List five areas you will attend to as you work with educational staff to create a learning environment that is conducive to interpreting.
1. Location of the Interpreter:
I think that it will be important for the interpreters to let the teachers know where the best place is for the interpreter. The interpreter should be somewhere that easy to be seen by the deaf student. It is also important for the interpreter to not be in the way of the board or slide show, where the deaf student could read it if necessary. It is important for the interpreter and teacher to communicate where the best placement would be.
2. Having students raise their hands to answer.
This would help the interpreter to better point out who was talking and better facilitate communication. Interpreters need a little bit of lag time. This is from the time that something is spoken to the time the interpreter produces it in ASL. By having rapid fire question and answer, this does not give the interpreter adequate time to translate the information correctly. This, in turn, does not usually give the deaf student a chance to answer the questions. This could lead to a feeling of isolation.
3. Having materials accessible.
This means that the teacher and interpreter should work together to find movies and films that would have Closed Captioning. Closed captioning is on almost every film, however if it is not provided, it could be captioned by someone. If the teacher lets the interpreter know in advance that a film needs to be captioned, the interpreter could find the resources needed to caption it.
4. Allowing the Interpreter access to materials.
By allowing the interpreter to have access to lesson plans or readings that the teacher will be having in class, it helps the interpreter to better be prepared. It is much easier and provides a better interpretation if the interpreter knows beforehand what the lesson will be about. Going in to the lesson not knowing will be difficult. Interpreters often have to research the topics they will be discussing to learn possible signs they will have to know, and to obtain a grasp of the concepts they will be interpreting.
5. Knowing the interpreters are certified.
When the interpreter is not interpreting adequately enough for the student, it can severely delay that child in his or her language and knowledge. The administrators should check to see if the interpreter is certified and registered. There have been many stories of people not being capable of providing adequate interpreting, and the student taking the fall for it. It is not enough to just know Sign Language, these interpreters have to be able to match the child's needs, and be able to bridge the communication gap. I found this website pretty interesting because it tells what the role of the interpreter is, and the registrations and certifications they should have.
http://www.classroominterpreting.org/eipa/index.asp
I am glad that you mentioned something about films having closed captioning! It is something that I need to remember because often times in classes teachers like to show videos to change things up in the class. That is why I want to build a good relationship with the teachers so we can work together as a team so the child can benefit and not fall behind in class.
ReplyDeleteI like so many of these ideas - especially having hands raised and the closed captioning. The certification and registration also reflects professionalism. All of these ideas build on your teaching project about communication, and really demonstrate awareness of your future career.
ReplyDeleteThese are great! It is so important to have access to materials and to be able to play a role in helping the deaf student to be as successful as possible. Raising hands so as to allow for lag time is a great way to take care of any problems with discussion type activities. The website is great for understanding the role of educational interpreters.
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