Thumbs Up! An Introduction to New Zealand Sign Language

Thumbs Up! supports the teaching and learning of New Zealand Sign Language for students in years 7-8.

Title text saying, “Thumbs Up!” with a person giving two thumbs up.

About this resource

Thumbs Up! An Introduction to New Zealand Sign Language is a resource designed for students in years 7–8 working at curriculum levels 1 and 2. It supports the teaching and learning of NZSL as an additional language in English-medium schools.

New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) is used by members of New Zealand’s Deaf community and those linked with this community, including hearing people who have Deaf relatives or interpreters who work with Deaf people.

This resource explores the Thumbs Up! resource, curriculum connections, and additional resources.

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Thumbs Up! An Introduction to New Zealand Sign Language

Introduction to Thumbs Up!
Thumbs Up! teaching resources
References and additional resources

Introduction to Thumbs Up!

Thumbs Up! An Introduction to New Zealand Sign Language is a communicative language resource designed to help students and teachers express themselves in a new language and communicate with those who use NZSL in their daily lives. It also supports teacher learning.

Learn NZSL! Use NZSL! Enjoy NZSL!

Tauwhaituhi ā-kiriata

The title "Thumbs Up!" is a play on words across languages. It encourages and celebrates learning achievements – you as a teacher and students as learners – when you learn NZSL together.

In English, the expression "Thumbs up!" is often accompanied by the gesture of both thumbs in the upright position. This communication indicates encouragement, approval, and acceptance.

NZSL uses a handshape with the thumbs held up to express a similar range of positive meanings. A single handshape with the same movement of the thumb can also mean a number of words that share the same basic meaning, for example, GOOD, GREAT, FABULOUS, LOVELY, and GOOD-ON-YOU.

Using Thumbs Up!

Take a moment now to become familiar with all the components of the resource. Look at some of the supporting video clips. When you teach NZSL using this resource, you and your students will be able to preview the upcoming unit of work online. Finally, explore opportunities in your local community to further your study of NZSL.

NZSL and the NZC

New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006
New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) is recognised as an official language of New Zealand through this act and has special mention in The New Zealand Curriculum (2007).

Learning languages in the New Zealand Curriculum
When NZSL is taught as an additional language, it fits within the aims and objectives of NZ Curriculum.

Learning NZSL gives hearing people insight into the NZ Deaf community and enables Deaf people to communicate with hearing people more easily building a more inclusive society. As more New Zealanders learn NZSL, one of our country’s official languages, a distinct Aotearoa New Zealand identity is built.

Thumbs Up! resource design

Teaching units

The Thumbs Up! resource acknowledges that this may be your first contact, as a teacher, with NZSL. It enables you to adopt the role of facilitator in the classroom so that you can learn alongside your students. Potentially, you will learn from each other. See yourself as an NZSL learner, too.

Each unit has a distinct theme and four activities.

The first activity is designed to introduce new learning.
The next two activities reinforce the learning.
The fourth activity can be used in two ways:
- for additional learning experiences
- for assessing how well your students have achieved the unit’s objectives.

Lesson time

Thumbs Up! promotes pair and group work – students communicate with each other in NZSL as much as possible.

Sessions are likely to be busy. The pace at which classes work varies, so the activities lack time limits. Be mindful, though, that students at this level can often successfully and quickly learn a language. Set the pace of your lessons accordingly.

Scheduling lessons varies between schools, but a frequently doing a bit of learning is the best way to master another language. Schedule session on a regular basis in your timetable. Aim for three or four half-hour lessons a week.

View video clips more than once and at times throughout the day. For example, you might show part or all of a video clip at times outside the scheduled NZSL lesson time such as before the students go to lunch or at the end of the day.

Curriculum links

Thumbs Up! An Introduction to New Zealand Sign Language is based on learning languages at levels 1 and 2 of the 2007 New Zealand Curriculum

The National Curriculum is composed of The 2007 New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa which set the direction for student learning and provide guidance for schools as they design and review their curriculum.

Learning Languages strands

Learning languages has three strands.

The Communication strand lists the achievement objectives to be assessed.

Two strands that support this are Language Knowledge and Cultural Knowledge. The supporting strands describe what your students need to learn and integrate in order to be able to communicate effectively.

Curriculum direction and documents

The New Zealand Curriculum (2007) sets the curriculum direction for New Zealand schools.

The curriculum documents published for individual languages are now referred to as "language guidelines"; they offer guidance to teachers on matters relating to the specific language they are teaching.

NZSL in the New Zealand Curriculum (2006)
Outlines guidelines that embody the principles, attitudes, values, and essential skills relevant to the learning and teaching of New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL).

The document also provides:

information about NZSL
approaches for teaching NZSL
detailed proficiency descriptors
achievement objectives for levels 1 and 2.

New Zealand Sign Language
Provides guidance for those teaching languages and gives details about key concepts, pedagogy, connection, learning programme design, and more.

