The Vocabulary List supports teaching and learning and helps teachers understand the language appropriate at Curriculum Level 6. Language drawn from this Vocabulary List is used to create external assessments and may be used to support teachers when preparing students for internal assessments.

The language in this Vocabulary List reflects the Significant Learning summarised in the New Zealand Sign Language NCEA Learning Matrix. At Curriculum Level 6, students will:

• explore language commonly used to express personal information, ideas, and opinions in everyday contexts with reference to events or experiences in the present, as well as the past or future
• engage with and make meaning of short, straight-forward text types
• develop interactive skills and strategies to exchange simple information, ideas, and opinions in a range of predictable situations.

The Vocabulary List contains language in these sections: 

• Word List (including Māori concept signs)
• Grammar and Structures
• Expressions and Sample Sentences
• The Word List page also contains a document that includes Categories such as interjections, verbs, verb-noun pairs, and adjectives.

For internal assessments 

The language used by students during internal assessment activities (and associated learning opportunities throughout the year) will reflect the teaching and learning of New Zealand Sign Language that takes place within the context of each classroom. Teachers may extend the language they include in teaching and learning programmes to items and expressions beyond this Vocabulary List.
AS 92355 (1.1) Interact in New Zealand Sign Language to share and respond to information, ideas, and opinions
AS 92356 (1.2) Communicate in New Zealand Sign Language in relation to a cultural context

For external assessments 

The two sections of this Vocabulary List (Word List and Grammar and Structures) contain language that candidates are expected to recognise for the NCEA Level 1 New Zealand Sign Language external assessments:
AS 92357 (1.3) Demonstrate understanding of New Zealand Sign Language related to everyday contexts 
AS 92358 (1.4) Respond in New Zealand Sign Language related to everyday contexts

Age-related variations and sign variations across regions

NZSL is a living language in Aotearoa with natural variation across regions and generations. 
Age-related variations of New Zealand Sign Language (also known as intergenerational shifts) have developed over time. Older and younger generations may prefer and use different signs for some common concepts.
Sign variations across regions involves different signs being used by different groups across regions of Aotearoa New Zealand. This is similar to different iwi dialects being used across Aotearoa New Zealand.
This vocabulary list represents the variants that will be used by NZQA to develop external assessment materials. Not all age-related or regional variations are represented because of the standardised nature of national assessments. A teaching and learning programme would recognise and include these variations of NZSL. For external assessments, students need to be familiar with the variants in this vocabulary list.

Notes to teachers

In addition to the listed vocabulary, students are also expected to be able to recognise:  

• appropriate Deaf cultural considerations (such as classroom etiquette etc)
• greetings and farewells
• alphabet, basic colours, numbers (1-99), immediate family members, body parts, basic clothing, times of day, days of the week, and months of the year
• common place or country names and common animals
• instructions (single and multiple steps)
• politeness conventions.

For the Word List and Expressions and Sample Sentences pages, click on the word you are looking for to be taken to a video showing the sign in action. 

On the Grammar and Structures page the videos can be found directly on the page. Click on the still video image to enlarge and start the video playing.

The NCEA Level 1 Vocabulary List for NZSL references sign videos from the NZSL Online Dictionary (https://www.nzsl.nz). These materials are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The NCEA Level 1 Vocabulary List for NZSL references grammar structures and gloss from New Zealand Sign Language A Reference Guide (Rachel McKee).