Conference Speakers
Take a look at the amazing lineup of NZSL tutor professionals from around the New Zealand, Australia and UK. We can't wait to see what insights, ideas and inspiration they can share within our NZSL teaching community.
Day 1 - Friday 20th June
Maligagu: Empowering Deaf First Nations People
Exploring the Social Emotional Cultural Wellbeing of our people and the essential foundations to enable us to thrive.
Like Indigenous spoken languages, Indigenous sign languages have been impacted by colonial ideologies of normalcy and European imperialism. These ideologies have threatened Indigenous languages with extinction. Global colonial agendas of domination of Indigenous lands from the 18th Century has meant the education of Indigenous people with hearing loss using western educational methods prohibited the use of Indigenous signed languages. This discussion paper presents an argument for the revitalisation of First Nations sign languages as part of the global advocacy movement to imbed Indigenous languages in communities and school education curricula.
The colonial ideals of whiteness and audism are the antithesis of the traditional practice of disability inclusion, resulting in many First Nations who experience deafness also experiencing social exclusion in the wider community. Traditionally, deaf Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were not considered to be different from their hearing peers and Indigenous communities worked to be inclusive of people who were deaf. Indigenous communities around the world have an established signed language for people who are deaf.
This discussion paper challenges commonly held ideologies about normalcy, disability, and human diversity in the context of deaf and hard of hearing populations in Indigenous communities. The experiences of our identity as First Nations people and the experiences of deafness were collectively framed and shaped by our past. Reflecting on my experience of being a deaf Koori man I will examine what resolutions may reduce the impacts of colonisation, and how cultural benefits of revitalising Indigenous sign languages can enhance our wellbeing. The exploration of revitalisation attempts, its uniqueness and normalisation of our sign languages, and reducing the impacts of deficit ideologies will also be examined.
Rodney Adams
Rodney Adams is adjunct lecturer, researcher, and a deaf Koori from Western NSW and a Research Affiliate with the Centre for Disability Research and Policy at the University of Sydney (CDRP). His research on Indigenous Sign Languages and issues impacting deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is essential to understanding deaf Indigenous health, education, and social and emotional wellbeing. Rodney has extensive experience teaching Auslan/Deaf Studies at University level and works at the University of Sydney in various courses such as ‘Disability and Decolonisation.’ He has co-written a paper on ‘Indigenous and Deaf People and the Implications of Ongoing Practices of Colonization: A Comparison of Australia and Canada.’ His chapter on ‘The Importance of Indigenous Sign Languages on the Cultural Empowerment of Deaf Indigenous people’ in the book “Indigenous Disability Studies” by John T Ward is a benchmark in Indigenous Studies worldwide.
Face-to-face NZSL public presentation skills
In this session, I will share my experiences teaching public presentation skills to NZSL learners. I will outline how learners develop confidence through fun, interactive practice. I will explore different NZSL presentation types, such as formal presentations and news reporting tailored for Deaf audiences. This presentation will highlight effective teaching approaches, including natural delivery, visual cues, and audience engagement strategies. I will also discuss key challenges and successes and I will offer tips for NZSL teachers to boost students' confidence and public presentation skills.
Susie Ovens
Susie is a full-time lecturer at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in the School of Social Sciences & Humanities. She teaches NZSL and interpreting courses for the Bachelor of Arts in English-NZSL Interpreting and the Bachelor of Arts in NZSL and Deaf Studies. Susie covers all NZSL language and a few interpreting courses for Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 students.
With a strong commitment to the Deaf community and NZSL education, Susie has been instrumental in enhancing the curriculum and creating a supportive learning environment. Her dedication to teaching and deep knowledge of NZSL make her a valuable member of AUT and the wider NZSL community.
Responsibilities when using TeachSign resources
This session will explain what you need to know when using TeachSign resources. We'll go over TeachSign’s Terms of Use and policies, so you understand your responsibilities, like using the materials properly, giving credit, and keeping resources safe and respectful for everyone.
