Document: Learning Tables

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There are a number of approved braille teaching courses available. These courses are designed to teach braille in easy stages, adding wordsigns, contractions, punctuation, etc., over a number of lessons.

This feature is in no way a substitute for these courses, but it allows you to produce additional braille material for students to help them become more familiar with what has been introduced at each stage.

DBT currently includes 8 courses - BANA (3), BAUK/UAKAAF (3) and UEB (2).

Please note that the courses displayed here, will be strictly dependent on what initial Template has been selected.

Image shows Document Drop down menu with Learning Tables sub-menu displayed.

Details of each course can be seen by clicking on the appropriate link below:

NLS I.B.B.T. (UEB 2015)

TSVBI Clusters (BANA)

Braille in Easy Steps (BAUK/UKAAF)

Fingerprint (UEB)

Take off Series

RNZFB STAR

S.A. Syllabus Level

Mangold Method

NLS I.M.B.T. (UEB 2015)

This series of "select contractions" steps is based upon the "Instruction Manual for Braille Transcribers," (UEB, 2015) published by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress. The lesson numbers associated with the steps correspond to that document; the contractions are introduced as follows:

Lesson 4.2:

as, you, it, will, very, us, that, so, rather, quite, people, not, more, like, knowledge, just, have, go, from, every, do, can, but

Lesson 4.3:

with, the, of, for, and

Lesson 5.1:

still, out, which, this, shall, child

Lesson 5.3:

st, ou, wh, sh, ch, th

Lesson 6.1:

ing, ow, gh, er, ed, ar

Lesson 7.2:

be (wordsign), were, was, his

Lesson 7.3:

enough

Lesson 7.4:

in (wordsign)

Lesson 7.5:

en, in (groupsign)

Lesson 7.7:

dis, con, be (groupsign)

Lesson 7.10:

said, quick, paid, little, letter, good

Lesson 8.1:

ea, gg, ff, cc, bb

Lesson 8.2:

great, first, below, because, above, about

Lesson 9.1:

their, world, spirit, many, had, cannot, these, whose, those, word, upon, there, ought, where, through, character, young, work, under, time, some, right, question, part, one, name, mother, lord, know, here, father, ever, day

Lesson 9.3:

perhaps, braille, always, according, children

Lesson 10.1:

ity, ment, ness, tion, ful, ong, ence, ount, less, sion, ance, ound

Lesson 10.3:

necessary, must, immediate, also, almost, across

(Full grade 2):

receiving, receive, perceiving, perceive, deceiving, deceive, conceiving, conceive, rejoicing, rejoice, declaring, declare, thyself, themselves, ourselves, oneself, myself, herself, yourselves, yourself, your, itself, its, himself, him, tomorrow, tonight, today, such, much, neither, either, would, should, could, together, friend, blind, beyond, between, beside, beneath, behind, before, altogether, although, already, against, again, afterward, afternoon, after

This last level is not in the "Select Contractions" list, because inclusion of the short-form words amounts to full grade 2, which is selected simply by choosing "English/American (Literary)" without "Select Contractions".

TSVBI Clusters (BANA)

The second graduated contractions series is based upon the "Clusters" defined and used by the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

The complete TSBVI "Clusters" sequence is listed below. Note that Cluster 1 is equivalent to grade 1, and Clusters 54 and above are equivalent to grade 2.

Those clusters that are omitted in the menu are marked with an asterisk (*). Apart from Cluster 54, the reason that the others are omitted is that they introduce no new contractions nor the letter sign:

1: a, t, m

*2: b, g, i

3: a, that, more, but, go

*4: capital, period, I

*5: r, f, n

*6: x, l, s

7: rather, from, not

8: it, like, so

9: d, do, p, people, k, knowledge

10: y, you, c, can

11: h, have, o, question mark

12: q, quite, u, us, comma

13: w, will, e, every

14: v, very, z, as

15: j, just, and

*16: (Reading exercises)

