What is Makaton?

linguadmin

Aug 29, 2024

Child and parent using makaton

Just recently here at Lingua Learn UK we have celebrated a day very close to our hearts – Makaton Day on 28th August!

What is Makaton?

In case you did not know what Makaton is, it’s a simplified sign language used to support people with learning disabilities in trying to communicate and use speech. You start off with the signs for family members and simple requests, such as the signs for “more” or “no” or “juice”. You may have seen Makaton being used on some children’s TV programmes or being using out and about on the streets by parents of children with communication needs. Despite sounding perhaps Japanese, Makaton started in the UK and its name simply comes from a portmanteau of its first teachers’ names: Margaret Walker, Katherine Johnstone and Tony Cornforth. It’s also widely used in special education to help bring on pupils’ communication skills.

What is the difference between Makaton and a sign language?

Whilst many Makaton signs are the same as British Sign Language, there are fewer of them and it’s basically much simplified in practice. There is a core vocabulary to express basic needs of around 450 words. This vocabulary focuses on such things as food and drink, people around you and toilet needs. There are later stages in which more abstract communication and complexity is possible. Makaton is designed to be multi-modal: in other words, it supports other means of communication. For instance, you spin your hands miming turning on a tap at the same time as saying “bath” to offer somebody a bath. British Sign Language is also a naturally evolving language, complete with regional “accents”, unlike Makaton.

History of Makaton

Margaret Walker did the original research back in the early ’70s and this came up with Makaton Core Vocabulary design. The reseach was done at Botleys Park Hospital in Surrey. It was with institutionalised deaf and cognitively impaired adults. This residential centre closed in 2008. Fourteen of the adults took part in the pilot. All showed the ability to learn some of the manual signs. The Core Vocabulary was then revised to include children too and started to be used throughout British special schools in order to stimulate communication and language. In the 1980s, graphic symbols were devised and these are used in educational materials and displays.

Makaton abroad

Makaton has been adopted for use in around 40 other countries including France, Greece, South Africa and Switzerland. Perhaps surprisingly, the Sign Language used by deaf people is not international; different countries use different sign languages. This is reflected in their Makaton.

You can check out these videos from the BBC’s Mr Tumble https://youtu.be/1dZyWQWZ-Gk?si=TeKf55y7v3MbNcOh

To learn a full language, check out our online language school here at www.lingua-learn.co.uk with classes starting in September for adults, kids and teens, and flexible private and business tuition. We offer virtual language training in over 14 different languages.

#makaton #onlinelanguages #lingualearn #learnfrench #learnenglish #learnitalian #learnspanish

Sample German Teacher Profile
NAME	Ms Xxxxxx Xxxxx
NATIONALITY	German
LANGUAGES	German (Native) English (Fluent) French (B2)
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE	7 years of teaching / assessing experience
QUALIFICATIONS	- DAAD Teaching German as a Foreign Language - Master Degree - Education - ALPT qualified assessor issued by ICCI - Qualified Translator; German & English

Sample Arabic Teacher Profile
NAME	Mrs Xxxxxx Xxxxxxx
NATIONALITY	Jordanian
LANGUAGES	Arabic (native) English (Fluent) French (Fluent)
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE	16 years of teaching / Assessing experience
QUALIFICATIONS	- TAFL-Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language - Diploma in Business Administration- Jordan - ALPT qualified assessor issued by ICCI - Qualified Translator; Arabic, English & French

Sample Italian Teacher Profile
NAME	Mr Xxxxx Xxxxxxxx
NATIONALITY	Italian
LANGUAGES	Italian (Native) English (Advanced) Russian (Advanced)
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE	8 years of teaching / assessing experience
QUALIFICATIONS	- CEDILS - certificazione in didattica dell'italiano a stranieri. - BA in Literature - Diploma in Linguistics - Qualified translator Italian, English & Russian.

