Category Archives: Learning project

“Unlocking a New World: The Braille Journey Comes to a Fulfilling Conclusion”

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Happy woman celebrating success. Ecstatic competition winner celebrating victory. Studio shot of excited young African American girl in casual top raising her hands up and shouting Hurray, I did it

EDTC 300 was a spring class and in this class, I had to take up a learning project that required me to learn something new or something I have an interest in. Along with picking up a new skill, I also learned how to blog and where to look for online resources and what kinds of materials work best for me. During this learning project, I discovered that videos were the most helpful resources because they gave me the ability to not only listen but visually see what I am learning. I could also pause and repeat this process as often as I wanted.

I Did It Means Achieve Message And Advertisement

This is the summary of my Learning project. For my learning project, I decided to learn Braille. It was not an easy journey at all, I have had challenges learning Braille, I have failed several levels on the Braille Academy app and challenges and despite all these, Yay! I have been able to learn and master all the alphabets, numbers, Capitalization, and punctuation. Though it is still a long journey to writing, reading, translating/ transcribing Braille but It was a fulfilling journey for me. During this journey, I have found so many great resources, videos, apps, games, and websites that I can continue to use to perfect my Braille lessons as I move past EDTC 300.

Journey to learning Braille believe in yourself

WEEK 1

The first week post was basically talking about what I will focus on during the 6 weeks spring class  and I laid out reasons why I am motivated to learn Braille and why educators like me should be interested in learning Braille.

Learning Braille should be fun

WEEK 2

For the 2nd week, I talked about definition of Braille and also shared the video of me practicing the six key input. I used my laptop keyboard to practice the dots . Letters s ,d, f as 3, 2,  1 and j, k ,l as 4, 5, 6 .

Pre-Braille Practice

WEEK 3

This is the week I tried to familiarize myself with the basics of Braille. The alphabets, braille cells, and the raised dots and how the dots form each alphabet.

Learning Braille – Introduction to Braille Basics

WEEK 4

In week 4 , i thought I would be able to practice alphabets and numbers but unfortunately , it was a bit of a challenge mastering the alphabets so i couldnt get to the numbers. This week I was able to use various resources to learn and practice my alphabets. I used  YouTube videos and i also discovered the The Braille App . its the best thing i have used to practice so far. I listen and watch videos but been able to practice on phone anywhere and everywhere i go is the best thing . I love the app.

Learning Braille – Introduction to Braille Basics

WEEK 5
I focused on the alphabet K to T, and it was not an easy week as well because even though I practiced every day I still had difficulty mastering some of the alphabets.
I bought a braille mat that I can touch and feel the dots and this also helped me practice on my bed before I sleep instead of using my phone because I always try to avoid the screen at least 2 hours before bedtime.

Learning Braille Alphabets K-T

WEEK 6

This is one of the easiest learning weeks for me. I learned the alphabet U to Z and Braille numbers, punctuation, and capitalization. It seemed like a lot during this week, but I was able to learn quickly.

Learning Braille in 5 weeks

I also took the test your knowledge with our braille alphabet fun quiz! on How the braille alphabet works – Perkins School for the Blind and i scored 23/26. I don’t think its too bad for a beginner like me.

. I also took the test your knowledge with our braille alphabet fun quiz! on How the braille alphabet works – Perkins School for the Blind and i scored 23/26. I don't think its too bad for a beginner like me

During this week I also tried translating from braille to words and it included everything I have learned from alphabets to numbers, punctuation and capital letters and I also passed my first exercise. Please find below the pictures of my exercise and a congratulations message on it.

 

 

Extra Resources

UEB Online | UEB Literacy & Mathematics Braille Training

Braille for Beginners Lessons – The Braillists Foundation

Braille Literacy Canada | Resources for educators

Perkins Brailler Writer

Hable Blogs (iamhable.com)

Beginner’s Guide to Braille – Everyday Sight

I Learned Braille in 6 weeks

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It has been quite an interesting journey learning Braille. I started about 5/6 weeks ago and am already learning and practicing the last six alphabets. In 5 weeks I have learned so much and I am glad to say you can learn Braille in 5 weeks depending on you and time available to study. I will advise you need to practice daily so you don’t forget all you have learned.
This week I had so many things to read and practice but I was so happy it is just six more alphabets left to learn so I was super eager to quickly learn and practice the letters so I can move on to the punctuation, capital letters, and numbers this week as well. Once I have completed learning and practicing the alphabet, braille punctuation, capital letters, and numbers, I am on my way to reading full sentences next week and writing words and sentences.

