Unit 20 – GOODBYE Goodbye!

Preparing for assessment

We hope that you and your students have enjoyed learning NZSL. Now that you have completed Units 1–20 it’s time to say goodbye!

Purpose
The purpose of Unit 20 is to give your students opportunities to:

• be involved in decisions relating to their own learning
• demonstrate the skills and knowledge they have acquired
• further develop their capacity for self-assessment and peer-assessment
• reflect with pride on what they have achieved.

For Unit 20, the students will practise the language and cultural knowledge they learned in Units 11–19 in situations where they can show their communication skills. With your help, they will choose tasks to perform that will consolidate their learning and demonstrate their achievement in NZSL.

There is a summary overview of Units 11–19 in the introduction.

Process
Have another look at Activity 10.2 for guidance on the kinds of presentations the students can make, how to manage these, and whom they could present to. Worksheet 10.2 offers ideas for scenarios that are relevant to the earlier units.

Worksheet 20.1 offers further scenarios for your students to consider. Offer storytelling as an option. If some of your students choose this option, help them to define their topic and the units they can draw upon to express what they need to. Worksheet 20.2 offers some suggestions for storytelling.

The number of presentation items is at your discretion. You and your students will have your own ideas about how to organise the presentations so that all the students are fully involved and can demonstrate their capability in NZSL.

As a suggestion, you could divide the students into groups, each with a different unit to work on. The students could give a presentation based on that unit. The presentations should be around three to four minutes long and involve all members of the group, with everyone having an equal speaking part.

Preparation
Give the students time to work on their presentations so that they can develop the level of confidence they will need to present well. Monitor their engagement, giving support where they need it. For example, help them to check back through the units or play relevant clips and scenes.

Find out from the students whether they need any props for their presentations and arrange for these to be available. Confirm the order of the presentations.

Discussing and using the assessment criteria

The students will explore the assessment criteria in relation to the achievement objectives and deepen their understanding of what they need to do to achieve success.

By now, you and your students will have used the assessment criteria on Worksheet 10.1 (Assessment criteria) enough times for them to be familiar with the criteria and how they are applied. Ask the students to take out their copies. Point to the enlarged copy of the criteria that you have on your classroom wall. Tell them that they will be using these criteria to assess themselves and their peers.

Ask the students to find the copy of Worksheet 10.3 (Assessment record) they completed during Unit 10. This worksheet is the assessment record of their NZSL knowledge and skills for Units 1–10. Tell them to look at the section that identifies the three aspects of their NZSL learning they needed to improve.

Assessing each other's performance
Now have the students work in small groups to assess each other’s performance. Their assessment should include a focus on the three areas that the students identified as their particular learning goals. Give them time to become familiar with the learning goals of all the members of their group.

Hand out new copies of worksheet 10.3. Play a recording of the students’ performances in a recent unit. Ask your students to apply the criteria to each student’s performance and tick the relevant boxes in pencil. Then help them to combine their assessments to gain an overview of each student’s knowledge and skills.

Giving a presentation

The students will give their presentations.

Video recording
Arrange to record their presentations. This will provide you and your students with a record of their achievement at this point.

Setting up the presentation space
Set up a space ready for the presentations and arrange all the necessary props. If you have invited an audience, select some students to welcome them in NZSL as they arrive.

Opening the proceedings
Select some students to open the proceedings in NZSL.

As already stated in Unit 10, this could be an opportunity to have one or two students act as interpreters because the audience will most likely consist of hearing people who have little knowledge of NZSL. This is also an opportunity to invite Deaf people from your community to view the presentations.

Supporting students
Give your students the support they need. Some may need a script to help them. Others may have developed a level of fluency and confidence that will allow them to perform their role-play without a script.

Make sure that the students feel well enough prepared to enjoy giving their presentations and feel proud of the skills they have acquired.

Closing the presentations
Round off the presentations by having the students you have selected thank both the audience and the other students in NZSL and say goodbye.

Assessing progress

The students will assess their progress across the outcomes to be achieved.

Hand out copies of Worksheet 10.3 (Assessment record). Explain that they will use the criteria on the worksheet to review their own progress and the progress of the other students in their group.

Completing a group assessment
Make several copies of the recording. Arrange for each group to work independently around a computer or video recording player to complete their group’s assessments. A suggested process for this would be for them to discuss the performance of each student in their group, taking one bullet point at a time as they review the recording. The student whose performance is under discussion would then tick the box on their worksheet that the group members had all agreed on.

Reflecting on the completed assessment
When they have completed this task, give the students time to reflect on their completed assessment and write down three aspects of their NZSL knowledge and skills that they need to improve.

Whole-class viewing
Then play the recording to the class. In this way, the students can engage even more critically with their own and their peers’ presentations. Lead a discussion on the aspects of the assessment and the performances that will give the students another opportunity to reflect critically on their learning.

Make sure they have the website link for Thumbs Up! An Introduction to New Zealand Sign Language and encourage them to keep their NZSL skills active by visiting the website often. Consider playing the clips and scenes every so often during class time to keep your students motivated and confident in their NZSL knowledge.

Update progress chart
When they have achieved all the learning outcomes, the students colour in band 20 on their Thumbs up! Progress chart. Give them their copy to keep as a record of their learning.

Certificate of achievement
Using Worksheet 20.3  (Certificate of achievement) as a template, make copies of the achievement certificate on coloured card and cut them to size.

Enter the details for each student and ask your principal to sign each certificate. Arrange for the students’ achievement to be recognised by presenting their certificates at an official function, for example, a school assembly.

Consider further ways to promote the teaching and learning of NZSL in your school.