Welcome back everyone!

We hope you enjoyed the NZSL content we shared over the lockdown period.  It has been so rewarding hearing your tamariki sharing their knowledge of NZSL with their whānau.

Have a wee look through our Facebook page to see some great singing and signing.

Te whariki - our early childhood curriculum states that:

Increasingly, children are likely to be learning in and through more than one language.  Besides English, te reo Maori and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) some 200 different languages are in use in New Zealand, with Samoan, Hindi, Northern Chinese, French and Yue (Cantonese) being the most common.  Children more readily become bi- or multilingual and bi- or multiliterate when language learning in the education setting builds on their home languages.

It is desirable that children in ECE settings should also have the opportunity to learn NZSL, an official language of New Zealand, and to learn about Deaf culture.  For some children, NZSL is their first language, and services have a responsibility to support its use and development.

We are loving developing our skills and sharing these with our tamariki.

Courtney, Brooke & Jan