“Talking Hands” aims to develop an open, flexible online platform for everybody who would like to learn basic elements of the sign language at a non-sequential manner – which means that learners will be able to select topics of interest at will, such as holidays, days of the week, medical terms, etc. Although there are specialized schools that offer sign language lessons to relevant stakeholders, there is a lack of learning materials freely available online, as most of them are in books and this is not easy because one needs to see the signs a teacher is making through motion to comprehend them.

The main objectives we wish to achieve through the implementation of the “Open Online Platform for Learning the Sign Language (Talking Hands)” project are:
a) To develop a methodology, to collect and record sign language lessons from the participating countries’ languages,plus International Sign;
b) To provide them freely online at a non-formal and flexible education context, along with other useful learning materials concerning the sign language lessons and the Deaf Culture;
c) To address all the above mainly to family members and friends of deaf persons who wish to enhance their competences, and to deaf persons themselves who wish to be able to access a “side-learning” opportunity.

We plan to achieve the following specific results:
– 14 Inception Workshops with our target groups (2 by each partner)
partner;
– 1 Methodology Guide with the description of the 28 lessons and their contents, and their division in 7 thematic topics;
– Video recording of the lessons in each partner’s sign language and in International Sign (196 in total);
– An Open Online Platform that will visualize the sign language lessons and will include supplementary learning materials and other useful information translated in the languages of the participating organizations, plus International Sign.

Our target groups in this project are:
– Relatives, friends, colleagues and acquaintances of deaf persons who are interested to learn basic elements of the sign language and the Deaf Culture on their own pace and without charges;
– Deaf persons who are interested to watch the platform’s learning videos as “extracurricular” material from their formal learning of the sign language;
– Everybody else who is interested to learn basic elements of the sign language and cannot afford the time and/or the money to enroll into physical classes, including teachers and trainers of “mainstream” schools;
– Relevant associations, institutions and public bodies that support deaf persons and persons with disabilities in general.