Foundation students from the college's King's Lynn campus held a series of training sessions to teach the language, Makaton to staff members at the college.
Makaton is a unique language programme for people with learning difficulties, using signs and symbols as you speak. The programme, which is now used by over 100,000 children and adults, takes away the frustration and enables individuals to connect with other people and the world around them.
The Senior Management Team were taught some of signs from the Makaton core vocabulary over the course of three sessions in March, learning words such as beer, please, thank you, more, what, where, chocolate cake, orange, banana, home.
Foundation students Eve Whomes and Mia Aitken
The four students from the Finding Independence group at the college have been learning Makaton through as part of their course and then teaching others as part of their work experience. The course Finding Independence in the Bridge to Independence in Foundation helps to develop independence skills.
From L to R: Paul Gibson, CWA Principal David Pomfret, Hilary Auld, Andrew Gedge, front row: Joe Smith, Mia Aitken, Eve Whomes, Elle Aitken, Karen Soehnle.
Course Director and lecturer, Karen Soehnle, said: “It has been great to see the students sharing their unique skills with others to allow them to communicate effectively with new people. Not only this, but they have been able to develop their own vocabulary further, which has allowed them to progress further with their course.”