Sample Spanish Teacher Profile
NAME	Mrs xxxxxx xxxxxx
NATIONALITY	Spanish
LANGUAGES	Spanish (Native) English (Fluent)
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE	14 years of teaching / Assessing Experience.
QUALIFICATIONS	- Pedagogical Aptitud Certificate - CAP - Intensive Course in Spanish as a Foreign Language Teacher Training Course by International House Madrid - Postgraduate in Spanish as a Foreign Language Teacher by Universidad Virtual de Barcelona
EXPERIENCE	- Provision of tailor-made group /one to one online and face to face sessions that focus on developing the professional skills needed in the workplace. - Creation and delivery of training in developing critical thinking skills, presentation skills, negotiation skills and pitching skills. - Delivery of blended courses that use online tools such as google/zoom classroom. - Creation and delivery of professional development courses to business professionals in numerous sectors including customer service, medical, aviation and telecommunications.

Sample French Teacher Profile
NAME	Ms xxxxxx xxxxxx
NATIONALITY	French
LANGUAGES	French (Native) English (Fluent)
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE	7 years of teaching / assessing experience
QUALIFICATIONS	- DAEFLE (Teaching French as a foreign language) - Bachelor's degree in business - 7 years teaching the French language

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4 Skills Assessment Full Detailed Report
General Evaluation
Xxxxxxx has a great grasp of the English Language; however, there is definitely room for improvement. Specifically, in terms of grammar, some tenses need a brush-up to further emphasise their use and placement within a sentence.

Recommended Program: B1.4
The use of advanced vocabulary should be encouraged, followed by tips and tricks on how to avoid using basic vocabulary. In general, all areas could be improved, and reading/listening to certain media types, such as: articles, journals, e-books etc., would help to improve that.

Fluency
xxxxxxx is a confident speaker and is proficient at using the target language. He is talkative and can 'hold his own' during a conversation. He tries to answer in as much detail as possible, although he could be more informative. The conversation often fell short, with just a few short-phrase answers or awkward silences, between topics. There were some issues when linking sentences to each other, such as his heavy usage of 'and' and 'but' without using other linking words. Passive forms were also ok, but when posed to ask a question in the passive form he had some difficulty. Despite making a few mistakes here and there he tried his best to keep the conversation going and he did not let his mistakes ruin the flow of the conversation. He has limited knowledge on certain topics such as education, law and history in terms of vocabulary and his lack of knowledge in these subjects was quite noticeable.

Grammar
xxxxxxx showed a great use of grammatical rules and construction. He has a very good grasp of certain tenses, such as simple present / past perfect and past continuous tenses. He made a few mistakes with the past perfect simple / continuous, as he sometimes misused them. He also had some issues with the future continuous tense, not always using it when it was appropriate to do so. In general, he used passive structures correctly and also used inquisitive tags and phrasal verbs properly. In some cases, he did put the pronoun after the verb but once the structure was explained he was always quick to self-correct.

Pronunciation
His pronunciations were great overall; however, it should be mentioned that he has a strong accent and this does sometimes affect the clarity of his speech. Even though this was the case, it was not always so noticeable and he did not make many mistakes. The biggest issues are with certain advanced vocabulary related to certain themes and with adjectives such as 'reputable', 'overshadowed', etc. He also had several issues with the pronunciation of the past simple tense, especially with the (t) sound.

Vocabulary
He exhibited a great command of a broad range of vocabulary and its use during a variety of topics. He used extensive words and absolute adjectives, although he would more often than not use more simple vocabulary. The use of advanced adverbs was a little sparse, and words like 'very' and 'a lot' were used to replace them.

Writing
His writing skills are very good although, as with his speaking assessment, similar mistakes were made. In general, tense use was ok, but he was unable to use more advanced tenses in writing or speaking. He therefore didn't use them to their full potential and ended up using more basic tenses instead. The third and second conditional were not used to their full effect, especially considering the essay topic was about where he sees himself in the future.

Suggestions:
Xxxxxxx has a great grasp of the English Language; however, there is definitely room for improvement. Specifically, in terms of grammar, some tenses need a brush-up to further emphasise their use and placement within a sentence. In general, all areas could be improved, and reading/listening to certain media types, such as articles, journals, e-books etc., would help to improve that. The use of advanced vocabulary should be encouraged, followed by tips and tricks on how to avoid using basic vocabulary.

