Below are the gestures I use in my lessons. They are sourced from several sites including ASL, AUSLAN, BSL, and most importantly students. My first collection, keluarga, were almost entirely suggested by year 2 students.

My priority when deciding upon a gesture is that it must be a clear link to meaning. Anything ambiguos is discarded. I love the babysignlanguage website for many reasons including that the gestures/signs are demonstrated clearly in a short video, often they come with an image that can be used in lesson powerpoints, as well as including both a clear verbal and written explanation suitable for young learners of the gesture to help understand the link to meaning. The best example of this is the sign/gesture for kitchen which looks a lot like flipping pancakes!

Keep checking in, as I hope to gradually add to this sign bank. I welcome suggestions, so don’t hesitate to get in touch. The next group of structures I will be uploading will be the top 10.

Keluarga (family):

The Top 10 HIgh Frequency Indonesian words that underpin everything we do in the Indonesian language classroom. Here are the gestures I use with my students.

Note that I do not have a gesture for ke (to) or pakai (wear/use).

When using ke, I usually combine it with the verb, thus the target structure would be something like ‘berlari ke’, or ‘berjalan kaki ke’.

When introducing pakai (to wear), my gestures focus on the item of clothing being worn. Thus the target structure of pakai sepatu (put on shoes) is bending down pretending to do up your shoe laces or pakai jaket (put on a jacket) is putting your arms one by one into a jacket. Then much later, when introducing ‘pakai Bahasa Indonesia’, it’s a quick discussion reviewing the meaning of pakai (to wear/use) and that wearing clothes is actually ‘using’ clothes.

Mau

Punya

Kasi/ kasih

Ambil

Di

Suka

Bisa #1

Bisa #2