On Thursday, 18th December, students were invited to attend a sign language class in the Cornerstone building run by L’Arche Liverpool, a charity that works to provide support and community for those with learning disabilities. For an hour, myself and a small group of Liverpool Hope students were treated to festive practical activities that helped us develop our skills in Makaton, a form of sign language that is used to support verbal and written communication, similar to BSL.

We were first introduced to the instructors of the class, as well as a few volunteers with the charity who L’Arche help support. After a short introduction into what Makaton is and why it’s used, we were taught the alphabet and how to spell our names using the sign language system. We then learned the signs to say “Hello, my name is ___”, and were encouraged to introduce ourselves in Makaton (turns out when saying your name, you can just sign the first initial!)

For the next half hour, the group got us into the festive spirit by teaching us the signs for the lyrics of Wham!’s iconic Last Christmas, brilliantly demonstrated by the L’Arche signers. The rest of the session allowed the group to ask questions about how to sign certain phrases, such as “What’s your name?” And common words such as “please” and “thank you”, giving us some helpful rhymes to remember the signs.

Overall, it was a fun and engaging session, giving us a great way to learn something new and to help a charity gain more awareness of their amazing work just before the Christmas break.