17: mother, father, right, time, exclamation point

18: lord, some, day, part, name

19: know, young, here, one

20: question, under, work, ever, apostrophe

*21: number sign, numerals

22: hyphen, numeric dates, letter sign

*23: comma in large numbers

24: the, there, braille, ing, him

25: about, according, after, also, afternoon, afterward

26: th, this, although, through, across, already

*27: (Reading exercises)

28: almost, always, blind, either, neither, ed

29: of, by, myself, himself, itself, oneself, yourself

30: had, quick, its, these, cannot, open quote, closed quote

31: sh, shall, should, would, could, good, paid

32: tion, er, herself, perhaps

33: o'clock, was, con, cc, colon

34: ou, out, ought, today, tonight, tomorrow

35: for, ch, child, children, character, such, much

36: ar, ound, above, en, enough

*37: (Reading exercises)

38: great, together, little, ow, ance

39: be, bb, semicolon, spirit

40: because, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond

41: sion, ble, his, your, friend, letter

42: less, their, ourselves, yourselves, themselves

43: with, st, still, first, must, again, against

44: ount, dollar sign, decimal, cent, many

45: percent, fraction bar, ity

46: ence, altogether, immediate, com

*47: (Reading exercises)

48: wh, which, where, world, ea

49: to, ff, in, into, those, said, ong

50: word, were, gg, parentheses

51: ness, ment, necessary, ally

52: dis, dd, gh, ation, ful

53: upon, whose, thyself

*54: conceive, conceiving, deceive, deceiving, declare, declaring, perceive, perceiving, receive, receiving, rejoice, rejoicing

*55: dash, ellipsis, asterisk, italics or underline

*56: double dash, brackets, inner quotes, accent sign, termination sign, degrees

Braille in Easy Steps (BAUK/UKAAF)

by John Lorimer (revised by Claire Wilson, 2007).

Duxbury Levels

Because three letters are not introduced until Book 7 (j, q, z), but all other letters have been learned by the end of Book 4, this would have to be the first Duxbury level, with the three missing letters taught specially if they occur. So, the Duxbury levels would look like this:

Book 4

(note: letters j, q and z may occur which are not formally taught until Book 7)

Pre-braille and tracking skills

The alphabet (j, q and z not formally introduced, but may crop up)

Wordsigns: but, can, do, every, from, go, have, knowledge, like, more, not, people, rather, so, that, us, very, will, it, you, and, of, the, in, into, was, in

Contractions: and, of, the, ed, in

Punctuation: full stop, question mark, exclamation mark, comma

Other signs: capital letter sign (dot 6)

Book 5

Contractions: er, ing

Shortforms: could, good, would

Punctuation: apostrophe

Book 6

Contractions: st, ar, en, ea

Wordsigns: still, enough

Composite signs: one, time, there, had

Shortforms: about, after, again

Punctuation: Ellipsis

Book 7

Letters: j, q, z

Wordsigns: which, his, just, quite, as, were

Contractions: wh, ow

5. after Book 8

Wordsign: shall

Contractions: gh, sh

Shortforms: him, said

Punctuation: quotation (speech) marks, hyphen

Book 9

Wordsigns: out, this

Contractions: ou, th

Composite signs: mother, father, some

Shortforms: across, perhaps

Book 10

Wordsigns: child, for, with, be

Contractions: ch, com, for, with, be, ble

Composite signs: day, where, -ound, -less

Shortforms: against, quick

Other signs: numeral sign, decimal point (dot 2), mathematical comma (dot 3), pound sign (dots 1-2-3)

Book 11

Contractions: bb, cc, dd, ff, gg, dis

Composite signs: their, word, these, -ong, -ally, -ful, -ment

Shortforms: although

Punctuation: dash

Book 12

Wordsigns: by

Contraction: con,

Composite signs: here, know, ought, right, ever, through, work

Shortforms: friend, must, your, today, tomorrow, tonight, afternoon, much, such, herself, himself, myself, yourself, above, before, below, beneath, should

Other signs: italic sign, double italic sign, italic closure sign

Book 13

Composite signs: -ance, part, name, young, -tion, -ness, -ount

Shortforms: because, behind, beside, between, beyond, children, great, its, little, afterwards, almost, always, first, together