Shannon Morris
Shannon is a NZSL teacher with over 15 years of teaching experience. She was involved in delivering NZSLTA’s professional development courses and supporting the rollout of TeachSign’s Level 2 curriculum to tutors and teachers. In 2024, she received the NZSL Teachers Award in recognition of her teaching efforts. Shannon is also a passionate member of the Deaf community, actively participating in various groups and organisations.
Your Right in Employment and Self-Employment (Contractor)
This workshop explains the key differences between being an employee and being a contractor (self-employed) in New Zealand. Knowing the difference is important because it affects your rights, responsibilities, and legal protections.
Employees usually have an employment agreement and get things like holiday pay, sick leave, and protection from unfair dismissal. Contractors are self-employed, work under a contract for services, handle their own tax, and don’t usually get the same legal protections.
This workshop is for NZSL teachers, NZSL tutors, community members, Deaf people, and allies. It will help you understand your work rights and what to look out for in different work situations.
You will learn about:
- How to tell if you are an employee or a contractor
- What this means for your tax, ACC, and workplace rights
- What to check in a contract
- What to do if you think you’ve been wrongly treated as a contractor
The workshop includes real-life examples, simple tips, and time to ask questions.
Aotearoa Disability Law Centre: Chris Blum
Chris Blum, National Community Educator, Aotearoa Disability Law Centre. Born into a hearing family, Chris Blum brings a lifetime of lived experience as a Deaf person and a deep commitment to advocacy and education within the Deaf community. A proud husband of Sarah (also Deaf), and father to two CODAs, Zara and Peter, has dedicated his career to empower others through leadership,education, and systemic changes within Aotearoa. I have had extensive experience in many areas of Sprint International NZ, T-Mobile and NZ Relay being managerial, customer-relations, promotional, advocacy and supporting the Deaf and hard of hearing community to have telephony ACCESS that we did not have before.
Chris currently serves the National Community Educator for Aotearoa Disability Law, a consultant with Merge NZ, past roles include managing customer relationships at NZ Relay Services (Sprint International NZ and T-Mobile) has been a support worker in Deaf Mental Health Services. contributes his expertise across various roles, including being a lecturer in the Interpreters course at Auckland University of Technology, lead youth and adult Training Programme Initiatives and Leadership with the Deaf Association of New Zealand through the FYD (Friends for the Young Deaf) Training programmes.
His work bridges community, education, mental health, and advocacy, championing access, inclusion, and equity for Deaf and hard of hearing individuals and their whānau across Aotearoa.
Understanding in Māori culture
Rachel Walker
I am from nine different iwi through both my Māori parents and grandparents. My whānau taught me about Māori culture, and I believe it’s important to share the significance of Tikanga with all of you. Understanding Māori culture is essential. I have been teaching NZSL for over 20 years, and Mātauranga is an integral part of our lives.
International Updates in Sign Language Teaching
What’s the latest in the world of sign language teaching? This presentation will provide updates on recent sign language international conferences: the 4th International Conference of Sign Language Teachers (LESICO) in Scotland, and the SIGN10 conference and training in Trinidad and Tobago. We will also share current initiatives in Australia aimed at advancing Auslan teaching, as well as developments by the World Sign Language Teachers (WSLT) ad hoc committee.
Sara Pivac Alexander, BA (Auckland) MA (Victoria)
Sara is a Senior Lecturer at Deaf Studies Research Unit, Victoria University of Wellington. She teaches ‘Certificate in Deaf Studies: Teaching NZSL’, and NZSL courses.
Sara is involved with research on teaching and learning NZSL, and documentation of NZSL including the NZSL Online Dictionary. She authored TeachSign and Learn NZSL websites, and TeachSign Level One and Level Two curriculum.
