Years 3-4 Auslan Syllabus
Years 3-4 Syllabus
Years 3-4 Band Level Description
In Years 3 and 4, Auslan learning builds on each student’s prior learning and experiences with language. Students continue to communicate and work collaboratively through purposeful and creative play in structured activities involving signing and viewing. They use Auslan to interact with teachers and peers, and plan activities in familiar settings that reflect their interests and capabilities. In informal settings, they use local and digital resources to explore Auslan and other signing communities. They continue to receive extensive support through modelling, scaffolding, repetition and the use of targeted resources.
Students use gestures, words and modelled expressions, imitating the movement, location and handshape of signs. They use their literacy capabilities in English to recognise some similarities and differences between Auslan and English. They locate information, respond to, and create informative and imaginative texts. They access authentic and purpose-developed Auslan texts such as picture books, stories, digital and animated games, timetables, recipes and advertisements. They recognise that language and culture reflect practices and behaviours.
Years 3-4 Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 4, students use Auslan to initiate structured interactions to share information related to the classroom and their personal worlds. They use familiar language to participate in activities that involve planning. They locate and respond to key items of information in texts, using strategies to help interpret and convey meaning in familiar contexts. They use modelled language and basic syntax, including familiar fingerspelling (FS), lexical signs, depicting signs (DSs), non-manual features (NMFs) and signing space, to create texts.
Students use modelled combinations of signs and demonstrate understanding that Auslan has language conventions and rules to create and make meaning. They identify patterns in Auslan and make comparisons between Auslan and English. They understand that Auslan is connected with culture and identity, and identify how this is reflected in their own language(s), culture(s) and identity.
Content Descriptions
Interacting in Auslan
initiate exchanges and respond to modelled questions about self, others and the classroom environment, using formulaic expressions
exchanging greetings, thanks and apologies, adjusting language to suit the situation, for example, PLEASED MEET PRO2, GOOD-LUCK, THANKS, SORRY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CONGRATULATIONS, DEAF, HEARING? POSS1 NAME …, WHERE FROM?
- responding to questions, directions and requests, using NMFs, for example, the raising and lowering of eyebrows to indicate a question is being asked
asking each other about their daily life, for example,
PRO2 ARRIVE SCHOOL HOW? CAR?
How do you get to school? By car?
PRO2 REGULAR GO-TO BED WHAT TIME?
What time do you go to bed?
WEEKEND, WHAT FS:DO?
What did you do on the weekend?
sharing real or imagined personal experiences using specific time-related signs, for example,
LONG-AGO PRO1 FLY NEW ZEALAND
A long time ago I went on a plane to New Zealand.
LAST WEEK PRO1 GO BEACH
Last week I went to the beach.
YESTERDAY BOOK PRO3 GIVE FS:SAM
Yesterday she gave the book to Sam.
expressing preferences in relation to people, places or things, for example,
PRO1 LIKE THAT, THAT, BUT THAT BEST BOOK
I like that one, and that one, but that one is the best book.
exchanging information about significant people in their lives, such as family members or friends, describing their appearance, characteristics or personality, for example,
POSS1 COUSIN PRO2 KNOW DS:LONG-HAIR GLASSES?
You know my cousin with long hair and glasses?
POSS1 BROTHER OLDER. PRO1 TALL. TRUE FUNNY
My brother is older, and tall, and really funny.
describing activities, interests or favourite pastimes, using modifications to show manner, for example,
PRO1 WORK LITTLE, LATER WORK-HARD (intensity)
I worked on it a little bit, then later I worked really hard on it.
attracting attention or asking for help, repetition or clarification, for example,
PLEASE AGAIN SIGN
Please sign that again.
PLEASE EXPLAIN AGAIN
Please explain that again.
WHAT MEAN?
What do you mean?
PRO2 MEAN …?
Do you mean …?
- using appropriate protocols in the Auslan classroom, for example, stopping activities and paying attention when lights are flashed, or hands are waved
- positioning seating to keep visual communication clear, sitting across from/opposite signers when communicating, keeping appropriate space between signers and using voice-off when possible
participate in activities that involve planning with others, using a range of familiar phrases and modelled structures
working together in collaborative tasks such as craft activities, using interactional phrases, for example,
PLEASE PRO2 BRING SCISSORS PAPER?
Can you please bring scissors and paper?
following and giving directions for activities such as a treasure hunt, using prepositions and entity DSs, for example,
DS:TURN-LEFT DEAD-END DS:TURN-RIGHT
Go left, then at the end turn right.
DS:OPEN-DOOR PT+f DS:WALK-THROUGH
Open the door and walk through.
responding to and giving classroom instructions, for example,
PLEASE WITH TWO DS:SIT-OPPOSITE
Please find a partner and sit opposite each other.
