The new (2017) Early Childhood Education course at Middleton Grange has studied a variety of topics throughout the year. One topic, which was fascinating and inspiring, was...

...sign language. The sessions were taken by Cory Myatt, a Year 11 pupil here at school, and Mrs Vicki Sharman, a Resource Teacher of the Deaf from the Van Asch College.

The teaching sessions were practical with the pupils learning and practicing a wide range of sign language topics, including reading stories and singing. The class was kindly lent some posters and with this resource and their new knowledge, the ECE pupils took a short sign language lesson with a child and then presented their experiences to the class.

Overall this was an excellent learning experience – not just learning the language but beginning to understand a culture which plays an important role in New Zealand.

A big thanks to Cory Myatt and Mrs Sharman.

Cory writes: 

This was a great opportunity for me to teach older people NZ sign language. It was great to see their skills and knowledge developing. The pupils were really interested in deaf culture and understanding the challenges faced by people who are deaf or hard of hearing. When I first started to teach the class, I was really nervous, but then my confidence grew. I learnt that younger people pick up language more quickly, and older people need more time and practice.

Vicki Sharman, Resource Teacher of the Deaf, Van Asch

It was such a great opportunity to support Cory to plan and teach lessons, as I can see he has natural ability in this area. It was also fantastic to see diversity being celebrated and seen as a strength within the school community.

And pupil comments:

Learning New Zealand sign language was such a fascinating one-of-a-kind experience. It was challenging but so rewarding and I'm so glad we had this opportunity; the first teaching of sign language in the first ever Early Childhood class. Mrs Sharman and Cory were great at teaching us, and now I can use it to teach others and relate better to those in the deaf community through what I have learnt.

Melody Parsons (Y13)

As an ECE class we had the privilege of being taught sign language, which was artfully incorporated into our Early childhood education learning. We were taught some sign language among the cultural importance of educating people about deaf awareness and the struggles the deaf community has faced both historically and today.

Sophia Turner (Y13)

All pupils In the ECE class, were given the opportunity to learn some NZSL. I personally found this experience very eye-opening and enjoyable, knowing that I was able to communicate certain words without the use of my voice. I believe every school pupil should be given the chance to learn NZSL.

Hope Bromley (Y12)

I really enjoyed learning more about the deaf culture and how much focus is applied to understand all the hand signals. Knowing this is an official language helped me to appreciate the things I learnt. It also showed me a little more about how those who can't hear have to live and communicate and how it should be a language that more people learn.

Mercedes Marshall (Y12)

Sign language is something that generally people don't know how to go about learning or never get around to. Through the organisation of our lovely ECE teacher, we had the amazing opportunity to dive into the world of the hard of hearing and the deaf. Not only was it fun to learn this interactive, enthusiastic language, it was also interesting and heart-warming to hear from Cory and Mrs Sharman about the struggles and perks of this culture that we were kindly welcomed into. 

Emma Marsh (Y13)

As a class, we found learning about another, and often overlooked, side of New Zealand culture to be quite interesting. Learning the stories behind some very Kiwi sign words such as 'Yeah, right!' was quite cool too. We learnt how to ask and answer basic questions, which wasn't all that hard. it showed us that continuing to learn NZSL is a worthwhile thing to do.

Bradley Taylor (Y13)