On Wednesday Star (my favorite ASL teacher/ the ASL-ITP board chair at TCC), Laura (my ASL-3 teacher, very fun lady), some classmates, and myself went to a high school in Suffolk - west of Chesapeake, about 45 minutes away. They have an ASL program at the high school so we went to encourage them to come to TCC and seek a degree in interpreting. My friend and classmate, Trish and I rode with our teachers. It was so much fun seeing how we could communicate and driving at the same time! Star was being funny too. *smiles* Anyways, we arrived at the school at 9 o'clock AM, Starbucks in hand - none of us are morning people. Other students we met there were Kellen, Beth (and her smart and adorable deaf two year old - Lilly) and Tanya and then we entered the school. I was sort of nervous because this would be my first time in a public high school, so I hung close to the group.
We did some prep to get in contact with the teacher and then were lead to this huge auditorium - it was huge! There seated around the auditorium were about 100 high school students. Walking down to the front row of the auditorium was a journey of it's self - I felt like I was being examined under a microscope. *laugh* So Star starts the introduction and explains some things while Mrs. D, the ASL teacher interprets since she is VQAS level - 3. I felt so bad for her as her interpretation of my teacher was truly embarrassing, although some was alright...I mean it was understandable, but all of it wasn't interpreted correctly and she missed some parts that Star signed or misinterpreted it. It made me come to a better understanding of the great need for *skilled, qualified, professional* interpreters. The students signed songs and some did really well. There was this one girl who signed with all her heart, you could see this big smile on her face as she signed... very sweet. Another group signed something really funny, teaching me how close signs really are to each other, the students signed that the 'angels were being cooked and the chicken was sweeping'! Tanya was sitting next to me - we both had to bite our lips to keep from laughing... I mean, some of them tried hard but you could tell others were taking ASL since they thought it was a "easy" language for their foreign language credits. Wow.... how sad.
Then Star had the students playing games and doing activities to understand the difficulties of communicating between the hearing and Deaf World, thus showing the need for interpreters. Next she explained some about Deaf Culture - playing a game...keeping it entertaining. But auditorium was so noisy - I could see people talking, giggling, listening to their ipods...and the teacher was doing nothing! I sign to Laura while Star is presenting, 'they are being really noisy and aren't whatsoever listening to Star'. Star had previously whistled to get peoples attention but apparently, they didn't want to focus. Mind you, I was a little intimadated by the many students, but I can't stand people being rude, especially to someone I really respect. So I yelled at them to be quiet, since they are being rude and all. It went from being really noisy to quiet in seconds....I suddenly relized what I did and turned bright red, falling back into my seat. Then I heard some voice from behind me say, "wow, she can speak!" Apparently, it was interpreted or they assumed that we were all deaf. Woops. *laugh* I saw Laura smile at me and nod while Star looking at me with raised eyebrows, like 'what just happened there?' So I quickly explain that I told them to AB (mouth movement to be quiet) and that they were being very rude and noisy, not listening at all. We ended up taking a lunch break and we all chatted. Thankfully, three students came up and said sorry - sort of like the Bible story where only one came back to say thank-you. OY. Later we left, I think next time the teacher should pick out students to come to TCC or maybe there could be a sign up sheet, but most definitely use our time more effectively. But it looked like a few people were interested in coming to TCC - so if this trip helped a couple students choose interpreting for a profession, then all the better.
Ohhh, and Mrs. D came up to me and was like, "now tell me, didn't I interpret well?" Talk about being in a weird place! First of all, she's my elder so I can't exactly say what I'm thinking and be disrespectful. Second, she's qualified and I'm not. Third, she stuck me between a rock and a hard place, me being a guest there. There was no way to get out of this. I had previously spoken to my interpreting teacher about evaluating an interpreter - she said, as a student it isn't my place to judge. My thought exactly! But I could point out the good in the interpreting, just since I'm not a terp or a Deaf person, I *cannot* voice the bad...since I can't judge being a student and not knowing anything about terping. So I remembered what my terp teacher said and said, "well, some of it was okay." Later, my classmates, Laura, and I told Star about the interpreting. Star later explained to me that as a student I *can* voice about the "bad", she said I should voice it - even though I am younger and less qualifed than Mrs. D, since it will help her improve. But she said Mrs. D didn't do right by asking me, a student a question like that. Although, she must have asked it because she knew she wasn't doing so great, I'd imagine. Star said if I am every intimadated like that I can always say, "it's not my place to say." I could understand Star telling the interpreter off, but me?! Oy. But *phew*, that felt better because I knew some of it was okay but I really wanted her to see that she did make mistakes - some rather large ones.......I learned a lot from that experience. Tell both the positive AND the negitive, therefore improving the terp in the long run....one of the joys of growing up, you just keep on learning! *smiles*
Above is a picture of some of us who went to the school. From left to right: Laura, Tanya, Star, me, and Kellen
