TeachSign Level Two Materials are here!
16 December 2020
Hooray! Level Two materials are now available on TeachSign. This is a significant milestone for the NZSL teaching community – our very own NZ curriculum to teach NZSL Level Two. A dream come true!
TeachSign Level One was launched in 2014 and these materials have been very popular with NZSL teachers. In 2018, the NZSL Board recognised the importance of supporting NZSL teachers deliver quality NZSL teaching to hearing adults and they funded the NZSL Level Two Framework project to develop learning outcomes. A request for proposals were then sent out and CreateNZSL was awarded a two-year contract to develop NZSL Level Two curriculum for adult community education.
Thirty-five people were involved with this two-year project and everyone contributed in various ways, working from home in different cities around NZ. This project is truly Deaf-led as the majority (31) are Deaf (only 4 hearing people were involved). COVID-19 created some interesting challenges, such as working from home during lockdown with other family members around and the filming schedule had to be changed more than once. However, the team managed to get through this and an early launch was held on 14th August 2020 at Otago University during NZSLTA national conference weekend.
Sara Pivac Alexander, the Project Manager, would like to thank everyone for their amazing dedication and support with this project to make it happen. See below for a full list of names. She says "Having these materials will have far-reaching benefits for the Deaf community, because it means more NZSL teachers will teach Level Two and more New Zealanders can communicate better in NZSL".
What’s involved?
| Material | What's involved? |
|---|---|
| General teaching documents | Documents provide an overview of Level 2 to support teaching, for example teaching content, course design, course outlines. |
| Lesson Plan samples | 30 lesson samples cover 30 weeks (60 hours) of teaching. |
| Teacher guides | 8 teacher guides explain step-by-step teaching instructions. |
| PowerPoint files | 8 PowerPoint files with 361 slides to teach. These were trialled in NZSL classes around NZ for a total of 230 hours. |
| Activity sheets | 70 activity sheets were made. This includes tutor instructions and learners’ activities. |
| Videos | A range of videos were filmed during 12 days, including 40 grammar videos, 50 stories, 17 conversations and 182 phrases. All videos, except for grammar, are captioned and can be switched on. Grammar videos are not captioned as these are for tutors. |
| Homework | 8 web-based homework pages have been created. These include nearly 700 signs, with links to the NZSL online dictionary. A range of quizzes have been developed. There are hundreds of questions via multi-choice and fill-in-the-gap formats. |
| Illustrations | 141 new illustrations have been created for PowerPoint slides, and these have been added to the TeachSign collection. |
Who can access Level Two materials?
| Level Two teaching materials | Qualified NZSLTA members registered with RAP |
|---|---|
| Level Two grammar videos | Qualified / Provisional NZSLTA members registered with RAP |
| Level Two homework & other videos | Everyone |
The team
| Project Manager | Sara Pivac Alexander (CreateNZSL) |
|---|---|
| Curriculum Developers | Sara Pivac Alexander, Lynette Pivac, Victoria Lessing, Susie Ovens, Josje Lelijveld (videos) |
| Illustrations | Shaun Fahey, Becky West |
| Quality assurance | Lynette Pivac, Rachel McKee, David McKee, Shona McGhie |
| Admin Assistant | Nicki Morrison |
| Māori advisor | Rachel Walker |
| Advisory group members | Susie Ovens, Victoria Lessing, Josje Lelijveld, Rachel Walker, Shona McGhie, Pixie Neame, Lynette Pivac |
| Material contributors | Pam Croskery, Jan Howard, Shona McGhie, Sara Pivac Alexander |
| Trial participants | Josje Lelijveld, Rachel Walker, Kelly Quirke, Ursula Thynne, Victoria Lessing, Sara Pivac Alexander |
| Filming | Merge NZ |
| Signers | Meghan Coppage, Cruze Kapa, Victoria Lessing, Benazir Black, Amanda Everitt, Darryl Alexander, Shannon Morris, Zachary Best, Richard Peri, Tanesha Sleeman, Sara Pivac Alexander |
| NZSL Coaches | Lynette Pivac, Victoria Lessing |
| Camerapersons | Greg Lessing, Anthony Cathala, Jared Flitcroft, Wendy Orellana |
| Video Editors | Juan Miguel Javier, Jaime Brown |
| Homework Quiz Developers | David McKee, Susie Ovens, Victoria Lessing, Sara Pivac Alexander |
| Transcribers / Proofreaders | Amanda Everitt, Catherine Greenwood, Bridgette Strid, Rohani Alexander |
| Graphics | Victoria Lessing |
| Website | Kirsten Morgan (SUTHERLANDesign) |
Congratulations to everyone involved with this project. Special thanks to the NZSL Board and ODI for supporting this very important project. Handswaves everyone.
