Unified English Braille Update Issue 15 January 2017

Unified English Braille Update Issue 15 January 2017 Mandy White Braille subject Lead

Welcome to the fifteenth edition of UEB Update, issued at the beginning of each school term. In this update we have details of a new maths resource, Louis Braille – the musical and lots more! Please click on the links that are underlined in each paragraph for further information on the topics covered.

UEB Maths Practice Exercises A great new resource has been uploaded on to the UKAAF website. The UEB Maths practice exercises are taken from the Technical UEB course delivered by RNIB in 2014/15, The document gives a series of maths exercises in print followed by their UEB equivalent. The braille version describes the maths exercises in words followed by the UEB version. It has been found to be an excellent resource for pupils wanting to check their braille maths skills

International UEB resources The North Americans are now into full UEB implementation mode and have created a new page on their website that lists links to items particularly suitable for teachers and transcribers. Some items have been mentioned in previous newsletters and some are for an American audience but there are still, lots of useful links to explore.

Presentation guidelines The implementation of UEB prompted UKAAF to look at providing comprehensive guidance on the layout of braille. We produced some Presentation guidelines a year ago and we have just completed the appendix which includes plenty of examples and covers more complex areas such as tables, forms, plays and poetry

1 More braille news Apps and games for braillists Braille Bee is a new spelling and games app for children learning contracted and uncontracted UEB Dotris is a computer puzzle game designed specifically to be played on a refreshable braille display

Essay competition winner For the third year running a junior UK braillist has won the top prize in the prestigious ONKYO essay competition. Megan Paul from Cheltenham won $1,000 for her essay entitled ‘The Bumpy Road’. The competition is usually launched in February of each year. If you would like to receive details then please email [email protected]

Focus on braille literacy at the View conference The VIEW conference in Birmingham on 16-17 March will feature a keynote presentation and workshops by Anna Swenson, an influential American specialist in braille literacy. Full details are available on the View Website

Louis Braille – the musical! The Charing Cross Theatre have announced that they will stage the world première of a major new musical inspired by the story of Louis Braille, The Braille Legacy, which will run at their central London venue from 10 April to 24 June 2017 with an official opening on 24 April 2017. Get in touch We'd love to hear your views on UEB and what you want from these email updates. Get in touch with Mandy White, UKAAF Braille Subject Lead by emailing [email protected]

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