LEARN
BSL.
See a sign. Have a go.
Make a new connection.
Five useful starters. Five friendly sisters. Watch a sister show you, try it together, then play a little word game. Press Play to begin and replay whenever you like.
Try a camera wave with Cleo. She can wave back when the camera notices your open-hand movement. Human demonstrations and reference guides are in Extra help.
PICK A SISTER.
The sisters are ready to explore some BSL with you.
Your pace. Your way. No timer. No lives to lose. Use touch, a mouse, keyboard or hand controls.
How do the camera activities work?
For the word game, point at a button and hold still, or pinch to choose. In Hello’s movement warm-up, hand navigation pauses so you can move freely. Use the Stop warm-up button, Escape or Stop camera to leave it.
Mouse, touch and keyboard always work. Press Tab to move between buttons and Enter or Space to choose. You do not need a camera to join in.
A HELLO CAN
START A FRIENDSHIP.
Ask how your friend likes to communicate. Give each other time. Keep learning together.
A LITTLE GUIDANCE.
About BSL and these first words
British Sign Language is a language with its own grammar. Hands, facial expression and body movement all carry meaning. The English words in the games are labels. My name is… demonstrates the MY → NAME introduction starter; fingerspelling your own name comes next.
The sisters show original introductory illustrations based on the reference guides linked in Extra help. These have not yet had a qualified BSL teacher’s review and are not a complete BSL course. Regional and personal variation is normal. Explore one sign at a time, keeping face and hands in view. There is no requirement to speak aloud. For fuller learning and feedback, find a qualified Deaf BSL teacher through the British Deaf Association’s resources.
BSL and Makaton are different. This section uses BSL resources only.
What can the Hello camera warm-up check?
Only the visible movement features named on screen: a hand in view, an open-hand shape and a side-to-side movement. It does not assess a complete BSL sign, hand orientation, signing location, facial expression, body language or two-handed signing. Cleo waving back acknowledges the movement; it does not mean every part of the sign was correct.
The warm-up is optional and separate from the word-game stars. It gives movement feedback, not a BSL grade. Practice with a grown-up or teacher; different ways of moving are welcome.
Camera and external websites
Camera use begins only when you choose it and allow access. Hand processing stays on your device. Pictures and movement samples are not recorded, stored or uploaded; the microphone stays off. Stop camera or Escape switches the camera off. Leaving this page ends the warm-up; hand navigation can reconnect on another Skylock page in the same tab. In the warm-up, page selection and scrolling are paused.
Extra help links open a different website and stop our camera first. No external video player loads on this page. The linked website has its own media and privacy arrangements.
Extra help and human demonstrations
- Hello — UCL BSL SignBank (opens another website)
- Goodbye — UCL BSL SignBank (opens another website)
- My name is… — UK Deaf Sport (opens another website)
- Toilet — British Sign dictionary (opens another website)
- Thank you — UCL BSL SignBank (opens another website)
The human demonstrations and reference artwork stay on their publishers’ websites. No third-party sign footage or illustrations are copied or embedded. Skylock Sisters is independent and does not claim endorsement from the linked organisations.
More family guidance: learning BSL with the National Deaf Children’s Society. Learn the BSL alphabet for names.