Yes, Oxford BSL offers Signature-accredited British Sign Language courses.

Yes! It’s very important to check any credentials of a BSL teacher and that they are part of the Deaf community. To be able to teach BSL, particularly at Level 3 and above, your teacher should understand the Deaf community inside-out, it’s not enough just to learn some signs!

Suzi is a member of the Oxford Deaf community. While she grew up hearing, she now has a bilateral moderate-severe hearing loss and has become a regular fixture at her local Deaf group and works in the community as an interpreter. She can bring in her lived experience as well as that of her friends, including Deaf people and CODAs (Children of Deaf Adults). She occasionally welcomes friends to her lessons to share their experiences with students.

Oxford BSL is owned and run by Suzi, a former Teacher of Deaf Children and Young People, now a Trainee Sign Language Interpreter, with lived experience of a moderate-severe hearing loss.

She is also part of the Oxford Deaf community - being actively involved in regular events. This gives her the kind of knowledge and understanding of Deaf culture and Deaf life that is vital for educating others in BSL and Deaf Awareness.

Suzi Sentance has a Level 6 Certificate in British Sign Language and has successfully completed Part 1 of her Level 6 Diploma in Sign Language Interpreting and Translation. She currently works as an NRCPD-regulated Trainee Sign Language Interpreter. She also holds a PGDip in Deaf Education, an MA in Humanities Education and a PGCE.

Hannah Cummins holds a Level 3 Certificate in British Sign Language.

Alice Robinson holds a Level 2 Certificate in British Sign Language.

Oxford BSL offers Deaf Awareness training and hearing loss-related accessibility consultancy for business of all sizes.

We also provide British Sign Language teaching through accredited courses with our awarding body, Signature, as well as short courses and one-off basics sessions.

deaf typically means anyone with any level of hearing loss, from temporary to profoundly deaf. Other similar terms you may hear are hard of hearing, deafened or hearing impaired.

Deaf with a capital D refers to the Deaf community and those who consider themselves part of that community. It includes people with a range of hearing losses, they may use sign, they may speak, they may wear hearing technology or they may not, they may be family members of CODAs (Children of Deaf Adults).

Offering BSL classes free-of-charge would be the ideal, as Suzi believes everyone should learn to sign, there are overheads to running classes, such as printing, room hire and fees to the awarding body.

As well as these costs, Suzi is a highly-qualified teacher, with a PGDip in Deaf Education and an MA in Education, and being Level 6 BSL qualified and a Trainee Sign Language Interpreter. So you’re also paying for the benefit of her experience and knowledge!

There are some similarities between different signed languages, for example British Sign Language and Australian Sign Language share an alphabet (known as ‘fingerspelling’). However, just like spoken languages evolved in different countries to produce individual languages, signed languages evolved in different countries in the same way.

When there’s one spoken world language, we’ll look at creating one signed world language!

Suzi believes that as a 3D language, BSL is difficult to learn properly online. However, there are some useful resources to give you the basics before you invest in a full course.

www.british-sign.co.uk offers a starter course online for as little as £3 (pay what you can). It is only over 16-20 hours so it’s not a complete Level 1 course, but will give you the basics.

commandinghands.co.uk offers a free starter course. It is new and they are releasing new modules gradually. Commanding Hands are well-established on YouTube, Facebook and other social media with a whole host of vocabulary and quizzes to help you build your knowledge. They also have a fingerspelling font you can download!

You can reach Oxford BSL anytime via our contact page or email. We aim to respond quickly but please allow up to two working days.