New Zealand Sign Language Week
My name is Kerry Butler, the Head Teacher at Howick Kindergarten. I have been teaching for over 13 years and three years ago I had two parents who had impaired hearing, whose child attended the kindergarten where I was working previously. I’m a teacher who is passionate about inclusive practice and feel it is important to ensure we offer the same opportunities to all parties.
As I enjoy having and gaining knowledge with the parents about their children, I found communicating with these parents challenging and mostly did it through writing notes which I didn’t enjoy as I felt them to be impersonal. It felt like we weren’t offering the same opportunities to the parents who had impaired hearing and it didn’t sit well with me or my philosophy. I wanted them to feel valued, respected and included in our kindergarten and so decided to attend evening sign language classes. This was so I could provide an environment where the parents could communicate and share their news/knowledge and ideas openly.
I started to learn sign language and I loved it. I found it fun and enjoyable. Each week I looked forward to my class and couldn’t wait to learn new words and phrases. As I learnt new words, I shared them with my team and the other parents so they could also communicate with the parents. The best part for me was teaching the children as it quite expressive and fun to learn and the children embraced it with such enthusiasm and vigor. In no time, they were greeting each other using sign language, they learnt counting, colours, numbers, emotions, and animals and they were eager to learn more. I would have parents requesting that I teach them sign language so they could sign with their children, everyone got into it.
I also joined a club for those who have impaired hearing, with the parents, which gave me a deeper respect and understanding for the parents because I couldn’t understand any of the conversations in sign which was frustrating to me which gave me a perspective of how the parents felt within the kindergarten setting.
Today I still use sign language in my teaching practice and the children love learning it. I will always use it in my teaching and encourage others to try it out because it is the official third language of New Zealand. Come on, give it a go for National Sign Language Week, which is the 9th to 15th May. Learn some basic signs like, hello, goodbye, please, thank you and I’m sure once you start you will love it.
Some helpful links;
https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/nzsl-dictionary/id521076445?mt=8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1HA7IEJBbk
Happy sign language week!