4 Skills Assessment Spoken & Writing Listening & Reading
Name of participant	ID No.	Date	Overall Grade	Oral Score	Written Score	Listening Score	Reading Score	Comments
			A2.2	A2.2	B1.1	A2.1	A2.2	Fluency is good. Accuracy is good. Tenses are OK. Does not use past tense. Vocabulary is OK. Understands questions asked, but struggles a little to speak due to lack of confidence.
			A2.2	A2.1	A2.2	A2.2	A2.2	Good sentence structure and good knowledge of the language. Fluency and accuracy are good. Speaks clearly. Some grammar gaps.
			A1.2	A1.1	A1.2	A1	A1.2	Has basic English skills. Sentence structure is OK. Fluency and accuracy are not very good. Bad habits from home language, does not use past tense (simple)
			A1.2	A1.2	A1.2	A1.2	A1.2	Has good fluency. Gets their point across easily. Tends to stick to the basics only. Lots of bad habits. e.g. continuous tense for everything.
			B1.1	B1.1	B1.2	B1.1	A2.2	Has good, clear sentence structure. Wide range of vocabulary. Has done English courses before.
			A1.1	A1.1	A1.2	A1.1	A1.1	Has some basic knowledge. Tends to use simple structure. No complex grammar. Their writing seems to be a bit better than their spoken.
			B1.3	B1.3	B1.3	A2.2	B2.1	Has very good fluency and OK accuracy. Tends to use continuous tense form for more structures. Bad habits and grammar gaps.
			B1.2	B1.2	B1.3	B1.1	B1.2	Shy, has good fluency. Wide range of vocabulary. Uses simple present and past tenses and sometimes past participles.
			A1.1	A2.2	A2.1	A1.2	A1.2	Spanish accent. Speaks very well. Sentence structure is good but not accurate, some grammar gaps and bad habits. Very chatty.
			A1.2	A1.1	A1.2	A1.2	A1.1	Speaks with an Ethiopian accent. Has good knowledge of the language. Sentence structure is good, has both good habits and grammar gaps.

2 Skills Assessment Spoken & Writing
Name of participant	ID No.	Date	Overall Grade	Oral Score	Speaking	Comments
			B2.2	B2.2	B2.2	Excellent language range. Some minor bad habits due to limited exposure and practice. This is also confirmed in their writing.
			B2.1	B2.2	B2.4	Very good language range and ability. Some minor bad habits. Writing skills are somewhat weaker than speaking skills.
			B1.4	B1.4	B1.4	Is very fluent when speaking. Has very good range and accuracy. Has just returned from the USA after completing studies. Writing is very good.
			B1.2	B1.2	B1.2	Very good fluency and understanding of the language. Has travelled to Scotland, UK and USA. Uses present perfect tense and past simple tense very comfortably.
			B1.2	B1.2	B1.1	Has very good fluency and range. Some grammar gaps due to limited exposures. Not always totally confident.
			A2.2	A2.2	A2.2	Good fluency and range. Has lost some accuracy and confidence due to limited exposure to the target language.
			A2.1	A2.1	A1.2	Has good language ability and knowledge but does not always use it unless prompted. Tends to stick to simple and familiar language structures and grammar. Writing skills are somewhat weak.
			A1.2	A2.1	A1.2	Has good fluency and range. Struggles with using more complex grammar and structure. Writing skills are somewhat weak.
			A1.2	A1.2	A1.2	Has good fluency and range. Does not use correct structure or grammar and tends to translate mentally from Arabic before speaking. Writing and comprehension are weak.

Spoken Assessment
Name of participant	ID No.	Date	Overall Grade	Speaking	Comments
			B1.4	B1.4	Is relatively fluent in their speaking and can relay their message across clearly. However, they lack the professional ambience.
			B1.4	B1.4	Two main weaknesses: pronunciation, and the need to learn to use short, precise, direct sentences which sound professional and accurate, rather than casual and inefficient. Also tends to speak quickly and thus articulate poorly because they want to show a strong command of the language, which is unfortunately reflecting negatively on their speaking abilities.
			B1.2	B1.2	Has an elementary background of the target language. However, they need to practice more grammatical skills in order to strengthen verb tense and sentence structure knowledge in order to use the correct grammar in spoken language.
			B1.2	B1.2	Has a sound basic background in communicating using the English language, but needs to be prompted to interact more frequently. Has not had much exposure to English whilst in Turkey,
			A2.1	A2.1	Has good fluency and range, but structure and accuracy is weak. Tends to translate from Arabic to English.
			A2.1	A2.1	Has good fluency and is able to get the point across very well. Lacking in range and structure. Has a lot of grammar gaps and bad habits.