Punctuation: brackets

By the end of Book 14, the cmplete contracted braille code should be familiar (see exceptions below - which would have to be explained if context did not make the meanings apparent)

Book 14

Composite signs: many, world, those, -ation, question, under, upon, -ence, -ity, -sion

Shortforms: also, already, blind, braille, letter, paid, receive, receiving, themselves, either, neither, immediate, necessary

Other signs: braille letter sign (dots 5-6)

Not included in this course

The following rarely used signs have not been taught in Braille in Easy Steps. The pupil is warned at the end of Book 14 that they may encounter some of these unfamiliar signs in their braille reading, and a list is given.

Composite signs: lord, character, cannot, spirit, whose

Shortforms: according, altogether, conceive, conceiving, deceive, deceiving, declare, declaring, itself, o'clock, oneself, ourselves, perceive, perceiving, rejoice, rejoicing, thyself, yourselves

Punctuation: slash, square brackets, inner quotes

Mathematical signs: plus, minus, multiplication sign, division sign, equals, per centage sign, fractions in braille, separation sign

Other signs: bullet point sign (dots 4-5-6, dots 2-5-6), asterisk (dots 3-5 twice), ampersand (dot 4, 1-2-3-4-6), accented letter sign (dot 4), Euro sign (dot 4, e)

Take Off Reading Scheme (UEB)

Takeoff - A second stage scheme for young learners to develop phonic skills, knowledge of braille contractions and word signs, in 12 stages TC21413.

Takeoff teachers handbook - Teachers handbook to accompany Takeoff TC21415P.

Take Off is divided into 12 levels, and a group of grade 2 braille signs is taught at each level.

From the start of the Take Off series all of the alphabet and alphabetic wordsigns with the exception of K for knowledge are used. In addition, the shortforms good and little are also used. Punctuation used from the outset are full stop, capital symbol indicator and question mark. The numeric indicator is also used as this has been previously introduced in Hands On. The following lists the signs and shortforms as they are introduced by series.

Series 1

And

For

In

Ing

Of

Ou

Out

The

Comma

Series 2

Ar

Ed

Him

St

Still

With

Series 3

Day

En

Er

Ow

Sh

Th

This

Apostrophe

Series 4

Ch

Child

Children

One

Some

There

Time

Was

Series 5

Ea

His

Under

Were

Wh

Where

Which

Series 6

About

Again

Tion

Friend

Letter

Name

Work

Your

Series 7

Also

Bb

Cc

Enough

Father

Ff

Gh

Great

Had

Herself

Himself

Its

Know

Mother

Myself

Perhaps

Said

Sion

Together

Yourself

Nonspecific quotation marks

Semi colon

Series 8

Afternoon

Be

Cannot

Could

Dis

Ence

Much

Ong

Ound

Shall

Such

Today

Tomorrow

Tonight

Would

Exclamation mark

Series 9

After

Always

Ance

Because

Behind

Here

Right

Should

Hyphen

Grade 1 indicator (formerly the letter sign)

Series 10

Above

Across

Almost

Already

Before

Beneath

Beside

Con

Ever

First

Many

Ment

Ount

Paid

Part

Quick

Their

Through

Series 11

Against

Below

Between

Beyond

Character

Declare

Declaring

Ful

Immediate

Ity

Knowledge

Less

Ness

Ought

Question

Receive

Receiving

Spirit

World

Series 12

According

Afterwards

Although

Altogether

Blind

Either

Itself

Must

Necessary

Neither

Ourselves

Themselves

These

Those

Upon

Whose

Word

Young

Yourselves

Fingerprint - Order of Sign Introduction

The "select contractions" step series is based upon the "Fingerprint" course originally developed in 1993 by the late Nigel Berry, Lecturer in Braille at the Royal National College for the Blind, Hereford, UK, and now published by the RNIB.

Please note that the tables in DBT only enable you to produce additional braille as the student progresses. They are not intended as a substitute for the actual course4 material itself. The following is RNIB's Product reference.