DS:LINE-UP PLEASE
Line up, please.
DS:LOOK-AT PRO1
Look at me.
playing games such as board games, negotiating turn-taking, for example,
LBUOY(1):PRO1 FIRST LBUOY(2):NEXT LBUOY(3):NEXT
It’s my turn first, then your turn and then yours.
negotiating roles and responsibilities in shared learning activities, using expressions such as
PRO3 TYPE PRO1 WRITE PRO2 WHAT?
He will type, I’ll write, and what are you doing?
- participating in Auslan games using simple clauses in creative ways, for example, playing the improvisation game Space jump or Charades
- playing games that involve identifying and classifying specific points of information, for example, Celebrity heads
- maintaining eye contact when communicating and using backchannels, for example, head nodding to indicate understanding, or raised eyebrows or head shaking to indicate lack of understanding
using expressions of support, encouragement or praise during shared activities, for example, GOOD, EXCELLENT, CONGRATULATIONS
Mediating meaning in and between languages
locate and respond to key information related to familiar content obtained from signed, visual and multimodal texts
- retelling key points of information used in classroom interactions and school activities, such as announcements or directions for a game or task
surveying peers in relation to their interests and preferences, and summarising findings in formats such as profiles, charts or graphs, for example,
FOOTBALL, PRO2 LIKE, YES-NO?
Do you like football? Yes or no?
PINK, PRO2 LIKE, YES-NO?
Do you like pink? Yes or no?
viewing short Auslan stories or signed presentations by a teacher, peer or visitor, identifying specific points of information, and recording observations in table form regarding who, what, when, where
- learning that First Nations Australian languages change according to connections and relationships between people, and giving examples of how this occurs in Auslan
- following the steps of a signed demonstration or procedure, such as a simple game or recipe, checking with each other about processes and ingredients
- drawing a personal interpretation of a VV description of a character’s appearance
- engaging with different kinds of Deaf expression, such as handshape poems or art, indicating their response using lexical signs
- comparing 2 signed versions of a popular story and indicating their preference for one version over the other
develop strategies to comprehend and adjust Auslan in familiar contexts to convey cultural meaning
- developing understanding of how deaf people modify space to maximise visual attention and adapt Auslan use and size of signing space when communicating in different physical environments such as in video chats or across a large yard
- identifying and comparing signs and words in Auslan and English versions of favourite stories, or songs, if appropriate, noticing how signs can represent concepts which might not have a direct match in English, and vice versa
- playing matching-pair games with Auslan sign-image flashcards and English flashcards, for example, matching cards associated with weather or animals
- creating captions in English for short recorded signed phrases
- creating bilingual texts for the classroom or school community, for example, posters, library displays or digital newsletter items, discussing how to represent meaning in each language, for different audiences
- recognising variation in adaptation of signing between different users of Auslan, for example, some people who are deafblind use hand-over-hand signing and tactile fingerspelling
- creating bilingual cards for use by younger children that include pictures, labels and signs, such as a transport-themed card game
- learning to film themselves and analyse the video or to read simple glosses produced by the teacher, and understanding that the English word used is often not an exact match for the meaning of the sign
- participating in shared reading of purpose-developed Auslan-English texts and answering questions about unfamiliar signs, noticing word/sign matches and mismatches in the text
Creating text in Auslan
create and present informative and imaginative signed, visual and multimodal texts, using familiar fingerspelling (FS), lexical signs, depicting signs (DSs), non-manual features (NMFs) and signing space, formulaic expressions and modelled textual conventions
- presenting routine class information such as weather reports or daily schedules, using visual prompts and signed descriptions
- creating signed, multimodal presentations with selected points of information about their home or local community, such as language, family traditions or cultural events, using modelled signs and phrases
- demonstrating a simple procedure such as brushing teeth or making a sandwich, using DSs, gestures, objects and list buoys
- creating simple descriptions in Auslan and matching them to appropriate First Nations Country/Place locations in their local area or elsewhere in Australia
- working with classmates to create a simple story using handshapes
assuming the role of a character from a story and creating and performing a dialogue of an imagined interview with questions such as
POSS2 TRUNK DS:LONG-NOSE WHY?
Why is your trunk so long, baby elephant?
