Te Kete Ipurangi Navigation:

Te Kete Ipurangi
Communities
Schools

Te Kete Ipurangi user options:

NZSL site navigation

Units navigation

Unit 1 – HELLO Hello!

Unit navigation

Hide video

Clip 0.3: Dominant hand

Transcript

Print

Dominant hand

Students learning New Zealand Sign Language often get confused about which hand to sign with.

Do they use their left or their right?

It depends on which hand you use to write with. So if you write with your right hand then you mostly sign with your right hand.

Or if you write with your left hand, your left hand will do most of the work.

When discussing New Zealand Sign Language and signing, your writing hand is called your 'dominant' hand, and it's important to be consistent when signing.

Now I'll explain the use of dominant hand in detail by grouping signs into three categories. 

The first group is straightforward – the sign only uses the movement of one hand, so it's your dominant hand that moves. For example, the signs "deaf", "me", "sister"– these signs are pretty easy.

The second group involve signs that move both hands such as "how many?", "how are you?". For this group, your dominant hand is less important as both hands use the same kind of hand shape when signing.

The third group is a little trickier because they are signs that use both hands, but the hand shape of each hand is different. For example, the sign for "time" – which hand uses which hand shape or movement?

The key is to remember your dominant hand: it's your dominant hand that does most of the work.

So for the sign "time", you can see one hand is doing most of the moving and your other hand tends to do less work – in this case, staying still completely. Together they sign "time".

It might seem a bit complicated to remember, but after a short time and a bit of practice, it will start to come more naturally to you.

Activity 1.1

Basic greetings in NZSL

The students will learn basic greetings in NZSL.

Scene A
Before starting this activity, show Scene A – Ben comes to visit, which shows people greeting each other using NZSL. Afterwards, discuss with the students what they noticed and how they felt. Ask them to make comparisons and connections with the way people greet each other in their own culture(s).

Play scene A again for the students to deepen their observation.

Explain to the students that wh-questions and yes/no questions both involve facial grammar and subtle body movements. Also explain that they will need to practise these features until they become automatic. Clip 0.7: Non-manual signals, question forms provides an explanation of these features.

Clip 1.1a
Show Clip 1.1a: Basic Greetings and ask the students to observe the signing closely as they learn the vocabulary, in particular, the way the hands and faces convey meaning. Students can also focus on how the dominant hand is used (Clip 0.3: Dominant hand).

Encourage them to have a go at signing along with the presenters so that they get used to moving their hands, faces and bodies in new ways to communicate with others without using voice.

Worksheet 1.1: Basic Greetings
Hand out "Worksheet 1.1", which is vocabulary list for Unit 1. Students can use this for their reference as they learn basic greetings.

In pairs, have the students make up short dialogues in which they greet and respond to each other. Ask them to use suitable cultural behaviours as they engage with the task such as:

  • tapping a person’s shoulder or arm to get their attention when not in face-to-face contact
  • taking turns in the conversation, with only one person signing at a time, because the watcher cannot focus on both signers simultaneously
  • turning their chairs to face each other and making sure that they can see each other clearly, which may mean closing the curtains or blinds if the sun is too bright.

Clip 1.3
Show Clip 1.3: Visual prompting in Deaf culture. Ask your students what else they need to be thinking about or arranging in the classroom so that they can incorporate appropriate cultural behaviours into their learning and their use of NZSL.

Examples include:

  • horseshoe or circle seating arrangements so that each person can be seen by everyone else
  • attracting attention by turning the light on and off or stamping on the floor to cause a vibration
  • waving their hands in the air to applaud instead of clapping.

Have the students perform their dialogues using appropriate linguistic and cultural behaviours.

Activity 1.2

Signing the numbers from one to ten

The students will learn to sign the numbers from one to ten.

Clip 1.1b and Worksheet 1.2
Show Clip 1.1b: Numbers 1 to 10 so your students can view the numbers from one to ten and practise signing them along with the presenters. Hand out "Worksheet 1.2: Signing numbers" as a reference tool.

Ask the students, working in pairs, to sign a number to each other. The viewer writes down each number as they see it signed, and the signer confirms or corrects it.

Extend this by asking some students to present a sequence of three numbers to the class. The class members write down the numbers as they view them. Then the signers give the correct numbers and check to see how many classmates made correct responses.