Darlene Thornton
Darlene Thornton is one of Australia’s leading experts in Auslan, as well as Deaf history and culture. A passionate advocate for the critical role of sign language in early childhood development and the lifelong well-being of Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, she has dedicated her career to advancing awareness and education in this field.
A native Auslan signer from a four-generation Deaf family, Darlene holds degrees in linguistics and education and is a graduate of Macquarie University and the University of Tasmania. She currently works as a research assistant with Dr. Louisa Willoughby and is doing her Master’s degree at Monash University focusing on the cognition of sign language teachers.
Darlene is the founder and CEO of MyAuslan, an organisation committed to making Auslan education accessible to families of Deaf children and to anyone engaging with the Deaf community. Her passion lies in developing Deaf-led Auslan resources that reflect authentic language use and cultural context.
Darlene is also actively involved in sign language teaching and training initiatives at both national and international levels, contributing her expertise to the growth and development of sign language education worldwide.
In her free time, Darlene enjoys reading a wide range of books —often finishing an entire book in one sitting, gardening across her expansive acre of gardens, engaging in CWA-inspired activities, and sampling artisan foods with family and friends.
Rachel McKee
Rachel McKee is an Associate Professor in the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. With her husband David, Rachel established training programmes for sign language interpreters, Deaf NZSL teachers, and adult learners of NZSL at VUW. Her research includes dictionary and grammar of NZSL, sociolinguistic topics, interpreting studies, and language policy.
Day 2 - Saturday 21st June
Does visual iconicity help students learn sign language grammar?
In our study of Auslan students (Willoughby, Kruk & Schembri, 2025), we found that advanced Auslan students identified areas that were particularly challenging for them: understanding Auslan grammar was one of these areas. In this talk, I will look at one aspect of sign language grammar: morphology. In particular, I will focus on directional verbs, plurality, slow and fast aspect, and non-manual features. I will discuss our study of whether the iconicity of sign language morphology helps hearing non-signers understand and learn these aspects of grammar more quickly, and discuss why these areas may still remain challenging for students.
Adam Schembri
Adam Schembri is a Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics and Communication at the University of Birmingham, UK. Originally from Australia, his work in sign languages linguistics began with Auslan, and now includes British Sign Language, among others. He has published work on topics including on sign language vocabulary, grammar, and variation and change. Dr Schembri is currently director of the European Research Council SignMorph Project. This five year project aims to investigate the role of variation and change, iconicity, and social structure of signing communities in shaping the linguistic structure of sign languages.
Reviewing NZSL Teachers / Tutors Pay Rates
Open discussion regarding NZSL Teachers, Tutors, and Trainers' pay rates, as this issue has not been addressed for many years.
Rachel Walker and Monica Leach
Rachel Walker and Monica Leach, long-term members of NZSLTA, have taught NZSL for many years. They have raised concerns about the lack of official pay rate guidelines for NZSL teachers, tutors, and trainers. Believing it's important to address this issue kanohi ki te kanohi in a safe space with fellow NZSLTA members, they propose the development of fair and transparent pay rate guidelines for our profession.
He taonga te reo turi, NZSL is a treasure
NZSL is more than just a means of communication - it is living taonga. As an official language of Aotearoa, NZSL carries the identity, whakapapa, culture and stories of the Deaf community. Like te reo māori, it is a unique and powerful expression of who we are.
Jon Tai-Rakena
Tēna koutou katoa, Kia orana, Talofa and warm pacific greeting. I'm Jon Tai-Rakena is proud Boujee Māori Turi with Cook Islands Māori and Niuean roots. I also passionate advocate for reo equity, tikanga, cultural identity and accessibility. I'm a content creator on social media, sharing video about NZSL is a treasure and connection with the cultures of Aotearoa especially Māori and Pasifika. I'm currently on hold from my law studies due to life challenges, but my goal is to return next year. My dream is to become a Deaf advocate in the legal space standing up for the rights of the Deaf community, especially those who face barriers to access, justice and understanding. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.