Includes information about NZSL achievement standards for Level 6, 7, and 8 (developed for use from 2017).

Thumbs Up! acknowledgements

Thumbs Up! An Introduction to New Zealand Sign Language was developed for the Ministry of Education by CWA New Media, Kelston Deaf Education Centre, Deaf Aotearoa New Zealand, and Lift Education, South Pacific Press.

The developers wish to thank Cheryl Anton, Gail Spence, and Sonia Pivac for writing this communicative language resource.

The developers would also like to thank the following people for their contributions and advice during all phases of the project:

David Foster, Chief Executive Officer, Kelston Deaf Education Centre
Rachel Noble, Chief Executive Officer, Deaf Aotearoa New Zealand
Sarah Cameron, Kelston Deaf Education Centre
Jan Robertson, second language acquisition advisor
Fiona Watene, mainstream classroom teacher
Rhys McDonald, National Coordinator Learning Languages, University of Auckland
Sara Pivac Alexander, Deaf Studies Research Unit, Victoria University of Wellington
Dr Rachel McKee, Deaf Studies Research Unit, Victoria University of Wellington
Dr David McKee, Deaf Studies Research Unit, Victoria University of Wellington
Nirvana May, van Asch Deaf Education Centre, NZ Sign Language Teachers Association
Barry Newcombe, Principal, van Asch Deaf Education Centre
Dave Moskovitz, Technical Advisor
Rebekah Hill, Titahi Bay School.

The Ministry of Education personnel who guided and supported this project were:

Margaret Hardiman, Senior Adviser, Curriculum Teaching and Learning Design
Conny Seiler, Project Officer, Curriculum Teaching and Learning Design

The schools that trialled this resource were:

Mission Heights Junior College
Henderson Intermediate School

A special acknowledgment goes to the Deaf Studies Research Unit in the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, for their collaboration and permission to use drawings from the Online Dictionary of New Zealand Sign Language.

The illustrations are by Shaun Fahey and Scott Pearson.

The producers of the video clips would like to thank all those who assisted with the filming and recording.

Cast and crew

The following people were involved in the filming:

Cast

Ben
Lucy
Sonia
Reuben
Max
Ella
Caleb
Caitlin
Zoe
Luke
Joseph
Chelcie
Mia
Dana
Joe
Charles
Josey-Maree
Marianne

Crew

Director - Sonia Pivac, Multichannel Media
First assistant director - David Copeland
Director of photography - Sean Rundle
Camera assistant - Elliot Copeland
Script writer - Kay Seatter-Dunbar
Production manager - Shirley Langdon
Production assistant - Viktoria Berryman
Production assistant (studio) - Lili Janes
Dialogue coach - Paul Buzzard

The producers would also like to thank the following for their assistance during filming:

AIMS Advanced Interpreting Management Services
Kelston Girls' College
Fullers Group Limited
Waiheke Fruit and Veg
14oz Jeans, Karangahape Road store
Balmoral Indoor Sports
Fast and Loose
St Kevin's Arcade
Mary McIntyre

The online material forThumbs Up! An Introduction to New Zealand Sign Language is made up of:

an introduction
20 units.

Introduction

The introduction includes information about the resource and how it is meant to work, as well as information about New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) and Deaf culture.

A lesson outline and examples of classroom language using NZSL offer guidance on how to manage and use your class time. There are also some useful references, other resources, and a downloadable (PDF) progress chart template.

Units

Each unit has a theme and learning outcomes linked to the curriculum achievement objectives for levels 1 and 2.

The units generally consist of:

an introductory page with some key information
four activities that integrate the video footage with a research-based second-language learning pedagogy and best-practice assessment
worksheets that include illustrations of the signs to be learned in each unit
templates for specified tasks
transcripts of the video scenes in NZSL with English translations.

Lesson outline

The following is a suggested lesson outline. Adapt or change it to suit the needs of your students.

Opening

Exchange greetings with the students and have them greet each other. Use NZSL and encourage your students to use NZSL for classroom management routines.

Links to prior knowledge

Make links to the prior learning, knowledge, and experiences of your students. If you have set homework, make time for your students to show what they have learnt or found out. Ask them to talk about the resources and techniques they used.

Strategies and elements you can use during the lessons

Share the learning intentions with your students, both for the unit and for each lesson.

Videos

View the video clips and scenes together. Find out how much language your students can understand in context. Replay the videos to confirm or modify their initial, and ongoing, sense making.

The video scenes provide examples of NZSL used in a range of situations. Your students can role-play the scenes exactly as they are shown, adapt them to suit their own purposes, or create their own unique dialogues based on what they have been learning.

Show the video clips and scenes as often as possible for modelling purposes.

Help the students to observe, notice, and discuss elements of the language and culture in order to explore the connections and comparisons they can make with their own languages and cultures in ways that promote their critical reflection and ongoing learning.

