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New Zealand Sign Language in the New Zealand Curriculum

Chart of achievement objectives

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Level 1

Language skills

Students should be able to:

  • recognise, respond to, and use familiar signs, phrases, and sentence patterns in familiar contexts
  • distinguish between statements, questions, and instructions.

Communication functions

Students should be able to:

  • 1.1 recognise and respond to greetings, farewells, thanks, and introductions
  • 1.2 communicate about basic concepts of number, size, shape, and colour
  • 1.3 communicate about basic concepts of time
  • 1.4 communicate their wants and needs and briefly state their likes and dislikes
  • 1.5 recognise and respond to classroom expressions and simple instructions
  • 1.6 communicate by watching and responding to signed information and by making use of visual prompts
  • 1.7 fingerspell their own name, their family members’ names, and the alphabet.

Sociocultural contexts

Students should be able to:

  • demonstrate knowledge of the basic history of Deaf schools and Deaf units within schools in New Zealand
  • express understanding of the cultural norms of the Deaf community
  • demonstrate knowledge of technological equipment used by Deaf people
  • show an awareness of the importance of sport to Deaf people
  • follow storytelling in NZSL.

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Level 2

Language skills

Students should be able to:

  • recognise and respond to familiar words, phrases, and sentence patterns, including correct use of noun-verb pairs
  • recognise and respond to simple information, including directions and instructions
  • use and respond to statements and questions with appropriate facial grammar.

Communication functions

Students should be able to:

  • 2.1 communicate about personal information, relationships, and ownership
  • 2.2 communicate about concepts of number, including time, quantity, order, age, monetary amount, size, and shape
  • 2.3 use questions and statements for requesting, accepting, refusing, and declining
  • 2.4 communicate about feelings, emotions, and needs
  • 2.5 describe people and everyday objects
  • 2.6 use and respond to politeness conventions, directions, and instructions
  • 2.7 communicate about plans for the immediate future
  • 2.8 fingerspell smoothly and fluently.

Sociocultural contexts

Students should be able to:

  • explore how and why Deaf schools and units were set up
  • show an awareness of career opportunities for Deaf people
  • understand that Deaf people use a wide range of technologies
  • explain why Deaf people enjoy and benefit from sport
  • explain the differences between drama and NZSL.

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Level 3

Language skills

Students should be able to:

  • understand familiar sign language structures and vocabulary in new contexts
  • make meaningful connections when new vocabulary occurs in familiar language contexts
  • apply their knowledge of vocabulary and structures to produce and respond to questions, instructions, and directions
  • initiate and maintain conversations.

Communication functions

Students should be able to:

  • 3.1 request, offer, accept, and decline things, invitations, advice, and suggestions
  • 3.2 communicate about habits and routines
  • 3.3 recognise and respond to more complex instructions and directions involving several steps
  • 3.4 report events and notices in small and large groups
  • 3.5 communicate about feelings, emotions, needs, and preferences in some detail.

Sociocultural contexts

Students should be able to:

  • demonstrate an awareness of how communication styles in Deaf education have changed
  • demonstrate understanding of the role of NZSL interpreters
  • describe historical forms of technology for the Deaf
  • identify famous Deaf sportspeople
  • recognise sign-singing, dance, and drama as forms of expression Deaf people can participate in and appreciate.

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Level 4

Language skills

Students should be able to:

  • recognise and respond to the meanings and purposes of NZSL in familiar contexts
  • recognise and respond to specific detail in dialogues, conversations, and reports
  • demonstrate, in sustained presentations, their understanding of the sequencing and interaction of events
  • initiate and sustain conversations
  • give extended talks on familiar topics
  • demonstrate a range of strategies to make sense of and practise language structures and vocabulary that have not yet been fully assimilated into habitual use.

Communication functions

Students should be able to:

  • 4.1 communicate about logical relationships (cause and effect, reasons, and conditions)
  • 4.2 communicate using more complex expressions for time and frequency
  • 4.3 present and respond to extended narratives about everyday life
  • 4.4 follow and provide factual explanations, directions, and instructions, giving reasons and/or sequencing ideas logically
  • 4.5 communicate about plans and events in the future
  • 4.6 present explanatory narratives, arranging material and making meaning clear by using appropriate delivery, and comment on the presentations of others.

