths rotations, have students speak and sign the answers to operation questions.

5. Set an Auslan Homework Task – Ask students to teach a member of their family how to fingerspell their own name.

6. Add Fingerspelling to Spelling Word Practice — Students can fingerspell as they sound out their spelling list words.

How to Be Inclusive With Deaf Students

Do you have Deaf students in the classroom? Here are some simple ways you can ensure your classroom is inclusive. Many of the following tips will benefit students from EAL/D backgrounds, those with diagnosed learning needs, and students who are Deaf.

1. Ensure that videos you show are captioned, or that you use the accessibility options that are built into many Microsoft and Apple products.
2. Consider the seating arrangements in your classroom, to ensure students who are Deaf can see your face and lips, and hear your voice easily.
3. Reduce background noise by closing windows or doors when needed.