Learning vocabulary and aspects of Deaf culture 

The students will recall classroom instructions and will learn the vocabulary for places around a school. 

Teaching activities 

Use as many classroom instructions as you can and remind your students to use them as well. If needed, show Clip 0.2. Select some of the instructions and practice these with the students.  

Poster of classroom instructions 

If you have not already done so, make a poster of the classroom instructions you want them to use and put it on the classroom wall. The poster will remind your students of the language you want them to integrate naturally into their NZSL learning. 

Names for places and objects 

Play Clip 17.1a, which features presenters sign some vocabulary relating to places around a school. Have the students practise their signing along with the presenters. 

Hand out Worksheet 17.1 to the students for their reference. 

Distribute copies of a map of your school, one per pair of students. While one student points to a place on the map, the other signs its name. Or one student could sign the name and the other could point to the place on the map. 

This task will help your students to create meaning by making a direct sign–object link. 

See Materials that come with this resource to download: 

• Worksheet 17.1: Vocabulary for places (.pdf) 

The students will learn how to give and follow directions. 

Signed directions 

Understanding signed directions can take some practice. Once a starting point has been established, NZSL expresses directions using the signing space like a "map". Signers usually give instructions by starting with a general location (that they both know) and moving to a specific location. 

For example: 

YOU KNOW LIBRARY IX-loc, NEXT IX-loc CLASSROOM 

Remind your students that a signer usually gives directions from their own perspective (as the starting point), so the viewer must mentally turn the directions on the signed map around to understand how to follow them.  

Watch a scene about giving directions 

Play Scene K. The scene includes giving some directions. Let this section be the focus for this activity. Hand out copies of the Scene K transcript and have the students role-play this scene. 

See Materials that come with this resource to download Scene K transcript.

Revisiting preposition signs 

Find out how many location words (place prepositions) your students can remember from Unit 7, when they learned some signs for classroom objects and for where items can be located in a classroom. Play Clip 7.1b to help them with their recall. 

Play Vocabulary clip 17.1b, in which the presenters model the vocabulary for indicating direction. Have the students sign the words along with the presenters. 

Write the prepositions from Worksheet 17.2 on the board in English. As you point to one of them, have the students sign the word. Hand out worksheet 17.2 for their reference. 

See Materials that come with this resource to download Worksheet 17.2: Vocabulary for directions. 

Giving directions 

Project all or some of the sentence patterns from the Unit 17 overview. Play Clip 17.2a so that the students can use these as models for dialogues in which they give and follow directions. This will take them some time and you may need to replay this clip many times. They can change the names of places using the vocabulary from worksheet 17.2. 

Their partners respond by giving an imagined location for the place. 

For example: 

How do I get to the library?

The library is ahead on the left.

Extension task 

Take the students outside and have them practise giving and responding to directions, in groups or as a class. For example, you or a student could give the instruction 

Turn left.

The students respond by turning left. 

Making meaning through physical movement will build their conceptual understanding. They will learn to link the signs with their meaning in NZSL without using English.

The students will follow instructions and directions to locate places on a map.

Teaching activities 

Introducing the task 

Play Scene Q. In this scene, the girls are communicating on a street outside a shop. Ask the students how much they understand. Replay the scene and check whether the students understand more with each viewing. 

Hand out copies of the Scene Q transcript and have the students role-play the scene. Replay the scene so that the students can focus on the communicative expression now that they have grasped the meaning. Challenge the students to perform their role-plays without the prompt of a script. 

See Materials that come with this resource to downloads Scene Q transcript. 

First, second, third ... 

 Introduce the ordinal numbers from FIRST to FIFTH. Play Clip 17.2b sentence patterns and have the students practise their signing. Encourage them to use these numbers as they give and respond to directions in the next task. 

Pair task: A map of the school 

 Laminate enough copies of Worksheet 17.3 for the students to have one per pair. Have them take turns to give instructions while the other person uses a non-permanent pen to draw the route on the map. This can then be wiped off before the next turn. 

To make the task more interactive, show (by projecting them onto the board) sentences like the following for the students to use when they see their partner going in the wrong direction. 

No, that’s the wrong way.

No, don't turn right. Turn left.

Stop. Go back.

Repeat the task but have one student follow the directions on their copy of the map this time and then tell the person giving the directions which building they arrive at. 

See Materials that come with this resource to download Worksheet 17.3: A map of a school 

Group task: A map of the school 

Repeat the task outlined above but first have the students work in pairs to develop a set of instructions for locating a particular place. Each pair takes turns to give the instructions to the other pair, who respond by drawing the route on the map. 

Pair task: Give directions 

Have the students take turns to give directions. Reproduce copies of your own school’s map or use copies of worksheet 17.3. Have one student give directions for how to get to a place on the map but not tell their partner what the place is. The partner follows the directions and gives their location in response to this question: 

Where are you?

If the response is not correct, the students review the directions together until they agree on the finishing point. 

See Materials that come with this resource to download Worksheet 17.3: A map of a school 

The students will assess their own and others’ progress in achieving the intended outcomes. 

Discuss the learning outcomes for the unit with your students and make sure they have copies of Worksheet 10.1 (Assessment criteria).  

Discuss how they will carry out the assessment. For example, they could record the roleplays and then assess: 

• their own performance 
• each other’s performances. 

You could use the recordings to assess individual progress. 

Get your students to make up role-plays and perform them before the class. Provide two role-play options. 

Roleplay 1 

A student has just arrived at your school and has made friends with someone in another class. You arrange to meet at lunchtime at a particular place. The new student needs directions for how to get there. 

Roleplay 2 

Your students have been chosen to show some visitors around the school. Make up a series of directions to guide the people around. 

See Materials that come with this resource to download Worksheet 10.1: Assessment criteria.