Portrait of her she nice-looking cool attractive lovely lovable winsome sweet crazy cheerful cheery girl having fun great breakthrough isolated on bright vivid shine yellow background

So, I started off by refreshing letters A to T and it went smoothly. I used the Braille Academy app on my iPhone to practice and I passed the challenges. Unfortunately, I thought I took a picture of my congratulatory message that I passed the challenge, but I just could not find the picture in my photos. I also took the test your knowledge with our braille alphabet fun quiz! on How the braille alphabet works – Perkins School for the Blind and i scored 23/26. I don’t think its too bad for a beginner like me.

 

 

 

Lets quickly dive into the last 6 letters. Its going to be easier to learn  because its just 6 instead of 10.

Braille letters u – z

The Braille letters from U to Z, with the exception of ‘W’, follow a logical progression similar to the previous sets, but with an added twist.

Method 1: In this group, each letter is formed by adding dots 3 and 6 to the configurations of the first five letters, A to E.

Braille alphabet from U to Z

 

  • W: Dots 2, 4, 5, and 6 (not following the above logic)
  • A w has dot 2 on the left side, and dots 4, 5, and 6 on the right side.
  • Step 6 Learn the letter w separately.

 

This continuity in design demonstrates the systematic and efficient nature of the Braille language.

However, there’s a unique historical note about the letter ‘W’. When Louis Braille, the creator of the Braille system, designed this code in 1824, the letter ‘W’ was not part of the French alphabet, his native language. As a result, ‘W’ deviates from this pattern.

Here are the Braille codes for the Braille letters U to Z:

  • U: Dots 1, 3, and 6
  • V: Dots 1, 2, 3, and 6
  • W: Dots 2, 4, 5, and 6
  • X: Dots 1, 3, 4, and 6
  • Y: Dots 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6
  • Z: Dots 1, 3, 5, and 6
  •  For the remaining letters (except w), take the k through o and add dot 6. Leave the letter w out completely, as it doesn’t fit the pattern all the other letters do.
    • The letter u has dot 1 and 3 from letter k, plus dot 6. The letter v has dots 1, 2, and 3 from letter l, plus dot 6.
    • Since you’re skipping w for now, the next letter is x, which has dots 1, 3, and 4 from letter m, plus dot 6. The letter y has dots 1, 3, 4, and 5 from letter n, plus dot 6. The letter z has dots 1, 3, and 5 from letter o, plus dot 6.
Learning letters U to Z was pretty fast because I was only adding dots 3 and 6 to the first 5 alphabet A TO E.
Lets move on to punctuations now. Why do we need to learn  punctuations in Braille? Braille contains the same punctuation marks as is found in print. People who are not visually impaired often have trouble learning how to correctly use commas, colons, and semicolons so likewise people who are visually impaired /blind will also struggle while writing or reading if there is no punctuation marks.

Braille Capital letters

Braille doesn’t have a separate alphabet of capital letters like standard print. These are all of the lower case braille letters in the English alphabet. There’s a “code” that tells the reader the next letter is capitalized. That “code” is a dot-6.  To form a capital letter, you must place a dot 6 before the letter.  And, if you want to capitalize an entire word, you put 2 dot-6’s in front of the word.

 

Braille Punctuation

Braille incorporates a variety of punctuation marks, each represented by unique combinations of raised dots. These punctuation marks are essential for understanding the context and meaning of written Braille texts. Here are some of the main punctuation marks in Braille:

    • Period: Dots 2, 5, and 6
    • Comma: Dot 2
    • Question Mark: Dots 2, 3, 5, and 6
    • Exclamation Mark: Dots 2, 3, and 5
    • Colon: Dots 2, 5
    • Semicolon: Dots 2, 3, and 6
    • Quotation Marks (Opening and Closing): Dots 2, 3, 5 (used at both the beginning and end of a quotation)
    • Apostrophe: Dot 3
    • Hyphen: Dots 3 and 6Braille punctuations

      The Braille code for the first 10 letters of the alphabet is also used to create the most common punctuation marks you’ll find in literary writing. The same code is simply dropped down to the lower part of the cell.[5]

      • A Braille comma has dot 2. You can also think of this as a letter a dropped down one line.
      • A Braille semicolon has dots 2 and 3. This is the letter b dropped down one line. A Braille colon has dots 2 and 5.
      • A Braille period has dots 2, 5, and 6. The Braille period is also used as a decimal point. If there are 3 Braille periods together, they represent an ellipsis.
      • An exclamation mark has dots 2,3, and 5, while a question mark has dots 2, 3, and 6.
      • Quotation marks have 2 cells. The first represents whether they are single or double, and the second whether they are opening or closing. For single quotation marks, the first cell has dot 6. For double quotation marks, the first cell has dots 3 and 4. Opening quotation marks have dots 2, 3, and 6 (note that this is identical to a question mark). Closing quotation marks have dots 3, 5, and 6.

