Videos are good for practicing American Sign Language (ASL)-English interpreting, but face-to-face is better.

That is the consensus in Patti Dawson-Elli’s Interpreting IV class.

“Interpreting IV is the last interpreting class that [ASL-English interpreting majors] take before they graduate in the spring,” said Dawson-Elli. “Working with a live person as opposed to video tapes is a good way to prepare them for the working world.”

“So much of our classes are done through videos, which is fine for no pressure experience,” said Wes Ion, one of Dawson-Elli’s students. “Yet interpreting is a career that involves real interactions that aren’t met through videos.”

That’s why Dawson-Elli sent out a faculty e-mail asking who would be willing to have her four upper level students come in to their classes to get some “live” interpreting practice.

“The faculty was wonderful,” said Dawson-Elli. “I had about 12 say that they were willing to have the students come in, and we ended up going into eight or nine different classes—from a psychology course, to a computer course, to a science course.

“A couple of the faculty members said that they wondered what it would be like to have a deaf student in the class, so we did some education on campus, too,” added Dawson-Elli.

Instructor of Computer Applications Christen Smith was one such member of the faculty.

“I had often wondered what accommodations I would have to make in my classes if a deaf student were to enroll,” said Smith. “Having Patty’s students do a ‘dry run’ in one of my sessions of CMP 265: Computer Visual Design was a good learning tool for me.”

Dawson-Elli had her students practice English to ASL interpreting in teams of two and videotaped them for later reference.

“By being videotaped while interpreting in the class, then watching to see what we looked like, it was very helpful to catch habits that we are forming and to see the clarity of signing,” said Dana Krysczak. “Some classes were more difficult than others but that is a very good experience because that is what we will face, as interpreters, in the near future.”

According to Dawson-Elli, ASL and English are not a “word-for-word” match.

“It’s the interpreter’s job to paint the picture,” she said. So, when her students were confronted with a word they did not know, they either had to fingerspell it or transfer the meaning of that concept into a similar concept in ASL.

“I really struggled in the history class,” said Ion. “I found out that so much of interpreting involves a true understanding of what you’re interpreting. My partner had a better understanding and was able to give a clearer and better interpretation than I.”

Working “live” also provided Ion with “a better understanding of the factors that play into interpreting, such as students speaking out of turn.

“As an interpreter, I have to learn to manage that,” he said.

Ion pointed out that the students witnessing the Interpreting IV students gained “more of an understanding and greater awareness of our small profession, as well as of American Sign Language.

“So many of the students whom have witnessed us interpreting will become future teachers, or social workers, or even business owners, who may experience interpreters in the real world,” said Ion.

An interpreter for 25 years before earning a master’s degree in teaching interpreting, Dawson-Elli plans to continue this activity with future Interpreting IV students.

“My Interpreting II students are already excited about doing it.”

Beth Gordon and Kaitlyn McCarty are also in the class.

-- Tanya Cornell-Kestler