Fingerprint braille course (UEB)

Product code: TC21439

Revised edition 2015.

The following list shows the order in which signs are introduced in Fingerprint. There are 24 units in the course, but no new signs are introduced in Units 1 (pre-braille skills) or 22 (practical uses of braille). The 26 letters of the alphabet are taught in Units 2 and 3, in the order shown. For all other units, the signs taught are grouped by type.

Unit 1

Pre- braille skills:

tracking and back-tracking;

early shape discrimination;

two-handed reading technique;

the braille cell, and dot numbering

Unit 2

13 letters:

a, l, d, t;

e, m, y;

b, h, o;

c, k, s

Unit 3

remaining 13 letters, full stop, capital indicator, numeric indicator and basic numbers:

g, i, u;

j, n, v;

r, x;

f, p;

w, z;

q

Punctuation:

full stop

Special signs:

capital sign, numeric sign and basic numbers

Unit 4

Alphabetic Wordsigns:

but, can, do, every, from, go, have, just, knowledge, like, more, not

people, quite, rather, so, that, us, very, will, it, you, as

Unit 5

Contractions:

AND, ST

Wordsigns:

and, still

Shortforms:

about, above, according, across, after, afternoon, afterwards, again, against

Unit 6

Contractions:

TH

Wordsigns:

this;

Lower Wordsigns:

was

Shortforms:

also, almost, already, although, altogether, always

Unit 7

Lower Contractions:

BE

Lower Wordsigns:

be, were

Shortforms:

because, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond

Unit 8

Contractions:

CH, SH

Wordsigns:

child, shall

Shortforms:

children, could, should, would, either, neither, first, friend, good, great, him

Unit 9

Contractions:

AR, ER

Shortforms:

immediate, its, letter, little, much, such, must, necessary, paid, said, perhaps

Punctuation:

apostrophe

Unit 10

Contractions:

THE, ING

Wordsigns:

the

Shortforms:

quick, today, tomorrow, tonight, together, your, blind, braille

Unit 11

Contractions:

OF, WITH, GH, WH

Wordsigns:

of, with, which

Punctuation:

comma, question mark

Unit 12

Contractions:

FOR, ED, OU, OW

Wordsigns:

for, out

unit 13

Lower Wordsigns:

enough, his, in

Unit 14

Composite groupsigns:

dot 4-5-6: cannot, had, many, spirit, world, their;

dot 4-5: upon, word, whose, those, these

Unit 15

Lower Contractions:

EA, BB, CC, FF, GG;

EN, IN;

CON, DIS

Unit 16

Composite groupsigns (dot 5 signs):

day, ever, father, here, know, lord, mother, name, one;

part, question, right, some, time, under, work, young;

character, through, where, ought, there

Unit 17

Composite (final) groupsigns:

dot 4-6: -ound, -ance, -sion, -less, -ount;

dot 5-6: -ence, -ong, -ful, -tion, -ness, -ment, -ity

Unit 18

Shortforms:

deceive, deceiving, receive, receiving, conceive, conceiving, perceive, perceiving, declare, declaring, rejoice, rejoicing;

myself, yourself, herself, himself, itself, oneself, thyself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves

Unit 19

Punctuation:

exclamation mark, colon, semi colon, speech marks;

brackets, hyphen, dash, ellipsis, oblique stroke

Unit 20

Special signs:

accented letter signs: acute, circumflex (more in Volume 10)

grade 1 indicator (dots 5-6);

capital word indicator, capital passage indicator, capital terminator;

typeform indicators: symbol, word, passage and terminator for bold, italics and underline

Unit 21

Mathematical signs:

mathematical comma (dot 2);

numeric space (dot 5);

operation signs (plus, minus, division, multiplication, equals);

fractions;

decimal point (dot 2-5-6);

money: pound sign, pence sign, Euro sign, Dollar sign;

unit abbreviations: metres, centimetres, millimetres, kilometres, grams, kilos, litres, millilitres, pounds (weight), ounces;

other signs: per cent; degrees (including degrees Fahrenheit and Centigrade)

