A show of hands please

Your lag time is such that when the professor asks for a show of hands, your client will raise her hand at the wrong time. You tell your client to raise her hand even though she doesn't know why. After, you interpret why.

Because you are telling the client to raise her hand and not interpreting the, "raise your hand if..." question, you could misrepresent your client. Or have her misrepresent herself.

What are other options?

I get by with a little help from my terp

The class you are interpreting in is having a discussion about a short story they just read. The teacher asks a question and your client says to you, "tell me the answer. Please." you feed him a word, the answer. He raises his hand and the teacher calls on him.

-if every interpreter did this, what would our profession be?

A Devil's Bargain

Are we to blame? We certainly aren't innocent.

a devils bargain

Want some?

One of your clients tells you he has weed.
-seriously! Don't you have the where with all to keep that info to yourself

Your client is a minor in a high school. -do you have the responsibility to report him?

You tell your client not to tell you information like that and he says to go ahead and report him. He doesn't have it in him.
-what do you do?
-what are you obligated to do?
-ethically what should you do?
-legally what must you do?

Are you sure?

Your interpreting in a mainstream English class. Your students are participating in a small group book discussion. One of the hearing students summarizes the book--it was supposed to be done today but the kids are only half way through. You don't want your kids to get the wrong information, especially since they may believe the hearing student's summary over their own reading comprehension.

--do you do nothing. You are an interpreter, not a fact finder.
--do you change information in your interpretation?
--do you ask the hearing student if she is sure about her facts and offer an alternative to them?

And this is my team. CODA.

You are interpreting in a hospital. The Deaf patient's CODA son is also there. While you are interpreting, he will clarify a sign or a meaning. It happens naturally as if he is your interpreting team. You interpret a sentence about the pain the patient is going through then turn to her son to make sure you got it right.

-is it ok to use the CODA as a team?

Later the Deaf patient asks if you understood everything because you relied on her son. You explained yes, but because it's a hospital wanted to make sure you were right. She seemed comfortable with that answer.

-Is it alright to let your clients in on your process?
-Is it fine to converse with them when the dr is not around?

The other one sucked!

You are interpreting a discharge at a hospital. Your client confides in you they didn't trust the interpreter they had in the ER. Perhaps, your client feels, she was admitted erroneously because of miscommunication between the staff, the interpreter and the Deaf client.

- you don't know who the ER interpreter was or even if thru worked with your same agency. Do you email your agency to let them know the client complained?
- do you empathize but do nothing?
- what are your options?

So, when can you do it?

Your agency asks if you can interpret at 1:00. You reply that you aren't available until 3:00. The agency says they will call the hiring organization to see if they can accommodate your schedule.

You didn't mean that you wanted the agency to change the appointment time to accommodate you. You were only telling them when you could work.

Do you
-clarify with the agency?
-accept the job when they change the time?

I'm losing and need some help

You are losing badly in a game of Chess with Friends. To make matters worse, you want to impress the friend you are playing against. Catching up, or at least not losing embarrassingly would be fabulous. So, while your client is supposed to be practicing math, you ask if they are good at chess. They weren't doing work anyhow, you rationalize.

Movie day

It's movie day. Luckily, the movie has captions. Unluckily, the teacher makes comments during the movie. Comments that the students will be tested on. Also unluckily, there is no ambient light. You consider using your iPhone do your students can see you interpret, but electronic devices are strictly prohibited at this school.

--what are your options?

Oh, and yesterday you had...

Your student was absent yesterday. Today, even though it's not your job, you tell her what homework was assigned yesterday and when it's due. To hedge, because you know her homework isn't your responsibility, you tell her to double check with her classmates.

--should you have even brought up homework?
-- you want to see your student succeed.

Morning announcements? Bah!

Every morning your school has announcements. Students in class talk so loud you can't hear the announcements, the announcements are repetative and they often don't apply to your kids. You ask your students if they want to "hear" the announcents and they say not to bother. You no longer interpret the announcements.

-Is it ok to ignore the announcements? They are posted in the office.
-during announcements your kids either continue with their work or socialize. It's better to do that than to force the to watch you, no?
-how about if you interpret applicable announcements?
-who decides 'applicable announcements' anyway?

ASL? Try JSL

You are interpreting an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) Testing. The student being tested has a good command on sign language but the differences between Jamaican signs and American signs poses additional communication challenges. You explain the communication struggles to the tester. You also suggest strategies for communication.

--Is it ok to suggest communication strategies on an IEP test? Or an IQ test? Does that influence the results?
--how do you tell the test giver you are working on communication?
--do you request a team?

Is this the right answer?

Your student is completing an open book work sheet in class while the teacher is absent. He asks if he got the first question right. You read his answer and see he got it wrong so you sign, "look back in the text to see if you can find the answer." He finds the right answer, underlines it and corrects the answer.

