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 word signs, contractions, punctuation, etc., over a number of lessons.
This feature in DBT 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 and use what has been introduced at each stage.
DBT currently includes 8 courses - BANA (3), BAUK/UKAAF (3) and UEB (2).
Please note: The list of courses displayed on this menu is dependent on what template was initially selected and whether a new translation table was selected subsequently.
Details of each course can be seen by clicking on the appropriate link below:
Braille in Easy Steps (BAUK/UKAAF)
TSBVI Clusters (BANA)
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".
TSBVI 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, 2017).
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)
Take Off Series - A second stage scheme for young learners to develop phonic skills, knowledge of braille contractions and word signs, in 12 stages. The 'Take Off' series is available from RNIB under product number TC21413.
EXTERNAL LINK -- https://shop.rnib.org.uk/take-off-braille-course-reading-books-3446 (Note: If this link should not work for you, you may paste the URL into your preferred browser to visit the RNIB web site. This link was correct as of February 2022.)
Take Off Teachers Handbook - Teachers handbook to accompany the Take Off series (print version): TC21415P.
Take Off is divided into 12 levels, and a new group of grade 2 braille signs is taught at each level.
From the start of the Take Off series all of the alphabet signs and alphabetic word signs are used with the exception of 'K' for knowledge. In addition, the short forms for "good" and "little" are also used. Punctuation symbols used from the outset are full stop, capital symbol indicator, and question mark. The numeric indicator is also used as it was previously introduced in the Hands On series. The following lists the signs and short forms as they are introduced in each level.
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 course material itself. The following is RNIB's Product reference.
Fingerprint braille course (UEB) - Product code: TC21439
Note: The website link above was correct on 15th March 2018.
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)