NZSL styles in online video posts
In the past, information in NZSL was shared through face-to-face communication. Now, many NZSL signers post videos online to communicate with an audience that they can’t actually see while they are signing. This new mode of sharing information brings change in signing styles. Over the past 3 years a research team at VUW and AUT have been looking into ‘modern’ style features in NZSL online posts.
This presentation will report on some features that we found are typical in online posts. These include: hand-doubling, ways of referring to the audience, pauses, and other strategies to highlight information and connect with the audience. We also explored Deaf people’s ideas about the reasons for these ways of signing online, and the impact they have on viewers.
The aim of this presentation is to inform NZSL teachers about how NZSL is evolving through use on social media. It is important for teachers and learners to be aware of which signing styles suit different situations. This research information also raises awareness in Deaf community about what makes informative videos effective for Deaf audiences to watch.
Rachel McKee
Rachel McKee is an Associate Professor in the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. With her husband David, Rachel established training programmes for sign language interpreters, Deaf NZSL teachers, and adult learners of NZSL at VUW. Her research includes dictionary and grammar of NZSL, sociolinguistic topics, interpreting studies, and language policy.
Sara Pivac Alexander
Sara is a Senior Lecturer at Deaf Studies Research Unit, Victoria University of Wellington. She teaches ‘Certificate in Deaf Studies: Teaching NZSL’, and NZSL courses.
Sara is involved with research on teaching and learning NZSL, and documentation of NZSL including the NZSL Online Dictionary. She authored TeachSign and Learn NZSL websites, and TeachSign Level One and Level Two curriculum.
Catherine Greenwood
Recently completing her Master's (from AUT University), Catherine is also the current Chair of the NZSL Board which strives to promote and maintain NZSL. Catherine has held leadership roles in the Deaf community, and supported NZSL in various ways, including visiting the AUT NZSL-English interpreting programme, working ad-hoc as a Deaf interpreter, and doing Deaf awareness workshops with hearing non-signers. Catherine is passionate about NZSL, and looks forward to sharing her recent research into the use of NZSL in online settings.
Unlocking Your Online NZSL Classroom: A Simple Guide to Flipped Learning
To provide NZSL teachers with a clear and simple understanding of flipped learning and how it can be easily applied in their online classrooms to enhance student engagement and interaction.This 30-minute workshop, titled "Unlocking Your Online NZSL Classroom: A Simple Guide to Flipped Learning," aims to equip NZSL teachers with a basic understanding of flipped learning, where students engage with new material before online class, freeing up synchronous sessions for interactive practice and collaboration. The presentation will highlight how flipping the classroom can lead to increased student engagement, better use of online time for NZSL interaction, and the ability to cater to diverse learning needs. It will then outline simple steps to get started, such as choosing specific content, creating short teacher-led videos or using existing resources, incorporating simple interactive elements using tools like Kahoot, and planning engaging in-class activities. Finally, the workshop will briefly touch upon accessible digital tools like PowerPoint, YouTube, and learning management systems that can support implementing flipped learning in online NZSL classrooms.
Ursula Thynne
Ursula Thynne is a passionate NZSL educator and researcher who specialises in online language instruction and flipped learning pedagogy. With a Master’s degree in Contemporary Education, her recent research focused on enhancing interaction and fostering social presence in online NCEA NZSL classrooms using flipped learning and digital tools like Nearpod and Te Rito. Ursula has co-authored an e-book on fostering social language communities in online NZSL classes and is an active contributor to curriculum development and assessment at the national level. She is committed to making NZSL accessible, interactive, and culturally sustaining through practical, research-informed approaches.
Understanding Cyber Bullying and Your Legal Rights in Aotearoa
Chris Blum
Cyberbullying can cause real harm and understanding the law is a powerful tool for protecting yourself and others.
