Foundation
In 2026, Foundation students are introduced to Auslan as a visual language and develop their communication skills through engaging, play-based activities that incorporate songs, movement, storytelling, and everyday experiences. They learn and use simple signs related to colours, school and classroom routines, celebrations such as Easter, feelings, family, weather, seasons, daily routines, animals, sports, and the Auslan alphabet. Students practise recognising, reproducing, and responding to signs, following and giving simple instructions, and developing early fingerspelling skills. As their confidence grows, they begin using simple signed phrases to describe people, objects, animals, and experiences, including making positive and negative statements with basic time references and using common verbs. They become familiar with the handshapes, movements, and locations used in single signs, and learn to describe familiar people, places, and things using simple descriptive language. Through these experiences, they develop confidence in visual-gestural communication and build an understanding of Auslan as a rich and expressive language that promotes accessible, inclusive, and respectful interaction.
Year 1 & 2
In 2026, Year 1 and 2 students build on their developing Auslan skills by using greetings, everyday signs, and classroom language with increasing confidence. They expand their vocabulary through familiar, real-life topics such as feelings, family, weather, daily routines, animals, sports, occupations, clothing, health, and celebrations including Easter and Christmas. Students apply the Auslan alphabet to finger-spell familiar names and words, and use signs for days of the week, months of the year, colours, and numbers in simple contexts. Through a range of interactive activities, they practice both receptive and expressive signing by following and giving basic instructions, demonstrating simple procedures using known signs, gestures, objects, and recounting and sequencing shared events using familiar signs and visual prompts. Students engage with short imaginative and expressive texts, including stories and nursery rhymes, and demonstrate their understanding through drawing, gesture, modelled signs, or English. They also use fixed handshapes and constructed action creatively to represent movements, actions, and character traits. As their communication skills develop, students deepen their understanding of key features of Auslan, including facial expression, gesture, eye contact, and visual communication strategies, while identifying similarities and differences between communicating in English and Auslan. This supports their ability to communicate simple ideas and experiences while developing an appreciation of Deaf culture and the importance of accessible and inclusive communication.