Daniel Greene

Category: Education

  • Thoughts on “pre-screening” ITP candidates

    The “attitude” of an interpreter toward ASL and Deaf Culture is highly valued by the deaf consumers we serve. Hence, an ASL ITP should teach the attitudes and cultural values that are desired by deaf consumers. Some say that one way to weed out “unsuitable types” from ITP’s and from the interpreting field is to pre-screen candidates to ITP’s to check for personality suitability. I disagree with this. I believe it is prejudiced and discriminating to disallow students to enter an ITP based on some personality inventory delivered and interpreted by people who are not licensed psychologists. For that matter, even if one brought in licensed psychologists to “pre-screen” candidates, I would be offended.

    Some people claim that deaf consumers “used to” naturally select interpreters who were suitable and weed out those who are not, but “so much has changed in the last several years” that the deaf culture is no longer fulfilling this function and that it now must be taken up by college faculty. For one thing, where is the evidence that the deaf community no longer weeds out unsuitable interpreters? There are still many processes by which deaf consumers can assert control over who interprets for them. If enough deaf consumers refuse to work with an interpreter, that interpreter will not work. There are grievance processes in place. I would bet that most ITP’s don’t even have the luxury of turning away students because not that many people are clamoring to become ASL interpreters. If you teach in a community that really has that many people who want to become ASL interpreters, why not allow them into the program, teach them what they need to know, send them on their way, and let the free market sort them out? (more…)

  • Reflections on the CIT Conference

    Here are some of the things I learned, was reminded of, or thought about during the CIT conference I attended this past week:

    • I was reminded that people remember most what they learn first and last (primacy and recency). In the future, when I teach a class or a workshop, I will begin and end with exercises that engage students in active learning that is content-focused. Also, I was taught that nothing shuts down a student more than fear and anxiety. Hmm… Note to self: in the future, do not begin a class by giving out graded homework that for several students is copiously red-penned and graded lower than they might have liked, and do not end class with a discussion of the next homework assignment! 😉 Instead, begin a class session with a lively, fun exercise that engages students in active learning that is tied directly into the content matter of the class. End with a summary of what I taught them in class that day, or — better yet! — with an active learning exercise in which the students take turns summarizing (teaching each other) what they learned in class that day. Don’t bother marking up their papers with all kinds of editorial marks. If their writing is very poor, give them a poor grade and have them come to you after class if they want to talk about it. Hand out homework on a paper to them as they leave the classroom. Take care of “housekeeping” during the middle of class. Save the first and last portions of the class for the meat of the lesson. (Inspiration: “Designing and Delivering Effective, Learner-Engaged Trainings” by Len Roberson and Shannon Simon — one of the only workshops I ever gave all fives to on the RID evaluation form)

    • A conference venue for attendees who communicate in sign language must have large common areas, wide corridors, non-distracting walls (e.g. floral patterns and huge mirrors), and lighting that is bright but not glaring. Unfortunately, the Red Lion Hanalei Hotel in San Diego was not an ideal conference venue for visual-gestural communication and traffic flow!
    • Discourse analysis and genre recognition are areas that I would like to do further learning and teaching on. (more…)

  • Conference of Interpreter Trainers in San Diego

    Got ASL?

    I’m here in San Diego for the Conference of Interpreter Trainers (CIT) conference. We’re all wearing this wristband (pic above) to remind us all to communicate in ASL out of respect for the language at the center of our work and for our deaf colleagues who taught it to us and continue to teach it with us. I came here to learn more about training ASL interpreters. The first night I was here, it was exciting to see some of the grand dames of ASL interpreting, including: Sharon Neumann Solow, Betty Colonomus, Anna Witter-Merithew and Theresa Smith. I also saw Dennis Cokely, co-author of the “green books” and theorist of the “Cokely Model.” I saw a couple of more recent famous workshop presenters: Julie Simon and Robyn Dean. Past President of RID, Ben Hall, was here. I had the pleasure of interpreting his address to the RID Western Regional Conference in Boise, Idaho back in 2000.

    Of course I also saw many of my old San Diego intereting colleagues, including RID president Angela Jones and RID Region V Rep Rob Balaam (who moved to San Francicso in 1993 but used to work with me at San Diego Mesa College), Melissa Smith of Palomar College, who mentored me in theatrical interpreting back in 1994, and Jean Kelly, author of Show Me the English, who mentored me way back in 1993 and taught me how to “show ’em the English” and helped me earn my Certificate of Transliteration (CT) in 1999.

    It was a real treat to watch a magic show put on by kids from California State School for the Deaf, Riverside. They entertained us on Wednesday night. After that, it was a hoot to watch Rowdy Vision, a troupe of three deaf actors/comedians led by Jon Savage of lenois.com.

    It’s an invigorating and stimulating time! More to come later. 🙂

  • “The ADA and Interpreters” workshop review

    On April 2, SCRID sponsored a workshop entitled “The ADA and Interpreters” on the Palomar College campus in San Marcos. The four-hour workshop, presented by Darlene West, gave participants an overview of the Americans with Disabilities Act as it is written, interpreted and enforced. Darlene’s bold and animated style brought to life the five titles of the ADA covering employment, state and local government, public accommodations, telecommunications, and miscellaneous provisions. She peppered her lecture with vivid anecdotes, lifting the text of the ADA off the page and into the realm of everyday life.

    Darlene discussed how to successfully navigate some of the loopholes of the ADA, such as “reasonable accommodation” and “readily achievable” versus “undue hardship” and “direct threat,” “program accessibility” versus “site accessibility,” and “fundamental alterations.”

    She referred to section 35.104 to define the term “qualified interpreter” as required under section 35.160 (“Auxiliary Aids and Services.”) According to ADA section 35.104, a qualified interpreter is, “one who is able to interpret effectively, accurately, and impartially both receptively and expressively, using any necessary specialized vocabulary.”

    The workshop itself was made accessible to the deaf via both ASL interpreting and real-time captioning, the latter provided by the firm Words Apart, using Rapidtext Infosign.

    Darlene handed out plenty of supplemental literature and supplied the following toll-free phone numbers for those who wish to pursue more detailed information: 1-800-USA-ABLE, 1-800-USA-EEOC, and for TTY, 1-800-800-3302.

    Darlene West is the co-owner of Accommodating Ideas, Inc., an enterprise based in North Hollywood established to consult with businesses to provide training in how to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Her firm also handles the provision of interpreting services and the rental and sale of auxiliary aids. Ms. West holds a CAD level V “Master” Certificate of Competence, and is a veteran ASL interpreter.

    This review originally appeared in the SCRID newsletter in June 1994. Darlene West’s name has since changed to Darlene Geyer. Hyperlinks were added in 2012 for publication on danielgreene.com.