Assessing progress
The students will assess their own role-play presentations.
In assessing the learners’ proficiency when they learn another language, it is important to examine free as well as controlled production. This activity pays attention to these two elements.
Determine the confidence level of your students. Based on this, choose one of the followng tasks.
Role-play a scene viewed
Hand out copies of the Scene G transcript or Scene H transcript. Divide the students into groups, making sure there are enough people in each group to role-play the scene. Have them share out the roles within each group. Play Scene G and/or Scene H. Replay the scene(s) as many times as needed for all the students to learn their parts well.
Make-up your own, original role-play
Divide the students into groups. Tell them to make up their own role-plays using Worksheet 6.1, Worksheet 6.2, and Worksheet 6.3 as reference tools. Play Clip 6.2a and Clip 6.2b to provide good models and ideas. Then allow enough time for them to create their role-plays and practise them. This may take several lessons.
Assessing the role-plays
The first task is "controlled production", that is, a task where the students are required to use prescribed content. The focus of the assessment is therefore on their delivery. In this case, use only selected assessment criteria from those provided in Unit 10, as follows.
When communicating in NZSL, students will show that they can:
- sign well enough for others to understand what they are communicating
- respond to questions, and sign sentences, without hesitating too much.
The second task is "free production", that is, a task in which the students create the content for themselves using their prior learning. Use the full set of assessment criteria from Unit 10.
Give them time to apply the criteria to their own performance and discuss their assessments with each other. Monitor the outcomes of their assessment as their conclusions and your observations will help you to determine which aspects of the unit need further emphasis so that the students can manage the task well.
Reflecting on learning
Replay a clip from any of the previous units or Unit 6 activities. Encourage a reflective discussion among the students on what they have been learning. Focus the discussion points on:
- how they perceive their progress to date
- the aspects of learning NZSL that they find particularly interesting
- the aspects of learning NZSL that they find particularly challenging.
Their responses will continue to provide you with information that directs the focus of your lesson planning.