      Step 2 Drop down the first 10 letters for common punctuation marks.

    • The Braille numbers

Braille Numbers

As we transition from the Braille alphabet to Braille numbers, you’ll find the learning curve pleasantly gentle. The numbers 0 through 9 in Braille are ingeniously mapped to the same configurations as the letters A through J.

The key to distinguishing numbers from letters in Braille is the use of a special “Braille number sign.” This sign, which might vary slightly depending on the language, is placed before the Braille characters for A to J to indicate that these characters are to be read as numbers.

The Braille number sign is typically represented by the combination of dots 3, 4, 5, and 6. When this sign precedes any of the first ten letters of the Braille alphabet, it transforms them into numbers. For example, the Braille symbol for the letter A (dot 1) becomes the number 1 when it is preceded by the number sign.

Here’s how each number is represented in Braille:

  • 1: Number sign followed by dot 1 (A)
  • 2: Number sign followed by dots 1 and 2 (B)
  • 3: Number sign followed by dots 1 and 4 (C)
  • 4: Number sign followed by dots 1, 4, and 5 (D)
  • 5: Number sign followed by dots 1 and 5 (E)
  • 6: Number sign followed by dots 1, 2, and 4 (F)
  • 7: Number sign followed by dots 1, 2, 4, and 5 (G)
  • 8: Number sign followed by dots 1, 2, and 5 (H)
  • 9: Number sign followed by dots 2 and 4 (I)
  • 0: Number sign followed by dots 2, 4, and 5 (J)
  • Braille number from 6 to 0

    Braille number from 1 to 5

Learning Braille Alphabets K-T

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My focus for this week’s learning project was alphabets k to t.

These set of alphabets follow the pattern of adding a dot 3 to each character in the first set of braille alphabets a- j.

I bought the mat below to use to feel the raised dots of the alphabet while learning the alphabet. It is an incredibly good mat that I can take anywhere with me and continue my practice. Even at bedtime instead of using my phone to practice, I just touch it and repeat my alphabets before I sleep. to practice.

 

K – T

The letters K through T in Braille represent an ingenious extension of the first ten letters, A to J. Each letter from K to T is formed by adding the raised dot 3 to the corresponding letter from A to J.

This efficient design means that once you are familiar with the first ten letters, you already possess the knowledge to identify these additional letters with ease.

For instance, the Braille letter K is formed by adding dot 3 to the configuration of the letter A.

This pattern is consistent throughout this group of letters, simplifying the learning process significantly. Here are the Braille codes for the Braille letters K to T:

  • K: Dots 1 and 3
  • L: Dots 1, 2, and 3
  • M: Dots 1, 3, and 4
  • N: Dots 1, 3, 4, and 5
  • O: Dots 1, 3, and 5
  • P: Dots 1, 2, 3, and 4
  • Q: Dots 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
  • R: Dots 1, 2, 3, and 5
  • S: Dots 2, 3, and 4
  • T: Dots 2, 3, 4, and 5
Braille alphabet from K to O
Braille alphabet from P to T

I also used the Braille Academy app to do some practice and will be taking the challenges for these sets of alphabets next week. Also , for next week I will focus on learning alphabet U TO Z  ,punctuations and uncontracted and contracted Braille.

Thanks for reading my post and hope to update you on my progress next week .

Learning Braille- sweet and sour week

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Inspirational motivational quote "you are one step closer everyday, so don't give up today" on buildings and sky background.

