New Zealand Sign Language L8: Context elaborations
Students are expected to engage with and respond clearly and critically to a variety of extended texts, including authentic texts (those not created or modified specifically for language learners). They are expected to use the language more variably (flexibly) and with greater effectiveness (fitness for purpose and appropriateness), at times in sustained interactions and extended texts. They are expected to explore the views of others, develop and share personal perspectives, and justify, support, or challenge ideas and opinions in different situations and on matters that are beyond their immediate experience. In all their output, it is expected that students will use their developing knowledge of linguistic and cultural forms to help them create meaning.
Context elaborations are examples for teacher guidance only. They should not be used as assessment tools.
Example 1: Five Needles (Receptive)
NZSL L8: Example 1 – Film review
GLOSS
YOU KNOW WORLD WAR II NAZI GERMANY, KILL ++++ MILLION JEW+++
ME FINISH WATCH FILM “FIVE NEEDLES”, IN SEWING FACTORY. mcs-TRUE STORY OVER JEW WOMEN.
FIVE NEEDLES IX NAZI MAN GIVE+++ EACH. IF FIVE NEEDLES BREAK+++++ ONE DAY(sad-negation) IX PERSON TAKE-AWAY DEATH.
DEAF WOMAN HAVE WHAT DOUBLE JEOPARDY THROUGH PRETEND IX-me PERSONAL HEARING SAME TIME NEEDLES KEEP-IN-HAND-SAFE, VALUE. FIVE NEEDLES BREAK+++++ TERRIBLE-2h IF GUARD SUSPICIOUS, (role shift) CATCH-ME DEAF WORSE WHY TAKE-AWAY DEATH NO-MATTER IF IX-me PERFECT SEW++.
IX FILM SAD ME mcs-QUEASY-EMOTION+++ WOMAN TAKE +++ CHARACTER URIT, STILL ALIVE ME LIKE IX mcs-IX BEST+++-she ENCOURAGE IX-them THINK POSITIVE
SHE TELL DEAF WORTH, POSITIVE. SOME PEOPLE IX-they STILL LOVE YOU NO-MATTER IF YOU DEAF OR HEARING. LONG AGO++, PEOPLE BELIEVE DEAF no-VALUE, DISABLE. IF GIVE IDEA, DEAF+ HEARING EQUAL, MAKE THINK++++ WHY PEOPLE don’t TREAT DEAF SAME.
FILM WATCH FINISH IX-me RESEARCH ON-LINE FIND 2,000 DEAF CHILDREN DEATH HOW INJECTION OR STARVATION NO FOOD. NAZIS THINK DEAF NOT neg-WORTH WHY GOVERNMENT FEED-them WHAT-for. WASTE MONEY.
FILM IX mcs-SERIOUS++ WE LEARN (2 hand) TEND PAST mcs-AWFUL. DON’T WANT FUTURE HAPPEN AGAIN. HUMAN RIGHTS IX MAKE SURE DEAF EQUAL SAME OTHER PEOPLE. SAME RELIGIONS+++ DIFFERENT +++ RESPECT.
TOP
Context and text type
A year 13 learner of NZSL reviews a film she has seen.
Text type
Vlog, informal. Receptive.
TOP
Observations a student might make concerning:
Information, ideas, and opinions through extended and varied texts
The signer explains the inhuman work conditions forced on Jewish women in Nazi sewing factories.
- "…if all five needles were broken before the end of the day, she would disappear never to be seen again.”
The signer uses double jeopardy as metaphor to show deep understanding of the dangers faced.
- Deaf women faced double jeopardy because they had to pass as hearing as well as preserve their needles.
How the signer explores the views of others
The signer explores, through research, the Nazi view that it was acceptable to kill Deaf people:
- …I researched and learned nearly 2,000 Deaf children were killed by lethal injection or starvation in Germany because the Nazis thought that they weren’t useful members of society, they were “useless eaters” so feeding them was wasteful.
How the signer develops and shares personal perspectives
The signer shares her admiration of the main character:
- However, I admired the main character, Urit, the sole survivor, as she gave strength to the other women by telling them the advantages of being Deaf.
The signer shares how she felt while watching the film:
- I found this film to be sad and emotional as one by one the women were taken away.
How the signer justifies their own ideas and opinions
The signer justifies her admiration of Urit’s positive effect on the other Deaf women.
- She told the women that there would be people who would love them for who they were, an idea that would have been thought provoking for the other Deaf women at the time.
How the signer supports or challenges the ideas and opinions of others
The signer challenges the views of the Nazis that Jews and Deaf were useless eaters and that it was acceptable to kill them, by making a generalisation:
- Five Needles highlights our need to learn from mistakes of the past…
How linguistic meaning is conveyed across languages
A directional verb, to threaten, is signed two handed to show that the Deaf women faced risks for two reasons.
- Deaf women faced double jeopardy…
Conditionals are used to explain Deaf women faced greater threat than hearing women.
- If a guard suspected that a woman was Deaf, she would be taken away to be killed immediately, even if her sewing was perfect.
How the language in the text is used to express cultural meanings
The signer leaned forward, nodded her head and had eyebrows down when introducing the topic in order to hook the audience in. In English a speaker would use a rhetorical question to hook the audience.
Spatial reference with a classifier is used to indicate women sitting around a table in the sewing factory. In English a speaker would not need to say the women were seated at a table.
The signer signed the verb "to sew" repeatedly with a grim facial expression to indicate the action continued for a long time. In English this meaning would be conveyed by using the words "for a long time".
TOP
Opportunities for developing intercultural communicative competence
Students could use the framework of this context elaboration to analyse the features of text types in different languages. They could reflect on how the analysis has contributed to their own linguistic and cultural knowledge. They could sign a vlog post expressing their views on an issue of local or international interest in order to demonstrate their new understanding.
Students could explore Deaf experiences at different points in time and make comparisons with society today. They could find out how practices, beliefs, and values have changed over time. What texts could they use to investigate these changes? What text types could they use to present the results of their research?
Last updated June 17, 2020
TOP
