Teaching the Invercargill and Southland Community about Deaf culture, identity and NZSL
Our main objective was to educate the Invercargill and Southland Community about Deaf culture, identity and NZSL. This was a huge success. With the funding provided by the New Zealand Sign Language Board, we were able to pay our tutors who then taught a total of 39 sign language classes consisting of 6-9 students in each class. We had students from all walks of life. For example, we had high school teachers, early child hood teachers, a person who worked at a house rental company. One of our students worked at Mitre 10 and she said that due to the NZSL classes, she was able to communicate easily with Deaf customers.
Having all of these people learn about NZSL and Deaf culture has definitely helped with accessibility for our Deaf community as well as the promotion of NZSL in Invercargill and Southland.
“Jaime makes the classes fun and exciting. I am learning so much and being able to use it in my job is so important to be able to give my service to more people.” Kaitlin - works in a gym
“ I have worked in retail/hospitality my whole career and have been in so many situations where knowing even a little bit of NZSL would have been so beneficial. I have often thought how useful it would have been to have the option of learning NZSL at high school and hope that someday it will be.
Even though I actually don’t know any Deaf or Hearing Impaired people personally, I always wanted to learn but wasn’t sure where to start. One day I saw a post by Jaime on Facebook offering classes and I signed up straight away!
I have tried to learn languages previously (on my own) and always found it difficult so I expected NZSL to be the same but not only am I enjoying myself, I am actually pretty good at it! And honestly, I would mostly put that down to Jaime and her teaching skills. I leave every class feeling like I am learning something really valuable that I can carry into other aspects of my life.
Jaime has been beyond amazing! Not only is she fun and bubbly, she is knowledgeable and patient which has made it so easy to ask questions without feeling like a nuisance. Despite being a “voice off” environment, Jaime has made it easy to understand without a word spoken - I can honestly say that I wouldn’t have made it this far without her!
This class has really exceeded my expectations and I can say that I definitely plan to finish them all.
I am so incredibly grateful that these classes are funded so people, like myself, have the opportunity to learn Sign Language and I hope they continue so more people can benefit from the knowledge Jaime offers Thank you!” By Kaleigh Wilson