This week has been challenging and I could not post early because of the challenges I encountered. First, the tennis balls I bought from Amazon to practice my alphabet at home were not delivered, and I had difficulty mastering and remembering the alphabet I learned.
Learning Braille this week has been challenging. I wasn’t getting anywhere with my practice and I failed all the activities after each lesson I kept trying and trying and still getting a “Try again message ” and I almost gave up on Thursday but I remembered I knew this learning project wouldn’t be easy and I am someone who doesn’t give up easily, so I decided to abandon my practice and return to it after a day or 2. It was the best decision for my learning project because I was able to relax and think of ways I could learn visually instead of just listening to the audio class. Since the tennis balls were not delivered, I used just the YouTube videos to practice
Using YouTube videos to learn has been the smartest decision for my learning project because its visual and seeing how it’s done, I can also pause the video, practice, and pause/play as many times as possible.
After several days of watching YouTube videos and practicing, I took the challenge and some level activities on the Braille Academy App. I got to level 5 and have mastered the alphabets a, b, c, d, f, l, k, m, n, u, x, and v. It feels so good knowing I can identify the alphabet when I see them so the next blog post will be me using it in words.
I have added pictures of my levels to this post, and I have also added links to the YouTube videos I used to learn my alphabet. If you want to learn basic Braille alphabets the videos are so good.

Yes I can

 

Learning Braille – Braille Basics and alphabet A- J

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For my Braille lesson today, I will be familiarizing myself with the alphabet and numbers in the Unified English Braille(UEB) so that when I want to start typing to practice braille I will already understand all I need to know.

Braille alphabets

A braille cell is a group of six dots that makes up every braille symbol.

Six raised dots, three in each of two parallel columns, make up a complete cell.

A single braille cell can have 64 different combinations of dots. Any letter, number, punctuation mark, or even an entire word can be represented by any one of these unusual combinations.

 

The raised dots in each braille cell that form each letter are represented by the bold dots.

As seen in the above image, the numbers 1-6 correspond to the dot positions in the braille cell. The numbers line up with the braille writer’s keys, which are utilized to create the embossed material.

ALphabets    A – J

Alphabets A-J was my focus this week . The first 10 letters of the Braille alphabet, A through J, hold a special significance as they form the base from which the entire Braille system is built. Once these initial ten letters are memorized, learners have essentially laid the groundwork for understanding the entire Braille alphabet and even the numbers.

This clever design showcases the efficiency of Braille as a tactile language. We will delve deeper into how these first ten letters extrapolate to encompass the full alphabet and numeric system later in the article. For now, here are the Braille codes for the Braille letters A to J:

  • A: Dot 1
  • B: Dots 1 and 2
  • C: Dots 1 and 4
  • D: Dots 1, 4, and 5
  • E: Dots 1 and 5
  • F: Dots 1, 2, and 4
  • G: Dots 1, 2, 4, and 5
  • H: Dots 1, 2, and 5
  • I: Dots 2 and 4
  • J: Dots 2, 4, and 5
Braille alphabet from A to E
Braille alphabet from F to J

courtesy of beginners guide to braille

Holding down all the keys on the braille writer simultaneously is necessary to generate the correct braille cell when a braille cell contains multiple raised dots.

The letter “a,” for instance, is made up of just one raised dot, dot 1. On the braille writer, you would just press down dot number 1 and let go. It advances to the subsequent space on its own. There are two dots in the letter “b”: 1 and 2.

To make the letter b, you have to simultaneously press down on both dots. Similar to the “enter” button on a keyboard, the “down” button advances to the following line.

At first  Its was difficult to adjust to the idea there  is no delete button to erase my mistakes while typing in braille. but incorrect dots can be pushed down using a tiny instrument known as a braille eraser. The appropriate dots can then be brailled by using the “back” key to go back one space.

Braille Eraser

braille eraser

While preparing to practice braille, i found the 2 apps on called Google Play. The first one is called  Brailliac app which is a Braille keyboard  and the second one is called  Braille Academy: Play & Learn.

Brailliac: Braille Keyboard
About this app:

Practise your Braille skills while doing anything from texting your friends, searching the web, or writing essays!

Just a few of the amazing features:

snapshots from Brailliac app

snapshots from Brailliac app

snapshots from Brailliac app

– Braille Cell Mode – for typing cells directly
– Translated Mode – in-built AI automatically converts your typed cells to the letters they represent in your chosen Braille code
– Fully compatible with all Braille symbols and modes, including capitals, numbers, contractions, and shortforms
– Highly customisable – choose the size of your keyboard exactly
– Intuative motion controls
– Private and safe – Has no Internet permissions, so you don’t have to worry about snooping

Braille Academy: Play & Learn

What’s Braille Academy?