Unit 22

(No new signs)

Using signs learned for practical applications: address and phone lists, letters, appointment calendar, etc

Unit 23

Other print signs:

Roman numerals;

long dash and ampersand;

asterisk and dagger;

bullet point sign;

copyright, trademark and registered trademark signs;

Braille Conventions:

options for poetry layout

Print abbreviations and indicators:

new print page indicator in transcribed books

Unit 24

Signs for email and website addresses:

dot, at, hyphen, underscore;

slash, colon;

numbers and capital letters in email and web addresses;

grade 1 terminator;

line continuation sign (dot 5)

RNZFB STAR (UEB)

The "RNZFB STAR" series is based upon the document entitled "STAR -- Order of introduction of braille signs," prepared by the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind. The contractions are introduced in the following order:

Level 1.1 Alphabet letter wordsigns: like, can, but, knowledge, it, people, every

Level 1.3 Alphabet letter wordsigns: very, go, more, us, you

Level 1.5 Alphabet letter wordsigns: have, rather, do, that, so

Level 1.7 Alphabet letter wordsigns: from, just, quite, will, not, as

Level 1.8 Shortforms: about, above, according, also, again, almost, blind, little, either, immediate

Level 1.9 Shortforms: across, already, altogether, braille, could, deceive, deceiving, declare, declaring, good, great, him, its, letter, paid, said, receive, receiving, today, together, tomorrow, tonight, your, yourselves

Level 1.10 Shortforms: after, afternoon, afterward, always, friend, himself, myself, necessary, neither, quick, rejoice, rejoicing, would, yourself, itself

Level 2.1 Contractions: and, for, of

Level 2.2 Contractions: the, with

Level 2.3 Contractions: st, ar, ing, still

Level 2.4 Contractions: ed, er

Level 2.5 Contractions: ou, ow, out

Level 2.6 Contractions: ch, gh, sh, child, shall

Level 2.7 Contractions:: th, wh, this, which

Level 2.9 Shortforms: themselves, herself, against, first, must, perceive, perceiving, perhaps

Level 2.10 Shortforms: children, much, such, should, although, ourselves, thyself

Level 3.1 Contractions: en, in (groupsign)

Level 3.2 Contractions: be (wordsign) were, his, was

Level 3.3 Contractions: enough, in (wordsign)

Level 3.4 Contractions: be (groupsign) con, dis

Level 3.7 Shortforms: before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, because, conceive, conceiving

Level 3.8 Contraction: ea

Level 3.9 Contractions: bb, cc, ff, gg

Level 4.1 Contractions (dot 5): day, ever, father, here, know, lord, mother

Level 4.2 Contractions (dot 5): name, one, part, question, right

Level 4.3 Contractions (dot 5): some, time, under, work, young

Level 4.4 Shortform: oneself

Level 4.5 Contractions (dot 5): there, where, ought

Level 4.6 Contractions (dot 5): character, through

Level 4.7 Contractions (dots 45): upon, word, these

Level 4.8 Contractions (dots 45): those, whose

Level 4.9 Contractions (dots 456): cannot, had, many

Level 4.10 Contractions (dots 456): spirit, world, their

Level 5.1 Contractions (dots 46): ound, ance, ount

Level 5.2 Contractions (dots 46): sion, less

Level 5.3 Contractions (dots 56): ence, ong, ful, ness

Level 5.4 Contractions (dots 56) (Fully contracted UEB): tion, ment, ity

S.A. Syllabus (UEB)

The "S.A. Syllabus" series is based upon the document entitled "Syllabus -- Order in Which Braille Contractions Are Learnt", prepared by Reinette Popplestone for the University of Cape Town Disability Unit, for teaching English Braille to students in South Africa. The contractions are introduced in the following order:

Level 1.1 Alphabetic word signs: but, people, can, quite, do, rather, every, so, from, that, go, us, have, very, just, will, knowledge, it, like, you, more, as, not

Level 1.2 Five contractions: and, for, of, the, with

Level 1.3 Initial-letter contractions with dot 5: day, part, ever, question, father, right, here, some, know, time, lord, under, mother, work, name, young, one, there