-is what you did ok? It wasn't interpreting.
-should you instead called the substitute teacher over?

Missed Vocabulary

You are interpreting English class for a pretty savvy student. While she is writing her in class assignment the teacher reviews a vocabulary word. You decide to let her write, rather than interrupt her thinking process as the work is due in a few minutes.

After the teacher is done talking, she roams the class looking at student work. When she reads your student's work, your student asks about the same vocabulary word that was just discussed.

Do you:
-own up to the fact you didn't interpret that discussion?
-interpret the current conversation and not worry about the past?
-what are other options?


Amber

Are you here?

You sub with a regular interpreter for a college class. When the professor takes attendance, the regular interpreter listens for the Deaf students' names and calls "here" at the appropriate time.

Should the interpreter do that? Should the students have the opportunity to call their own attendance?

You and your team are interpreting at a job training school. The students are doing their work so there isn't any interpreting happening. You chat and read. Finally your team says, "the big boss isn't even here. Let's leave and go get coffee.". You could certainly use a cup. What do you do?

Interpreting Tests

You are interpreting a statewide high school test.  The teacher reads each question out loud and you interpret what he says.  You also have a test booklet so you can read the questions yourself.

A student asks you to repeat number 32, but the teacher is talking with someone else.  You go ahead and read the question, and interpret it from the booklet.

--Did you cross an interpreting boundary?
--Did you assume too much control over the teacher's classroom?
--Or, were you efficiently getting the information interpreted so the students could move onto the next question?

Do I stay or do I go?

You are sent to a long-term health care facility to interpret a 2 hour therapy session.  The session is over an hour into your gig.  Yeah, free to go!  But the Deaf client says, "I need you to interpret something else for me."  You follow him back to his hospital room where he just wants to chat with you.  He knows you have another hour your getting paid for--he said as much--and invites you to stay that hour with him.

--on one hand, you are getting paid, why not stay?
--on the other hand, you are getting paid to interpret, not to chat.  Why stay?
--the thing is, he doesn't have anyone to talk with and he is an interesting person.  Why not stay?
--but, its not your job to chat with clients; its your job to interpret.

So I've Heard

You work with a client almost every morning and she is very chatty with you. She often tells you about the interpreters who interpret for her in the afternoon. You're curious about her day and curious about her other interpreters so you enjoy hearing (seeing) her stories.

*Is it ethical to listen to stories about other interpreters rom a client?
*If the client tells you something unethical the interpreter did, what would you do? Do you give your client options for recourse? Defend your peer's actions? Listen and do nothing?

You can stay and chat

You are interpreting a doctor appointment and are scheduled for 2 hours. After 1 hour, the appointment is over, the doctor signed your sheet and you are heading out the door when your Deaf client signs, "Your scheduled for another hour. Lets chat." Then he heads to his room in his long term care facility.

*Do you stay and chat? You are scheduled for another hour.
*Do you leave? You are scheduled to interpret, not to hang out.
*What would be the moral thing to do?
*What are your other options?

I'll Voice

Some of your Deaf clients use their hearing to supplement ASL. In fact, when Deaf presenters come to your high school, you voice interpret what the Deaf presenter says for the Deaf students. After the presentation the presenter is answering questions for a small group of Deaf students. Your students asks you to voice for him. Your team signs, "you don't need us to voice. Just pay attention."

You wouldn't have minded voicing and think the student needed the support. But you didn't want to go against your team.

*What were some other options?
*Should you have voiced?
*If you voiced, how would you have approached that with your team?

Why bother?

Setting: High school history class
Deaf Student: not paying attention
You: interpret anyway
Hearing student who sits behind you: "He ain't even looking at you, Miss. Why you keep doin' that?"

Your options--
1. agree and quit interpreting
2. explain role in idealistic terms
3. chat with hearing student
4. ...what would you do?

I hate my agency!

Your team goes on and on about the interpreting agency that placed you both on your current job. You share a few choice experiences you have had with the agency.

+Was it really appropriate to dis on your agency?
+What would have been another option?
+How can you be empathetic to your team while still remaining loyal to your agency?

Been there, terped that

You interpret for a college class with a team. The professor tends to repeat himself, saying the same concept over and over. You play with the various ways the professor explains concepts interpreting one concept in different ways. After one concept has been discussed at length, your client looks down to text and you decide not to interpret the last sentence of the thoroughly debated concept. After all, client isn’t looking and the information was already provided. Your team feeds you your un-interpreted sentence.

--Do you go ahead and interpret the fed sentence?
--Do you ignore your team's feed?
--Do you say, I've got it?

I can see

You are team interpreting in a college class on-going. You are in the off chair providing support, when necessary. If the client looks down, your team turns to you and signs, “looking down, reading”. If the client is texting, your team signs to you, “texting.” You can see what your client is doing. You don’t need your team telling you the client is not paying attention.

