Thumbs Up! Unit 19 – HOLIDAY CELEBRATE Celebrating holidays

Introducing vocabulary and aspects of Deaf culture 

The students will learn the vocabulary for naming events and holidays and will reflect on what they have learnt about Deaf culture. 

Teaching activities    

Holidays and events 

Play Clip 19.1 and ask the students to notice how the names of events and holidays are signed. Replay the clip several times to help them to learn the vocabulary. Have the students join in with the presenters to practise their signing. 

Hand out copies of Worksheet 19.1 for the students to keep for their reference. 

Ask which events, holidays, and festivals they have experienced. Are any of these Deaf events? 

Find out whether they understand the significance of these Deaf events. Use inquiry strategies to help them to reflect on their own lives in the communities where they belong. Discuss with them how they could find out more about the significance of the events they have described. For example, they could ask members of their family or do a search on the Internet. 

See Materials that come with this resource to download Worksheet 19.1: Vocabulary (words related to holidays) (.pdf). 

Deaf cultures in Aotearoa 

Point out to them that there are deaf people in all the different ethnic cultures in Aotearoa New Zealand and that some also identify with Deaf culture. For example, Māori Deaf people may identify with two cultures: Māori and Deaf culture. 

Like members of other cultures, Deaf people come together at events such as weddings, funerals, birthday parties, and picnics. Some cultural events are distinctive to the Deaf community, though. For example, local Deaf clubs host club nights where Deaf people meet and socialise. 

Reflection and inquiry 

Foster your students’ reflection and sense of inquiry. 

If they ask questions that you cannot answer, turn these into research questions for the students to explore either in class or out of class time. 

Afterwards, discuss their research findings with them and use their suggestions for how they could present the information. For example, your students could teach some signs to another class and share some of the information they have learned about Deaf culture. 

If you choose these kinds of tasks, make sure that your students have enough time to prepare so that they can present well. 

Practise sentence patterns 

Play Clip 19.2a. Replay this clip several times. In this way, your students can practise the sentence patterns by following the models on the clip. 

The students work in pairs, taking turns to select a holiday, event, or festival, and then state whether they like or dislike it, giving a reason for their preference. 

Have you understood? 

The students will learn to understand others when they talk about their plans for the future. 

Teaching activities    

Set up the task 

Make enough copies of the Scene V transcript for one copy per pair of students. 

Cut the dialogue into strips and put the strips of paper in an envelope. Hand out one envelope to each pair. Get the students to place the strips of paper face up in front of them. 

See Materials that come with this resource to download Scene V transcript (.pdf) 

Focus on dialogue sequence 

Play Scene V. Ask the students to watch the scene and focus on remembering the sequence of the dialogue. When they have finished, get them to assemble the strips of paper into the sequence that matches the dialogue in the scene. Each pair then checks with another pair to see whether their sequences match. 

Replay the scene so that they can focus once more on the sequence of the dialogue. Give them time to review their sequencing. Then ask if they made any changes to their sequence due to seeing the dialogue again. 

Hand out or project a copy of the scene V transcript so that they can check the accuracy of their sequencing. 

See Materials that come with this resource to download Scene V transcript (.pdf). 

Check for understanding 

Play scene V again. Ask them whether they now understand more of what is being communicated. Replay the scene several times and keep checking their understanding. 

Get the students collect the strips of paper and put them back in the envelopes. Save these to use again. 

Role-play 

Have the students practise scene V as a role-play using the transcript for support. Challenge them to practise the role-play enough to be able to perform the scene without looking at the script. 

You may have to show the scene several more times to help them perfect their signing and the social skills they need in order to communicate effectively when they present their performances. 

Communicating about plans and events 

The students will communicate about plans and events. 

Teaching activities    

Class task 

 Use this round robin task as a warm-up for the task that follows. 

The first student signs: 

When is your birthday?

The next student responds, signing: 

My birthday is the 12th of July.

The second student then turns to the third student and asks the same question ("When is your birthday?"). 

Continue this sequence around the class, challenging the students to be ready for their turn and to be quick in giving their response. 

Sentence patterns 

Play Clip 19.2a. Ask the students to observe the sentence patterns modelled in the clip. Make copies of the Unit 19 sentence patterns and hand these out to the students for their reference. Replay this clip several times. In this way, your students can practise the sentence patterns by following the models on the video. 

Pair task 

Hand out copies of Worksheet 19.2. Get the students to choose a holiday or event from among those illustrated on the worksheet and make up a dialogue in which they talk about their plans concerning it. Tell them to use as many Unit 19 sentence patterns as they can. They can also use vocabulary and sentence patterns from earlier units. 

Then have them join with another pair to present their dialogues to each other. 

After they have done this, get them to ask the other pair what they understood. In this way, they can discuss their presentation and get feedback on how well the others understood it. 

See Materials that come with this resource to download Worksheet 19.2: Holidays and events (.pdf). 

Time to say goodbye 

Play Scene W. It is time to say goodbye. Play the scene several times and use the Scene W transcript to guide your students’ understanding. 

See Materials that come with this resource to download Scene W transcript (.pdf). 

Assessing progress 

The students will assess their progress across the outcomes to be achieved. 

Teaching activities   

Make sure the students have copies of the learning outcomes for the unit. Discuss the Unit 10 assessment criteria with them and ask them to look up their notes about what they individually need to improve. 

In our teaching, we need to acknowledge and respond appropriately to diverse learners and learning contexts so that all our learners can continue to progress. 

Process for assessment 

Establish with your students what process they will use for their assessment and whether you will record their performances for later viewing. 

Tell the students to choose one of the role-play scenarios on Worksheet 19.3 to present to the class. 

Discuss with them how well they feel they are progressing. Find out what they feel they need to practise. Repeat some of the earlier tasks if necessary. 

See Materials that come with this resource to download Worksheet 19.3: Role-play scenarios (.pdf).  

Warm-up 

As a warm-up for the role-plays they will be presenting for their assessment, play Scene W. Play it enough times for them to be able to model their delivery on what the characters do. 

Preparation and practise 

Have them prepare and then practise their role-plays. 

Record and review 

Record the role-plays and view and discuss these with the students afterwards, inviting their feedback on individual performances.