New Zealand Sign Language Week took place this year between 4 and 10 May.
New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) became an official language of New Zealand in 2006, alongside English and te reo Māori. NZSL is a visual-gestural language with its own grammar, vocabulary, and syntax. People use the hands, the body, and facial expressions (including lip patterns) to express meaning and the eyes to perceive meaning. For many deaf people, NZSL is essential for communication and interaction. More than 20 000 New Zealanders use NZSL daily.
The New Zealand Curriculum states that …
"New Zealand needs more people who are fluent users of the language and who have an appreciation of deaf culture. By learning NZSL, hearing students are able to communicate with their deaf peers and participate in the deaf community. Skilled communicators may find career opportunities that involve working with deaf people. As deaf people come to have a wider circle to converse with, our society becomes more inclusive.
Learning NZSL can be a positive and enriching experience for both deaf and hearing people of any age. By learning NZSL, deaf children and hearing children of deaf parents gain a sense of belonging in the deaf community."
Personally I feel NZSL is ‘neglected’ nation wide. It is an official language of New Zealand, it has it’s own curriculum yet when discussing things with my teacher friends and observing practice in my local area, it is very rare to see NZSL in action. Most classrooms have Te Reo on display … things are labelled, posters are up but very few have NZSL on display. New Zealand has 3 official languages and I really do feel that teachers need to make more of an effort with NZSL, adding signs to classroom labels etc is a good first step.
Slowly resources are becoming available to assist teachers with teaching this area of the curriculum. Schools now have access to 6 Ready to Reads that they can load onto devices (sadly we can not download these at the moment due to technical issues) Websites are coming online but as a primary teacher in my current school/classroom I felt the resources available on the internet were not really suited to the children we deal with everyday. They seemed to be aimed at older students where as we teach 5-13 year olds.
Having done my Grad Dip Spec Ed (HI) years ago I had a reasonable knowledge of sign and decided to build on what we had been doing at school each NZSL week in the past. During 2014 I discovered a teacher at Springlands school doing great things with her senior class and NZSL … we exchanged emails and our classes ‘buddied up’ her students got a buzz out of helping my little children and Room 9 got a buzz from being taught by other kids they didn’t know from the South Island. It was nice to have like minded conversations with a colleague … one I had never met. The emails have continued this year and her class are creating youtube learning clips for us … we are waiting with bated breath.
In the past I had created posters for each class and had sent my class to be the ‘experts’ and teach the other classes the posters each day. This year we moved that to the 21st century and I created a wiki for all the classes to use with a focus on sign singing. The wiki also gave teachers access to a new set of posters which they could work on with their own class if they wanted to.
Prior to NZSL week 2015 students in general had had sign language 1 week a year, very few if any classroom teachers carried it on past sign language week. Taking the singing angle this year made it ‘easier’ for staff … all they really had to do was push play … they didn’t require any knowledge themselves, It made everyone in the room learners (including the teachers) The wiki is a tool we could continue to build on in the future with all of our NZSL resources. LINK POSTERS FROM THE PAST
The Ministry states that …
E-learning through the effective use of information and communication technology presents a multitude of opportunities that support the teaching and learning of additional languages:
· making connections - students exploring new learning environments, overcoming barriers of distance and time
· shared learning - linking communities of learners that extend well beyond the classroom
· supportive learning environments valuing individual, cultural, or developmental differences
· enhancing learning opportunities through virtual experiences and time-saving tools.
Any resources you make for teachers needs to be a ‘one-stop-shop’ the wiki included ‘song’ sheets, and everything I could think of to make life easy.
The absolute highlight of the week was watching two of my five year olds get up in front of the whole assembly and welcome the whole school in sign. It was not rehearsed I literally grabbed the first two children from my class that I saw … they may not have been my first pic but they did an AMAZING job!
Sign Language week has now been and gone BUT the wiki is still being used! I can hear the songs as I walk around the school. The learning has continued beyond sign language week, we have made progress on other years. The momentum needs to continue, that is the big challenge. Adding songs and other posters as the year progresses is the aim. Keeping it relevant and linked to what the school is working on will be the challenge. Ideally I dream of doing at least one song at school singing in NZSL .. The National Anthem would be a good place to start .. The resources are available and it is a song we sing weekly, celebrating New Zealands three languages seems sensible.
Feedback
Student Voice from the Senior School ....
Student Voice from the Junior School ...
Peer Voice from another teacher in the school ....
I was pleased with the evaluations that I completed. It had the positive impact I hoped it would.
This links to the criteria ..
1- Professional Relationships - teaching colleagues, support staff and other professional
2 – Well-Being of akonga - acknowledge and respect the languages, heritages and cultures of all ākonga. We have deaf whanau in our school and I have a HI student in my class.
4 - Professional Learning - initiate learning opportunities to advance personal professional knowledge and skills. All staff had he opportunity to learn new things along side the students.
5 – Leadership - actively contribute to the professional learning community. The aim of the wiki was to help others learn.
6 – Learning - through their planning and teaching, demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of relevant content, disciplines and curriculum documents.
8 – Understanding of learning - enable ākonga to make connections between their prior experiences and learning and their current learning activities. Students who had been in Room 9 in the past were building on the skills and sharing knowledge with those who had not been in Room 9.
9 – Language - demonstrate knowledge and understanding of social and cultural influences on learning, by working effectively in the bicultural and multicultural contexts of learning in Aotearoa New Zealand
.
This links to the criteria ..
1- Professional Relationships - teaching colleagues, support staff and other professional
2 – Well-Being of akonga - acknowledge and respect the languages, heritages and cultures of all ākonga. We have deaf whanau in our school and I have a HI student in my class.
4 - Professional Learning - initiate learning opportunities to advance personal professional knowledge and skills. All staff had he opportunity to learn new things along side the students.
5 – Leadership - actively contribute to the professional learning community. The aim of the wiki was to help others learn.
6 – Learning - through their planning and teaching, demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of relevant content, disciplines and curriculum documents.
8 – Understanding of learning - enable ākonga to make connections between their prior experiences and learning and their current learning activities. Students who had been in Room 9 in the past were building on the skills and sharing knowledge with those who had not been in Room 9.
9 – Language - demonstrate knowledge and understanding of social and cultural influences on learning, by working effectively in the bicultural and multicultural contexts of learning in Aotearoa New Zealand
.
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