--Do you let your team know you don't need to be fed the client's actions?
--Do you ask your team if they want the same information when they are in the off seat?
--Do you let it go; chalk it up to teaming idiosyncrasies?

I teach too!

You are subbing for a college level math class. Your team starts as she is in the class every day. While interpreting, you notice she is adding quite a bit of background information about math. Finally she stops interpreting the teacher's lesson and gives the student a private teaching lesson. Then she turns to you and signs, "I used to be a math teacher. And because I can explain this in a better way, I feel I'm within the bounds of ethical interpreting. After all, the most important thing is for the student to understand the information."

+How do you respond?
+When you are on, do you interpret? Or do you teach?
+Do you tell the agency anything?
+Do you talk to your team?

My Ex Sucks!

At the end of your assignment your team offers you a ride home. Thankful not to have to wait for public transportation or call someone for a ride, you accept. On the drive home, your team voices her frustration regarding her impending divorce. Her ex-husband is also an interpreter. You're not super good friends with either of them, but are "facebook friends" with both.

Do you:
+smile and nod. You don't want to get in the middle of it.
+readily take her side. She is offering you a ride home.
+tell her you'd rather not know. You may have to work with her ex one day.

+What are the short term ramifications of your decision?
+If you will want a ride from her again but don't want to be drug into her personal saga, how will you avoid the topic of her ex?
+How can you remain supportive but still distanced?

Can I leave early?

You team the last period of a high school class. You are the 2nd team on and half way through class you come in to relieve your team. After the team leaves your student signs, “You can leave. There is nothing happening today.”

Would the following circumstances inform your decision:
1. The student never pays attention and you feel that is disrespectful.
2. They are doing group work and you know the student communicates well with his group.
3. You want to get some shopping done on your way home and would like to leave early.
4. You have nothing else to do and are paid to stay.

Consider the situation with the above variables. What would be the ethical options? What are the practical options. What would you do?

You can leave

1.       You team the last period of a high school class.  You are the 2^nd team on and half way through class you come in to relieve your team.  After the team leaves your student signs, “You can leave.  There is nothing happening today.”

A few minutes in the life of a Sign Language Interpreter

After getting a chuckle out of the video--who hasn't been there--think about the interpreters responses. Yes, we would all like to be a bit snarky sometimes. What we need to be is respectful. Have fun. Enjoy your job. Smile. Heck, crack a joke. But remain kind and professional.

OMG! I've gone viral on You Tube!!!

What do you do if your interpretation of a song is recorded and posted on You Tube? Or, as in this case, you post your final on You Tube.






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJKA8us6k4k&feature=player_embedded#!

• What are the short term consequences?
• What are the long term consequences?
• If everyone did this, how would that effect the interpreting profession?
  

Coffee or Science?

You interpret in a high school on-going. During earth science you have a team as the material is difficult and the teacher lectures the entire period. Yet today—and about once a week—the students copy questions from the board and work on their own. Your team suggests, since neither of you are “working” you go out to buy your much needed coffee.

*Is it ok to leave during your scheduled interpreting time? Its possible you return the favor next week. And you’ll be back well before the next period.

*What are the professional consequences?

*What are the short and long term consequences?

*What pattern are you establishing for other interpreters in your high school?

Get a Room!

Its Friday. Its the last period of a long week interpreting high school. The students--hearing and Deaf--have basically tuned out. No one is actually doing work but because no one is being loud or obnoxious, the teacher is fine with the apathy.

You, because there is no lecture and no interpreting, open a book. When you look up to check on your student, you notice he is swapping slobber with his girlfriend. They aren't pecking and batting eyes at each other; they need a room!

You decide there is no need to witness the makeout session, so you return to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing office. Of course, you gossip to the other interpreters what happened (maybe you shouldn't have told everyone, but hey, you all work together). One of the interpreters suggested you should have interpreted what they were doing. You say, "Slurp, slurp slurp."

Later you wonder if you should have pointed out to the teacher the R-rated scene that was unfolding in her classroom.

• What are options you have in that situation?
• Should you stay/go?
• What are the short- long- term consequences?

You interpret, with a team, a 4-hour, college level economics class. The professor's accent is difficult to understand so you and your team rely on each other quite a bit. One day, your team arrives hungry and suggests that instead of teaming 20/20, today you should team 30/30 so she has time to go get a bite to eat.

Keep in mind:

• You enjoy working with your team an up to this point have had no issues.
• You are concerned about interpreting accurately because of the professor's accent coupled with the heavy content.
• You are hungry and wouldn't mind a 30 minute break to grab a bite.

What are your ethical concerns?

• Would you agree to the 30/30 split? If so, why? If no, why not?
• What Codes of Professional Conduct would you keep in mind?
• How will you continue a working relationship with your team?