- creating a humorous skit using CAs
- using a VV description to create an imaginary scene such as a person driving
- participating in storytelling games or imaginative activities, for example, the joint construction of a progressive story
Understanding systems of language
recognise and use modelled combinations of signs such as handshape, orientation, location, movement (HOLM) and non-manual features (NMFs) to form signed words and phrases
- noticing the 5 major locations of signs on the body or in space, and identifying signs associated with each, such as SEE (head/face), SAY (mouth/chin), WHY (chest), TALK (hand) and ONE (signing space)
- recognising that handshapes must be performed in a particular position and that this is called orientation, for example, ON or TRUE
- identifying and demonstrating signs with a change in handshape, such as KNOW or THINK
- understanding that NMFs can also be an element of a sign and can show emotional states such as a happy expression or grammatical information, for example, a frown to mark a negative
- using chosen hands consistently, as dominant and subordinate hands
- practising signing at a constant speed with pauses to indicate the end of a phrase
- using fingerspelling as a bridge to English such as familiar lexicalised fingerspelled signs, for example, FS:MON Monday
- recognising that changing the movement changes the meaning, for example, TEACHER
- comparing iconic signs to the visual images and/or movements of referents, such as DRINK, MONKEY
recognise Auslan language conventions, grammatical structures and basic syntax in familiar texts and contexts
recognising that non-body-anchored nouns can be located in space and identifying instances of this, for example, HOUSE, FISH
- identifying how people or objects around the school or environment can be represented by DSs, for example, talking about someone who is not there, describing a part of the playground
- discussing the functions of different pointing signs, such as pronouns, determiners and locatives
noticing that single-digit numbers can be separate lexical items or merged into other signs (numeral incorporation), such as those for ages, for example, AGE-YEARS(FIVE), or adverbs of time, for example, WEEK-AGO(THREE)
- noticing the relationship between the location of referents in real space and the direction of some indicating verbs in a text
knowing that adverbs modify the meaning of verbs, such as READ CAREFULLY
understanding that signing involves a combination of signs, CAs and DSs to convey detailed information, for example, The man walked slowly can be expressed as
MAN WALK SLOW
or
PT+f DS:MAN-WALKS-SLOWLY
or
CA:MAN-SWINGS-ARMS-NONCHALANTLY
using examples of signs that tell when, where or how a verb happens, such as
FORWARD WEEK(TWO) PRO1 HOLIDAY
I am going on holiday in 2 weeks.
WANT LUNCH NOW PLEASE
I want lunch now please.
PRO1(PL) RUN FAR
We have run far.
COME-HERE PLEASE
Come here please.
PRO2 QUICK FINISH
You finished quickly.
- recognising that the element of a clause on which a signer wants to focus may be signed first using particular NMFs
recognise familiar Auslan structures and features and compare with those of English, in known contexts
- collecting and noting a list of gestures, commonly used by hearing people when speaking English, that have similar meaning when used in Auslan, for example, head nodding, shoulder shrugging, pointing to watch
- recognising that variation occurs in spoken languages, noticing some different words for the same thing in English and identifying similarities in Auslan, for example, cossie/cozzie, togs or bathers
- comparing differences in forms of address in signed and spoken languages, for example, not using a person’s name when signing directly to them, unlike the use of names in English and some other languages
- observing that there is variation in signs and signers across Australia due to differences in location, age or schooling, such as northern/southern dialects in Auslan, and comparing with accents in English
comparing word order in Auslan phrases with written English, for example,
FORWARD WEEK(TWO) PRO1 HOLIDAY
I am going on holiday in 2 weeks.
recognising there are lexicalised signs for common English words and abbreviations such as the days of the week, names of the months, and names of states, for example, FS:VIC, NSW, SA
Understanding the interrelationship of language, culture and identity
identify connections between Auslan, cultural practices and identity
- reflecting on similarities and differences between ways of communicating in Auslan, in English and/or other known languages to class members in different social situations, for example, in greetings and introductions and in body language, facial expression and eye contact
- identifying different ways Deaf community members communicate with each other and with members of the wider hearing community, including face-to-face or online
- reflecting on similarities and differences in communication that reflect culture, such as visual ways of being among deaf people and ways of sharing storytelling or jokes
- exploring representations of information used in cultural expressions of First Nations Australians, and making connections with those of Auslan language and culture, for example, the different regional words used by First Nations groups to identify themselves, such as Zenadth Kes, Koori, Koorie, Noongar and Nunga, and comparing this with the way identity is expressed by Auslan users
- recognising that Aboriginal languages and Torres Strait Islander languages use gestures and signing as tools for communication
- exploring relationships between place, space and people, considering why some places and spaces make deaf people feel more comfortable and promote a sense of cultural belonging and pride
- understanding cultural values associated with the conferment of sign names to people, such as second-language learners of Auslan who are joining the Deaf community
- understanding why Auslan is valued by deaf or hard of hearing people and the importance of hearing people learning Auslan, for example, making an informative poster of how to make social settings more inclusive
- comparing social etiquette in different communities and cultures, for example, the importance of eye contact in the Deaf community