News And Events

New Zealand Sign Language Week

New Zealand Sign Language is celebrated 6-12th May 2019. Nurtured at Home's resource for Educators this month is laminated sheets for Educators and children to learn New Zealand Sign Language with and alongside each other. The resource also includes flash cards, that can be used as a fun game to guess what the sign might be, or to demonstrate the sign.

Each May, Deaf Aotearoa runs New Zealand Sign Language Week, celebrating one of New Zealand’s official languages. NZSL Week raises awareness of New Zealand’s Deaf community and provides a platform for Deaf people to proudly promote their language and culture.

New Zealand Sign Language became an official language of New Zealand in April 2006, alongside English and te reo Māori, and now more than 20,000 New Zealander’s use sign language daily.  New Zealand Sign Language has its own structure and grammar and is not just a signed representation of the spoken English language. The New Zealand interpretation of sign language uses more lip-patterns in conjunction with hand and facial movement to cue signs, reflecting New Zealand’s history of oral education for deaf people.