Check-in
Ask the students whether this task was easy for them and why it was or was not. For example, it is  difficult to watch others making signs and practise signing at the same time.

Keep showing Clip 1.1b so that the students have a good model to follow. Encourage them to make their handshapes carefully so that they learn good habits right from the outset.

Challenge and extension
Now challenge the students to take turns to count in twos, and to count backwards from ten through to one. Or they could use other number combinations as they work in pairs to practise their signing.

Then play bingo to further develop their number fluency in NZSL.

Ask the students to write down six numerals between one and ten. They work in groups, and one student signs the numbers between one and ten in a random sequence. The first student to mark off all the numbers is the winner. The other students applaud appropriately (by waving their hands).

When students have many opportunities to practice the language they are learning and when others show interest and give feedback on their efforts, they develop their confidence and competence.

Activity 1.3

Learning the fingerspelling alphabet

The students will learn the fingerspelling alphabet in its sequence from A to Z and will practise fingerspelling their first names.

Fingerspelling the alphabet

Play Clip 1.1c: The alphabet. Ask the students to notice that signers mostly use their fingers to spell out words and keep eye contact with the viewer when fingerspelling. They do not look down at their fingers. They mouth the whole word, not each individual letter.

Hold up a fingerspelling alphabet chart, which you can make by enlarging "Worksheet 1.3: Fingerspelling" and reproducing it on card. Do a round robin, with the students signing each letter in turn.

Place the chart on the classroom wall for reference. The students fingerspell the alphabet with a partner, seeing who can be the first to finish.

Then they fingerspell along with clip 1.1c. Hand out copies of worksheet 1.3. Give the students the web link reference so that they can go online to practise fingerspelling in their own time.

Fingerspelling names

Play Clip 1.2: Introductions. Play the clip again and have the students practise their signing along with the presenters.

Either hand out cards, with the first names of class members on them, or project them.

The students fingerspell their own first names and then learn to fingerspell the names of three other students.

As a class activity, have the students introduce themselves using the following pattern. The first student signs:

Give name

HELLO IX-me NAME fs-(name)

Ask for name

IX-you NAME WHATwhq

The next student responds and then turns to a third student to ask the question, and so on around the class until everyone has had a turn. Time the activity. Challenge the students to develop their NZSL fluency by completing the task once more in a shorter time.

Play Scene A – Ben comes to visit, where Ben flies in from Christchurch to stay with his friend Max. Use your copy of the Scene A transcript to check your students’ understanding of the scene. Ask them to pick out the language they know and guess what is going on in the rest of the scene. Replay scene A often to help your students build their understanding of NZSL as it is used in everyday situations.

You will see name signs used in Scene A. Name signs are commonly used in Deaf culture instead of fingerspelling a person’s name.

About NZSL
Page on this site that is an overview of NZSL. Includes the section "Name signs", which explains how a person's sign name is created.

Activity 1.4

Assessing progress

The students will assess their own progress, and the progress of others, for each outcome.

Activity Sheet 1.4 Assessing Progress
Hand out copies of the "Activity 1.4: Assessing progress", which is a Unit 1 Achievement checklist. At the simplest level, the achievement checklist criteria assess whether the student can do what is required. Use this model as a template for assessing the achievement of the learning outcomes for other units.

Assessment of each outcome

The students use the Unit 1 Achievement checklist to assess each other, working in pairs. They demonstrate their learning for each outcome and jointly agree on whether it has been achieved.

Where students have not achieved an outcome, encourage them to work with others, using tasks that will help them to achieve it.

Holistic assessment

For a holistic assessment of the students’ communicative competence in NZSL, use "Worksheet 10.1: Unit 10 Assessment criteria" for assessing the curriculum level 1 and 2 achievement objectives. Discuss and confirm the assessment criteria with the students.

Ask the students to compose a dialogue to perform in groups or in front of the class. This way, the students can get additional feedback from others on their communicative competence, based on the levels 1 and 2 assessment criteria. You can also monitor individual performance and plan how to address specific learning needs.

When they have demonstrated their learning to the agreed standard, the students colour in band 1 on their copies of the "Thumbs Up! progress chart". Place these in their portfolios as evidence of their achievement. Follow this pattern in the subsequent units.

In assessing learners’ second-language proficiency, it is important to examine free as well as controlled production.

Share with a friend

^ Back to top

Footer:

New Zealand Government

© Crown copyright.