Level 1.4 Two related contractions: these, their

Level 2.1 Short forms: about, good, above, great, according, him, across, immediate, after, little, afternoon, letter, afterward, necessary, again, neither, also, paid, almost, quick, already, said, altogether, today, always, together, blind, tomorrow, braille, tonight, could, would, either, its, friend, your

Level 2.2 Group signs: gh, ed, er, ow, ar, ing

Level 2.3 Group signs which also have a word meaning: ch, child, sh, shall, th, this, wh, which, ou, out, st, still

Level 2.4 Initial-letter contractions with dots 45 and 456: upon, cannot, word, had, those, many, whose, spirit, world

Level 2.5 Two lower contractions: en, in (as part-word only)

Level 3.1 Lower group signs: ea, be (as part-word only), bb, con, cc, dis, ff, gg

Level 3.2 Lower word signs: be, enough, were, his, in, was

Level 3.3 The remaining initial-letter contractions: character, through, where, ought

Level 3.4 The remaining short forms: against, itself, although, yourself, declare, yourselves, declaring, themselves, deceive, children, deceiving, should, first, thyself, himself, ourselves, herself, because, myself, before, must, behind, much, below, perhaps, beneath, perceive, beside, perceiving, between, receive, beyond, receiving, conceive, rejoice, conceiving, rejoicing, oneself, such

Level 3.5 Terminal group signs: ound, ence, ance, ong, sion, ful, ness, tion, ount, ment, ity, less

Level 4.1 Contractions from pre-unified code: o'clock, ble, com, dd, to, into, by, ation, ally

Note: Level 4.1 is, naturally, not relevant when Unified English Braille is the basis of the series as level 3.5 constitutes fully contracted UEB.

Mangold Method

There are 62 Units in the Mangold Series, each listed here.

Part A

A.a (can, go, like,)

A.b (but, do, you)

A.c (so, will, people)

A.d (us, that, more)

A.e (every, have, not)

A.f (it, as, from)

A.g (very, just)

A.h (and, for of, the, with)

A.i (said, little, good)

Part B

B.a (in sign)

B.b (your, him, could, would)

B.c (w-h sign, t-h sign, which, this)

B.d (about, after, again)

B.e (s-t sign)

B.f (one, right, here)

B.g (under, day)

B.h (e-d sign, i-n-g sign)

B.i (mother, father, time)

B.j (name, know, there)

Part C

C.a (letter, friend, great, also)

C.b (a-r sign, e-r sign)

C.c (work, where)

C.d (part, ever)

C.e (s-h sign)

C.f (first, must, should)

C.g (question, some, young)

C.h (paid, quick)

C.i (his, was, were)

C.j (today, tomorrow, tonight)

C.k (had, their)

C.l (cannot, many)

C.m (blind, braille, above, himself)

C.n (c-h sign, child, still, shall)

C.o (e-a sign)

C.p (together, altogether, afternoon, afterward

Part D

D.a (knowledge, quite, rather)

D.b (o-w sign, g-h sign)

D.c (yourself, yourselves, themselves, myself, herself)

D.d (enough, e-n sign)

D.e (out, o-u sign)

D.f (b-b sign, c-c sign, f-f sign, g-g sign)

D.g (tion, ment)

D.h (ity, ong)

D.i (be, because, before behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond)

D.j (children much, such)

D.k (con, dis)

D.l (conceive, conceiving)

Part E

E.a (ought)

E.b (thyself, its, itself)

E.c (ourselves, oneself)

E.d (immediate, neither, either, necessary)

E.e (ence, ful, ness)

E.f (against, almost, already)

E.g (according, across, although, always)

E.h (these, word)

E.i (ance, ound, ount)

E.j (receive, receiving, rejoice, rejoicing)

E.k (deceive, deceiving, declare declaring)

E.l (sion, less)

E.m (character, lord, through)

E.n (spirit, world)

E.o (whose, upon, those)

(full grade 2) (perceive, perceiving, perhaps)