- This session will unpack the Harmful Digital Communications Act
- Aotearoa’s key legislation for addressing online harm
- participants will explore how the law defines cyberbullying
- the difference between criminal and civil complaints, and
- how to take action safely.
The workshop includes real-world examples, easy-to-follow strategies, and opportunities to ask questions.
Who you are? community member, support worker, Deaf person, or ally, this session will support you with knowledge and resources to respond to cyberbullying.
It will support others who are hurt from cyber bullying.
Day 3 - Sunday 22nd June
Quick and Easy Resources: ChatGPT for NZSL Tutors
This session is for NZSL tutors who want to learn an easy way to create teaching resources faster. We will explore ChatGPT — a free AI tool that can help you make lesson plans, quizzes, and ideas in a few minutes!
You already know and use great resources like TeachSign and the NZSL Online Dictionary — now you can add ChatGPT to your toolbox. This session will show clear steps (with NZSL support), real examples, and tips to keep your teaching strong and creative. No AI experience needed — just come, watch, and learn how to work smarter!
Janet Wardle-Peck
Janet Wardle-Peck is a qualified Deaf (TOD ) Teacher for the Deaf working at Ko Taku Reo. She uses NZSL every day and loves supporting Deaf learners and NZSL tutors. She believes technology like ChatGPT can help NZSL tutors work smarter and create great resources quickly. Janet is passionate about making learning easier and more accessible. In her free time, she enjoys hiking and biking around Aotearoa.
How to set up NZSL classes
This session will help you get started with setting up NZSL classes. We'll look at what to think about when planning a class, like choosing a space, understanding who your learners are, and making sure your teaching supports everyone to learn in a fun and effective way.
Shannon Morris
Shannon is a NZSL teacher with over 15 years of teaching experience. She was involved in delivering NZSLTA’s professional development courses and supporting the rollout of TeachSign’s Level 2 curriculum to tutors and teachers. In 2024, she received the NZSL Teachers Award in recognition of her teaching efforts. Shannon is also a passionate member of the Deaf community, actively participating in various groups and organisations.
Empowering Families Through NZSL: More than just language
The workshop will begin with an introduction by two facilitators, Stephanie and Maryanne, along with Natasha, the Service Manager, who will explain their roles and present the First Signs introductory video.
Participants will then engage in a fun quiz to highlight the importance of resources and role models. We will showcase our work with various resources, including NZSL fact sheets, DLIA tips, games, activities, and handouts, and explain how we create a curriculum tailored to families' needs.
The interactive workshop segment will involve engaging participants with different children's books and visual strategies, demonstrating techniques for engaging children of various ages, and inviting participants to role-play interactions with children of different ages.
We will highlight recent research by Rebekah Butterfield and introduce the Deaf Gain app.
Keywords: First Signs, NZSL, early childhood education, deaf awareness, visual strategies, Deaf Gain app, cultural empowerment
Natasha Cloete
With over ten years of dedicated service at Deaf Aotearoa First Signs, Natasha Cloete has been a passionate advocate for early intervention and early language acquisition. Natasha's commitment extends beyond just fostering language skills; she is deeply invested in empowering facilitators to exhibit Deaf leadership to families. Through her work, Natasha has consistently demonstrated a bridge between families and staff, showcasing their leadership and dedication to enhancing the lives of children and their families by promoting the importance of early language development and the invaluable role of Deaf culture and community.
Stephanie Rorison
Stephanie Rorison is a dedicated First Signs facilitator covering the Bay of Plenty and parts of Hawke's Bay. Her commitment to providing families with the opportunity to learn New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) in their homes is unwavering. Stephanie believes in following the child's lead, as it makes learning NZSL more enjoyable and effective. Despite the long hours spent traveling on the road or setting up complex online sessions, the reward of seeing families achieve their goals and the smiles on their faces when their child can sign makes it all worthwhile. Stephanie emphasizes the importance of role models in language acquisition, understanding that they play a crucial role in the learning process.
