[ Video Resource ]

• Title: New Zealand Sign Language
• Description: New Zealand Sign Language Subject Expert Group members discuss their experiences in the Review of Achievement Standards
• Video Duration: 8 minutes
• Video URL: https://player.vimeo.com/video/842070989
• Transcript: In conversation with Nirvana Graham Bryanna O'Regan Paula Haworth English transcript below: The biggest change that the teachers see is the new New Zealand Sign Language Level 1 home on the website. Wow! Everything is there in one place - Achievement Standards

[ Video Resource ]

• Title: What is New Zealand Sign Language about?
• Description: What is New Zealand Sign Language about?
• Video Duration: 11 minutes
• Video URL: https://player.vimeo.com/video/843742903
• Transcript: This video is a translation in New Zealand Sign Language of the What is New Zealand Sign Language about? section.

Subject-specific terms can be found in the glossary.

What is New Zealand Sign Language?

New Zealand Sign Language is the dynamic, visual-gestural language of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. As a valued taonga and official language of Aotearoa New Zealand, "NZSL is an integral part of the Deaf community’s realisation of both mana and Deaf culture. NZSL is critical to New Zealand as a whole and part of what makes Aotearoa unique."

Minister's Foreword - Office for Disability Issues (odi.govt.nz)

Sign language has been used for over a century among Deaf and Hard of Hearing people in Aotearoa New Zealand, but only since the mid-1980s has it been documented, named as New Zealand Sign Language, and used more publicly. New Zealand Sign Language is used as a primary language by Deaf and Hard of Hearing people and as an additional language by hearing people connected with the community, such as those who have Deaf family members and those who work or socialise with Deaf and Hard of Hearing people regularly.

"Research tells us that while New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) is now more recognised and accepted by society, the numbers of Deaf people learning and using the language are decreasing (McKee, 2017). This means that NZSL — one of New Zealand’s official languages — is considered a threatened language." (NZSL Board, New Zealand Sign Language Strategy, 2018-2023).

Providing opportunities for people to learn New Zealand Sign Language as a second language means there can be a wider community of peers for first language users of New Zealand Sign Language. This subject allows second language learners to explore pathways related to New Zealand Sign Language and the Deaf community in all areas of society.

What is New Zealand Sign Language about?

By engaging with this subject, students develop the ability to communicate in New Zealand Sign Language and connect meaningfully with people in different communities around the world.

Languages and cultures play a key role in developing personal, group, national, and global identities. Through New Zealand Sign Language, students learn how to engage with the world around them in appropriate ways and become global citizens. As students acquire the skills of both communicative and intercultural competence, they reflect simultaneously on their own personal identities and explore their own culture(s) from a new perspective.

Students are encouraged to use their own cultural kete to enrich their learning of New Zealand Sign Language. Students will discover and make connections to the rich history, customs, beliefs, and cultures that are part of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community in Aotearoa New Zealand. Students also have opportunities to make linguistic and cultural connections with Māori and Pacific cultures. By engaging in New Zealand Sign Language, students learn that each language has its own way of expressing meaning, and that each has intrinsic value and special significance and mana for its users.

Language learning is both an individual and collaborative process. Students are encouraged to foster rangatiratanga by taking ownership of their language learning. Students will work together in highly collaborative environments with fellow language learners towards the common goal of language acquisition.

By engaging in New Zealand Sign Language, students gain skills and knowledge that can lead to, and support, a wide range of pathways. The ability to communicate in more than one language helps students stand out. Students with the knowledge of an additional language demonstrate that they are committed to their learning and are interested in the world beyond their own. This is a considerable advantage and enhances employability in any career. For Deaf and Hard of Hearing students of New Zealand Sign Language, using and advancing knowledge of their language and culture enables them to affirm their sense of identity, participate in daily interactions, and access information.

Skills and knowledge gained in New Zealand Sign Language include:

• cultural competencies and global awareness
• communicative capabilities and interactive strategies
• understanding structure in thinking and communication
• enhanced creativity and problem-solving skills
• an appreciation of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives
• an additional context to embed and enhance literacy and numeracy competencies.

Learning New Zealand Sign Language allows hearing students to communicate with their Deaf and Hard of Hearing peers and participate in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. They can develop an appreciation of Deaf culture and enable society to become more inclusive of Deaf and Hard of Hearing people. By increasing the numbers of New Zealand Sign Language users, teachers and students can participate in strengthening, revitalising, and protecting New Zealand Sign Language, as well as contributing to worldwide linguistic diversity.

Whether being used straight out of school or to enhance tertiary study, the transferable skills, cultural knowledge, and linguistic strategies learnt while engaging in New Zealand Sign Language will continue to support and enhance the life pathways for students long after school.

The Learning Area's whakatauākī is:

Ko tōu reo, ko tōku reo, te tuakiri tangata. Tīhei uriuri, tīhei nakonako.

Your language and my language are expressions of identity. May our descendants live on and our hopes be fulfilled.

The Learning Languages whakatauākī came from Tāmaki Makaurau through Rewa Paewai of Auckland College of Education, gifted by the late Tuteira Brightwell Pohatu of Ngāti Porou.

The Learning Languages whakatauākī brings to life the why and how of language learning. The second part of the whakatauākī provides a metaphor for the experience of language learning. Like the movement from Te Kore (nothingness) to Te Pō (darkness and night) then finally to Te Ao (light and life), language learning brings students on a similar journey.

As in the Māori creation story, learners have an initial incomprehension of the language. This is also the state where unlimited potential exists. When students begin their language learning process, they face all the challenges that are involved with language learning. And finally, through resilience, perseverance, and guidance, students gain a sense of clarity, meaning, linguistic proficiency, and cultural understanding.

Communication is a vital aspect of human connection. Language helps us to share our ideas, build relationships, and create communities. There are inextricable connections between language, culture, and identity. Languages carry within them cultural values and practices that have developed over time, including cultural protocols such as tikanga.

The vitality of a language impacts the vitality of a culture and vice versa. In the context of New Zealand Sign language, the descendants referred to in the whakatauākī are the current and future generations of New Zealand Sign Language users. The identity of the ancestors lives on through the continued use of their language by their descendants.