BSL games online can be difficult to find but if you know where to look, you can test your skills and improve them while you play! There is plenty of research that shows embedding what you learn is much easier if you gamify learning.
BSL Games – fingerspelling:
Need to practice fingerspelling? There are lots of sites that offer some form of bsl finger spelling game. For example, Dot Sign Language have created exercises to test your receptive skills. You can play hangman – the presenter fingerspells a word and then you type in the answers. The exercises are suitable for beginners.
BSL Signbank has a challenging fingerspelling game that allows you to change the speed of the letters. The online game is great as it uses human handshapes and not drawn hand outlines like other games. This is a great site for practising different elements of British Sign Language. The site also has a video bank of different people from across the UK showing the regional variations of different signs.
Sign Language Forum also has a fingerspelling game that tests how many fingerspelled words you can get in 2 minutes. Your score is shown in a league table for the day. The site also has a forum and comments section for learners.
BSL Games – Quizzes
There are a number of quizzes that test skills and knowledge. For example, the Sign Bank Quiz that tests your knowledge of colours, countries and place names round the UK. The quiz is most suitable for learners on a BSL Level 3 course because you need to be aware of sign variations.
The awarding body, Signature, also has a number of quizzes in their learning hub. This is a paid subscription but we believe it is worth paying for. You get access to a range of quizzes on topics including family and friends, food and drink, animals, numbers, colours and everyday signs. Prices start at £36 for Level 1 resources.
Signworld has a number of quizzes to test your receptive skills and fingerspelling skills. Like Signature, it is a paid subscription with prices starting from £12.99. There are some introductory videos you can access as a free resource. Unfortunately, there are no subtitles so you need a basic level of BSL before using them to practise your receptive skills.
Other BSL Games
Some quizzes have been created by students to help with BSL assessments. We found three online games which are listed below:
We found several short quizzes on Quizziz. To access them, you’ll need to type in ‘British Sign Language’ into the search bar. Some of the quizzes also cover elements of Deaf Awareness.
We found BSL flashcards on Brainscape. Most appear to have been created by students and are aimed at beginners. Access to the flashcards is free. You could even make your own flashcards to help with remembering certain signs or to test your own linguistics knowledge.
Finally, we have Quizlet BSL flashcards. They are free to access but you will need to sign up for an account. Most flashcards appear to be created by students so would be suitable for beginners. We like them because the flashcards test your memory of simple BSL signs like greetings, alphabet and animals. Testing your receptive skills and memory of signs is vital to improving your signing fluency.
BSL Linguistics crossword
Unfortunately, we have been unable to find quizzes that challenge students at the higher levels. The crossword below is for more advanced BSL students (Level 3). You will need to know the grammatical principles of BSL. If you think the crossword is useful, share it with fellow learners!
Did we miss any quizzes? Remember, we have put quizzes and games that will help you improve your signing or fingerspelling skills. If you think there are websites we should add, contact us and let us know!
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