Considerations for teachers of New Zealand Sign Language
- Requirements of teaching
- Consultation with deaf community
- Inclusive programmes
- Opportunities to learn
Teachers need to be aware of the following factors that impact on an effective teaching and learning programme for NZSL.
- NZSL is part of Deaf culture. Language and culture are interdependent. The essence (or the heart and soul) of the language and culture interweave to provide depth in meaning and intention.
- The community can provide resource people who add meaning and depth to NZSL programmes.
- People learn in different ways. Teachers are encouraged to recognise, acknowledge, and value diverse learning approaches and to make use of the experience and skills of the learners.
- Learners need opportunities to learn both expressive and receptive language.
The requirements of teaching a visual-gestural language
As a visual-gestural language, NZSL has all the linguistic features that languages require. Unlike spoken languages, NZSL uses the face, hands, and body to convey meaning rather than the voice and is received visually rather than aurally.
Because of these features, which are unique to signed languages, teachers should consider the physical environment carefully when planning to teach NZSL. Seating and lighting are very important. All the students and the teacher need to be able to see each other clearly without obstructions, and so a semicircle is usually the best way to seat students. Lighting must be adequate, and the teacher should also consider wearing colours that contrast with their skin tone and avoiding distractions such as dangling jewellery and clothing with bold patterns.
The need to consult with the Deaf community
Early childhood centres and schools need to consult with their Deaf communities and ensure that learners have access to Deaf role models with NZSL as their first language whenever possible.
Consultation also provides a means of checking that the language being taught is appropriate and relevant to the requirements of the local Deaf community. Teachers should liaise with their local communities when planning their NZSL programmes. Deaf staff who are employed at the Deaf Education Centres and in tertiary institutions have a pivotal role in this consultation process.
The need for inclusive programmes
Learners of NZSL can be of any age, and they can have diverse experiences and needs. They may be deaf, hearing impaired, or hearing.
Learners may have:
- a strong background in NZSL, where the language is their normal means of communicating with their family and other members of the Deaf community
- family or caregivers who use NZSL to communicate
- little or no prior experience of NZSL
- some prior experience of NZSL, although they do not come from homes where NZSL is used.
Within each of these groups of learners, there is diversity. At all levels, learners of NZSL are likely to show the full range of individual differences found in any group of learners. Some will have special talents with language, and some will have special educational needs. When teachers are planning their programmes, they need to focus on the actual learners, find out what they already know and can do, and take account of their diverse requirements.
These curriculum guidelines reflect the need to be inclusive. Language programmes should offer both deaf and hearing learners, learners with special gifts, and learners with special needs the opportunity to learn NZSL.
All programmes will be gender-inclusive, non-racist, and non-discriminatory, to help ensure that learning opportunities are not restricted.
The New Zealand Curriculum Framework, page 7
The need to provide opportunities to learn expressive and receptive language
Learners need exposure to NZSL in order to be able to learn it, use it to relate to others, and participate in the Deaf community and in wider society. Face-to-face interaction is particularly important because there is no written form of NZSL, although there are systems of notation for recording signs on paper (see Glossing for a description of the glossing system used on this website). Learners therefore need to have opportunities for sustained conversations with other users of NZSL, and they need to be exposed to language role models in a variety of situations. Recording learners’ output (for example, on video or DVD) for later playback and review is also extremely important.
Learners should be increasingly able to communicate their own ideas, feelings, and thoughts in NZSL and to respond to others appropriately in a range of formal and informal situations.
When developing programmes, teachers should plan to engage the learners in a variety of activities that give them opportunities to experience different ways of communicating in NZSL.