Gestures and facial expressions
Try this activity to show children and young people how using gestures and facial expressions can help deaf child to understand what someone is saying.
Ask the children to suggest different ways they can communicate without using their voice.
If needed, prompt them with examples like waving to say hello, or shaking your head to say no.
Then get the children into pairs, and ask them to take it in turns with their partner to use gestures and facial expressions to communicate the following phrases:
Person A
- It's hot
- I'm hungry
- They're silly
- It's cold I don’t know
- It's noisy
Person B
- I'm late
- Good, well done
- I'm tired
- Where's my drink?
- Do you want a sweet?
Ask children to discuss with their partner or in groups how they found the activity.
Post-activity discussion
After the activity go through some of these questions:
- How do facial expressions help you to understand what the other person is communicating?
- Which phrases were the easiest to understand?
- Which phrases were the hardest to understand?