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Kōrero: New Zealand Sign Language

Class at Sumner School for the Deaf

Image
Children in class using microphones and headphones.

Speech training was central to the curriculum at Schools for the Deaf in the 1950s. All hands are firmly clasped on the desk – no signing was allowed in a teaching philosophy known as ‘oralism’. Many deaf people recall this method of teaching as tedious and repressive, and overall limiting their access to meaningful education.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Ko Taku Reo Deaf Education New Zealand

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Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Rachel McKee, New Zealand Sign Language – Ghost page, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/47344/class-at-sumner-school-for-the-deaf (accessed 5 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Rachel McKee, i tāngia i te 27 August 2020, updated 1 September 2020.