Communicating effectively

Some tasks are about learning vocabulary, to provide foundation knowledge. Other tasks explore the situational use of NZSL. The overarching goal is for the students to communicate effectively using NZSL.

Prioritise the tasks that enable them to interact with each other for genuine communicative purposes inside and outside the classroom. Use techniques such as open discussion and inquiry learning to develop their skills of observation and their curiosity.

Activities and worksheets

Work through the activities at a pace that suits the needs and interests of your learners. Encourage your students to take the lead in the activities.

Use the worksheets in different ways to increase learning support. Use self-assessment and peer-assessment processes routinely to monitor task achievement.

Unit 10 - Let's have fun offers guidelines and criteria for assessment aligned to the curriculum.

Applying what's been learned

Urge your students to view the video clips and scenes online outside of timetabled language learning times. Encourage them to use NZSL with each other and with other NZSL users. Set tasks that will allow them to show or teach others what they have been learning.

Tell your students about the new learning ahead of them. Challenge them to see what they can find out before the next lesson.

Closing

Close with a farewell routine that uses NZSL.

Unit overviews

Each unit in Thumbs Up! has a distinct theme and supporting activities. Units build on each other to increase students' knowledge of New Zealand Sign Language and Deaf culture.

Unit name	Learning outcomes
Unit 1 – HELLO Hello!	Students will: greet, farewell, thank people, and respond to others fingerspell names make use of visual prompts sign the numbers one to ten.
Unit 2 – MY FAMILY My family	Students will: introduce family members and respond to introductions ask for and give personal information sign the numbers 11 to 20.
Unit 3 – HOW-OLD IX-you How old are you?	Students will: give information about age, phone, and text numbers ask others their age, phone, and text number sign and recognise the days of the week.
Unit 4 – TIME WHAT Telling the time	Students will: tell the time sign and identify the months ask about and express dates count the numbers up to 31.
Unit 5 – SCORE WHAT What’s the score?	Students will: name and identify different sports state what sports they play and prefer ask others what sports they play and prefer understand and give scores.
Unit 6 – IX-you NEED WHAT What do you need?	Students will: express feelings, needs, and wants ask about and respond to the feelings, needs, and wants of others.
Unit 7 – IX-it WHERE Where is it?	Students will: state where something is ask where something is identify a number of classroom objects respond to classroom expressions and simple instructions.
Unit 8 – MY HOUSE My home	Students will: identify and describe rooms in their homes give information about their homes ask others questions about their homes.
Unit 9 – IX-you EAT BREAKFAST WHAT What did you eat for breakfast?	Students will: identify food and drinks state what foods they ate state what foods they like and dislike ask others about their food habits and preferences.
Unit 10 – COME-ON FUN Let’s have fun!	Students will: receive and produce information produce and respond to questions and requests show social awareness when interacting with others.
Unit 11 – AWESOME ANIMALS Awesome animals	Students will: name animals describe animals ask about animals.
Unit 12 – SMILE Smile!	Students will: express feelings, emotions, and needs ask about feelings, emotions, and needs tell a story.
Unit 13 – MUSIC TURN-UP Turn the music up!	Students will: make and respond to requests give and follow instructions accept and decline invitations.
Unit 14 – WEATHER WHAT Weather report	Students will: communicate about plans ask about and describe the weather express feeling, emotions, and needs.
Unit 15 – CLOTHES FLASH Flash clothes!	Students will: ask about and describe people ask about and describe clothes.
Unit 16 – THINGS BUY Buying things	Students will: ask about and express prices negotiate purchases describe things express quantity.
Unit 17 – WE GO WHERE Where are we going?	Students will: give directions and instructions respond to directions and instructions.
Unit 18 – PARTY READY Preparing for a party	Students will: respond to and use polite language make plans and preparations.
Unit 19 – HOLIDAY CELEBRATE Celebrating holidays	Students will: communicate about plans for the immediate future.
Unit 20 – GOODBYE Goodbye!	Students will: receive and produce information produce and respond to questions and requests show social awareness when interacting with others.

Video scenes and clips

Units 1 to 9 and Units 11 to 19 have video support.

Video support includes footage that tells a story about a group of young people using New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) in familiar, everyday situations in 23 separate scenes. For identification purposes, these are labelled Scenes A–W. Transcripts in NZSL with English translations are included for each scene.

The units also contain video footage of language "modelling" (by a studio team) and cultural footage. These are identified as Clips.

These provide instruction for teaching and learning the vocabulary, grammar, and sentence patterns of NZSL aligned with each unit’s language focus. Some clips provide a glimpse of Deaf culture and people in the Deaf community.

In order to spotlight the language being studied relevant to the learning outcomes for the students, links are made to video scenes and clips within the activities in each unit.

To view all video scenes and clips, visit Thumbs Up! on Vimeo