Sociocultural contexts

Students should be able to:

  • follow and understand the stories of Deaf people in a historical context
  • explain the work of agencies that cater for the needs of Deaf people
  • describe a range of telecommunications devices used by Deaf people
  • explain the importance of competitive sports to Deaf people
  • discuss how Deaf artists have contributed to the arts world.

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Level 5

Language skills

Students should be able to:

  • use context and familiar language to work out meaning and the relationships between things, events, and ideas
  • initiate and sustain conversations on a variety of topics and in different contexts
  • interact with others to clarify information, ideas, and opinions
  • identify language features and their meaning and purpose
  • use a wide range of vocabulary and structures in a range of contexts.

Communication functions

Students should be able to:

  • 5.1 communicate about plans for the future
  • 5.2 communicate about obligations and responsibilities
  • 5.3 recount experiences and events and communicate information, ideas, and opinions, respecting and responding to others
  • 5.4 describe, compare, and contrast people, places, and things in detail.

Sociocultural contexts

Students should be able to:

  • explain the opposing viewpoints about language learning for the Deaf during the hundred years between 1880 and 1980
  • identify some of the professional opportunities available to Deaf people
  • recognise inventions and contributions made by Deaf people in the past that have had a major impact on society
  • investigate the social effects of the 1989 World Games for the Deaf in New Zealand
  • describe Deaf involvement in the film and theatre industries.

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Level 6

Language skills

Students should be able to:

  • identify language features and their effects in a range of contexts
  • extract and interpret information from signed texts
  • use NZSL confidently and effectively in a variety of settings
  • initiate and sustain conversations in both formal and informal situations
  • give presentations on both familiar and unfamiliar topics, using appropriate technologies in a range of contexts
  • communicate in a variety of formal and informal situations.

Communication functions

Students should be able to:

  • 6.1 recount experiences and events, and communicate information, ideas, and opinions, in consultation with others and responding to their contributions
  • 6.2 communicate about hypothetical problems and possible solutions in consultation with others
  • 6.3 communicate about plans, hopes, aspirations, and intentions
  • 6.4 communicate using clear articulation, slightly larger signs, a measured signing pace, and good command of pauses.

Sociocultural contexts

Students should be able to:

  • examine the effects of the Milan Congress of 1880 and the subsequent effects on Deaf education
  • investigate Deaf activism
  • describe some of the types of technology that Deaf people need to become successful in their careers and in business
  • consider the specific needs that Deaf people have in the sporting world
  • examine Deaf involvement in expressive art.

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Level 7

Language skills

Students should be able to:

  • comprehend the details and summarise the meaning of content signed by other users of NZSL in a range of contexts
  • recognise, present and respond to various kinds of information and identify meaning, purpose, and intended audience
  • initiate and maintain communication confidently in a variety of situations and environments.

Communication functions

Students should be able to:

  • 7.1 communicate confidently, clearly, and persuasively in a variety of situations and environments
  • 7.2 communicate and explore information, ideas, and opinions and facilitate discussion
  • 7.3 express and respond to advice, warnings, and suggestions, approval and disapproval, and agreement and disagreement
  • 7.4 access increasingly complex information and respond in ways that inform, persuade, influence, or entertain others, according to their purpose.

Sociocultural contexts

Students should be able to:

  • demonstrate how certain prominent Deaf people have shaped change in education on a national and international basis
  • appreciate the impact of high-profile people who have shaped Deaf culture at an international level
  • explain technological achievements, for example, those of Alexander Graham Bell
  • describe some of the organisations and agencies that support Deaf sports at an international level
  • describe how some Deaf community members have become involved in arts and crafts and the support they have received.

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Level 8

Language skills

Students should be able to:

  • use a range and variety of language registers in presentations to different audiences and for different purposes
  • engage in extended interactions.

Communication functions

Students should be able to:

  • 8.1 communicate about certainty, uncertainty, possibility, and probability
  • 8.2 develop an argument and point of view, with reasons
  • 8.3 recount a series of events to inform, persuade, or entertain
  • 8.4 communicate the same information in different ways in different contexts
  • 8.5 respond to selected and adapted texts linked to NZSL and Deaf culture.

Sociocultural contexts

Students should be able to:

  • research issues of topical interest to the Deaf community
  • describe their own goals and talents
  • think critically about the pros and cons of a debate topic relevant to the Deaf community
  • explain why sport is an integral part of many Deaf people’s lives
  • examine the growth of Deaf film-making.

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