Braille Academy is developed to help those who are curious about and interested in learning the Braille system. The two key teaching concepts are gradual introduction and focused repetition. The learning material is categorized into chapters and then levels to ensure efficient learning and training. If you are not particularly interested in Braille but in training and improving your memory in general, Braille Academy is also a useful tool.

Braille Academy has Levels and challenges?

In short, a level focuses on introducing new characters with a small amount of repetition while a challenge trains what you’ve learnt already. In a level, you can click the INFO BUTTON (on the left) to read some TIPS and the hint button (on the right) to see the correct answer. The hints are infinite and always free. In a challenge, you can’t use the hint button anymore and you must make less than 3 mistakes to pass it.

 

These apps are great addition to my learning braille journey and for anyone who is interested in learning braille. My words that “learning braille is fun ” is actually becoming a reality. there is a game to play while learning Braille. I think everyone should be interested in learning Braille after reading my post. Keep me posted on how you feel about the apps and how the tech world is improving the braille world. I will be using the apps to practice my typing braille words in the coming weeks and I will keep updating you on cool these app are.

Thanks for reading my post !

 

Pre-Braille Practice

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Hello Friends,

I am excited to share my journey in learning braille. I love typing and i am wandering if its going to be as easy as just the normal typing. Lets dive into this learning project together and I am sure its going to be a fun experience.

What is Braille ? Braille is a combination of simple dots to represent written language for people who are blind or have visual impairment. As a future educator, i really wanted to learn braille so i will be able to help students who have visual impairment. It will take some time for my  hands to adjust to the fine motor skills and tactile dexterity needed since I  have never read  braille before. To maximize the likelihood of success, in my learning project , then the pre-braille step is very crucial and  needs to be actively and frequently practiced. Continue reading →

Learning Braille in a fun way

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I will be learning Braille this spring/Summer because as a future inclusive educator, it is important to learn how to read and write Braille. For some time now, I have been thinking of learning Braille and procrastinating it and when the opportunity came to blog a learning project in my EDTC 300 class I knew it must be ” learning Braille”. Braille was number 1 on my list and it seems fun and interesting.

 

Close up of African-American hand reading braille book for blind, copy space

To learn braille you need several months and even years sometimes depending on how fast you learn. For this learning project , I only have 6 weeks to learn braille so i will focusing on learning the basics like the alphabets ,numbers , punctuations ,capitalizations and later in future I will continue my learning to reading and probably writing it.

In this post, I will  delve into the intricacies of Braille, from its basic alphabetic and numerical structure to the various codes and applications that make it a versatile tool in everyday life.

Let’s start with motivation, why on earth would I want to learn Braille in a digital age? In a world where text-to-speech technology is readily available, I sometimes question the importance of Braille. Yet, there are many reasons why I think Braille truly is a vital skill:

  1. Reading is not the same as listening: Textual information, when read, is easier to remember than text that is heard. Braille allows you to stop and reflect, something that is way more challenging with continuous audio playback. Whenever you get distracted the audio keeps on playing, whereas with Braille you would simply stop reading as you get distracted.
  2. Maintaining your literacy: People who solely rely on spoken text, tend to lose their grammar or spelling skills.  We see this happening all the time when we receive emails and texts full of grammatical errors. This can truly hurt your professional and personal communication. Besides grammar, you will miss a lot of structure in texts. Think of headings, cursive or bold text, and capitals. This information is often vital to understanding the text properly.
  3. Listening is not always possible: Imagine sitting in busy public spaces. In these situations wouldn’t you much rather be able to rely on your Braille reading skills?
  4. Reading with Braille allows your imagination to run: Most Braille readers prefer reading in Braille over audio. It allows you to read with the voice in your head, not the voice from the audio player. What is better than reading a book outside in the sun whilst hearing the sound of birds chirping?
  5. Reducing visual strain: Yes, even when you have rest vision, it can be difficult to read for a longer period of time. Headaches, fatigue, or neck pains are common for people with visual impairment who read for longer periods of time. With Braille, you can go for hours without it becoming a strain
  6. As Educators: Its ideal to learn the basics of braille because we don’t know how it can be useful in our future classrooms.

Braille Alphabet

Join me on this journey on learning Braille. Learning something new is always fun and that is why I feel learning Braille will be fun .Talking about how easy or difficult it will be, I have no idea but I know I will keep posting my challenges and new tools or technology I found during my learning process so you too can be equipped to start your journey of learning Braille.