LEEDS, 18. – 22. JANUAR 2011 ŽIVA PELJHAN TINY SIGNERS

GENERAL INFORMATION Lifelong Learning Programme COMENIUS -Multilateral project Tiny Signers Acronym: TS 7 partners from 4 countries

PARTNERS P1: Zavod za gluhe in naglušne Ljubljana – ZGNL, SI P2: Alpen Adria Universitaet Klagenfurt – UNIKLU, AT P3: Resublikinis kurciuju reabilitacijos centras – RKRC, LT P4:EuroVia, UK P5: Instiute of the Republic of Slovenia for Vocational Education – CPI, SI P6:School Center of Rudolf Maister Kamnik – SCRM, SI P7:Babies Can Sign, BCS, UK

overall management of project activities and will in cooperation with EuroVia coordinate the project activities mentoring in management of the partner SCRM overall implementation of the activities in Slovenia: managing the local network, setting up the (SC), promotion of the project in Slovenia developmental work ZGNL - TASKS

Alpen Adria Universitaet Klagenfurt – UNIKLU, AT overall implementation of the activities in Austria: managing the local network, setting up the (SC), promotion of the project in Slovenia developmental work quality assurance from the linguistic angle of the project leading partner in setting up and e platform and will be responsible for its management.

Resublikinis kurciuju reabilitacijos centras – RKRC, LT overall implementation of the activities in Lithuania: managing the local network, setting up the (SC), promotion of the project in Slovenia developmental work carry out training events and eventually implement the initiative in our kindergarten

Eurovia responsible for project coordination at the project level as agreed with ZGNL mentor the management of the BCS organisation. responsible for the introduction and monitoring of the active learning approach and will facilitate the processes in the consortium responsible for facilitating the process of evaluation and the preparation of final evaluation report.

Instiute of the Republic of Slovenia for Vocational Education – CPI, SI preparation of the curriculum in the pre-school education prepare the optional module for child care professionals, which will be implemented at the SCRM in the pilot phase of the project. prepare the guidelines for the quality assurance in preparation and implementation of the curriculum at the project level, which will be based on common EU recommendations monitor the development in other countries. promote the project within our existing networks at national as well as EU level

School Center of Rudolf Maister Kamnik – SCRM, SI Will be assisted by ZGNL be responsible for more activities in the field of our expertise, i.e. the implementation of the training activities in the pre-school education. will cooperate in the preparation of the training programme for child care professionals, implement the training to the child care professionals as well as parents and will be very active in promoting the project through our participation in the network of teachers…

Babies Can Sign- BCS, UK will be mentored by the EuroVia. to offer the knowledge and support to the other partners on how to develop baby signing initiative, how to transfer it and how to develop training materials and teach the sign language. We will provide graphics for the whole consortium. we will be responsible for further mentoring of the partners and offer them all the support they need

MAIN REASON FOR TS PROJECT The main reason for TINY SIGNERS project is to create possibilities for the communication for deaf, hard of hearing and hearing children in the very early stages of their life and to overcome the gap which exists in this field in the majority of European countries.

OBJECTIVES The overall objective of the project is to implement an innovative approach with hearing and deaf babies through the development and use of baby sign language and thus improve the quality of early communication and language learning in the participating countries of Slovenia, Austria and Lithuania and to further develop the community of the signing babies in the United Kingdom.

ACTIVITIES develop relevant materials, implement training courses for teachers, child care professionals as well as courses for parents and hearing and deaf babies set up structures which will integrate the courses into mainstream curriculum in the pre school education to provide an efficient framework for the sustainability of the project at the national as well as European level

ADAPTATION cultural and linguistic adaptation pilot testing and initial steps towards accreditation of the transferred learning packages The baby sign language courses will be developed on the bases of national sign languages in close cooperation with deaf communities, child care and special needs professionals, curriculum authorities, kindergartens and schools.

MAIN GOAL By facilitation parents, carers and a next generation to use sign language, we hope to increase awareness and communication with deaf and in the corresponding communities and thus create an encouraging environment in which hearing as well as deaf babies and toddlers would thrive

TARGET GROUPS – EXPERTS IN A PROJECT 1. Teachers trained on the methodology of how to introduce the inclusive baby signing initiative in the initial training in Leeds. They will gain the skills and competences of how to introduce the initiative into new learning environments, and they are also going to be introduced with the methodological guidelines. They will all use this knowledge already within the project.

TARGET GROUP – CHILD CARE PROFESSIONALS 2. The second target group will be child care professionals. In all of the new partner countries there will be courses for child care professionals organized with a minimum number of 15, altogether 45 child care professionals In the end of the training all professionals will be equipped with skills and competences of how to incorporate sign language into their existing settings and to enhance the early language development of the children(hearing as well as hearing impaired)in their care.

TARGET GROUPS 3. The third target group will be members of national/regional networks and virtual community of the project. These will be experts in pre-school and special needs education, members of deaf community. 4. The fourth and most important target group are going to be parents of hearing, deaf and hearing impaired babies/toddlers.

LONG TERM TARGET GROUPS teachers involved in pre-school education in three countries and also a larger number of child care professionals parents of deaf, hard of hearing as well as hearing babies who are interested in early communication with their babies and toddlers through participation of baby sign language initiative deaf, hard of hearing and hearing babies who are going to be able to express their needs, desires and emotions with their parents as well as other carers from a very early stage.

SUSTAINABILITY the results planned are of such nature that guarantee the sustainability the training courses are going to be competence based and certified/accredited by regional/national institutions From the linguistic point of view, it should be pointed out that the developed baby sign language will be based on the official sign languages of all involved countries,

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION Through the development of baby sign language in partner countries and the courses for child care professionals and parents and babies, hearing as well as deaf, we will increase the social prestige and the attractiveness of sign language Apart from the already recognised benefits for the hearing babies, parents/caregivers, a community will be created in which also the parents of deaf babies, babies themselves and later the babies and children with cochlear implant will develop and integrate with much less frustrations and obstacles.

THE INOVATIVE CHARACTER

LONG LASTING IMPACT We are convinced that through the EU level approach and by encouraging teachers, carers, parents and a next generation to use the sign language in the corresponding communities, the awareness and communication with deaf and impaired people will be significantly increased and will leave a positive and long lasting impact in the EU context.

DISSEMINATION OF RESULTS We will use channels which have proven to be successful in the past: professional associations, seminars, workshops and channels used by the schools to attract learners. Partners also have enough experience to promote activities through early intervention measures. The only approach which is new to the country partners is the attraction of parents of hearing babies

WORK PACKAGES WP1: Initial training (4 months)/BCS WP2:Developing and adapting training programme on baby sign language to the specific needs of new learning enviroments (16 months)/CPI WP3:Training materials (15 months)/BCS WP4:National training events (8 months)/ ZGNL WP5:Quality assurance (25 months)/ZGNL WP6: Valorisation plan (25 months) – promotional materials/Eurovia WP7:Management (25 months)/ZGNL, Eurovia

PROJECT MEETINGS First management meeting and initial training Second management meeting - AT Third management meeting - LT Fourth management meeting – SI 2 meetings per year in Brussels -ZGNL