See what the RSA done for you!
BHI, CALI, CLIMB, DBI, GTC, RSA – our field is a veritable alphabet soup of acronyms. Yet these particular letters are important for the field of interpreter education. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), the projects are all developing specific resources and specialized projects and model programs to address significant needs in our field identified in the NCIEC 2015 Trends Report.
In the coming months, the RSA projects will be hosting a Spotlight Series to share highlights of the projects with you and for you to see how they can support your work. We are still finalizing the dates, but we wanted you to have as much advance notice of these offerings as possible. All of the sessions will be offered for CEUs in Professional Studies. The exact number of CEUs is still being determined.
August
The Center for Atypical Language Interpreting (CALI) at Northeastern University will highlight resources developed to address the growing demand for interpreters with specialized skills to serve Deaf and DeafBlind persons with atypical language. This webinar begins with a description of the specialty area and it covers the developmental work conducted to provide foundation for creation of the Program of Study and other resources. The focus is on describing and demonstrating the many resources available to interpreting educators and practitioners including Unfolding Scenarios (a conceptual tool that enables interpreter practitioners to make decisions based on conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of available knowledge), Self-Paced Online Learning Modules, an Annotated Bibliography, and more. This webinar, presented by Rayni Plaster Torres and Su Kyong Isakson, is pre-recorded and will be released in late August. Please join us to learn how you can benefit from these newly developed resources.
September:
The Behavioral Health Interpreting Project from the CATIE Center at St. Catherine University The Behavioral Health Interpreting Project from the CATIE Center at St. Catherine University has developed a variety of resources and programs to support interpreters building their knowledge and competencies when working in settings involving issues of mental health, chemical or alcohol addiction and dependency or situations impacted by domestic and sexual violence. The largely self-led educational programs are designed for the beginner or more experienced interpreter. Most programs are available via www.healthcareinterpreting.org. The webshops are designed for students, newer interpreters, consumers and others who are curious about behavioral health and who might like to explore each topic. The webshops include a series of six introductory webshops, largely self-led and requiring only 1-2 hours to complete. Interpreters with Certification and at least three-years of experience are invited to participate in one of the more advanced explorations of these topics through one of the five intensive (20+ hours) modules accessible. The BHI Project also provides support for some certified interpreters who are pursuing the Qualified Mental Health Interpreter (Q-MHI) credential through the Alabama Mental Health Interpreter Training. Information on each of these exciting program options may be found at www.healthcareinterpreting.org.
Early October:
The Graduation to Certification project from the CATIE Center at St. Catherine University will be highlighted.The goal of the GTC project has been to create experiential learning modules, based on best practices, to shorten the time from gradation to shorten becoming certified and effectively working with diverse deaf communities. We are excited to share some of our approaches and resources that have been developed, implemented and revised based on partnerships with BA programs.
Later October:
Project CLIMB (Cultivating Legal Interpreters from Minority Backgrounds) will highlight the program’s design by sharing resources from its 19-module Legal Interpreter Training, which provides an integrated and comprehensive curriculum for training novice legal interpreters. This training is primarily web-based and asynchronous; participants engage in facilitated, dialogic Communities of Learning using the Canvas online learning platform, GoReact and Zoom. The Legal Interpreter Training was developed as part of Project CLIMB’s efforts to increase the number of interpreters of color and those from heritage signing backgrounds by creating career paths for specialization in legal interpreting for practitioners from these underrepresented communities.
November
DeafBlind Interpreting Project at Western Oregon University will share resources from their project that are contributing to building their vision of “a world that celebrates the life and culture of DeafBlind persons, a world where DeafBlind people have influence and control over their destiny and dreams.”
Each session will allow you to learn about the different information and materials available, interact with the project’s resources as well as ask questions from representatives from the project. Look for more information regarding times, dates, registration, and specific format coming soon.