Community Interpreting Essential Skills and Knowledge

What previous knowledge/experience/skills is required?
This course is for people who are fluent in English and a language spoken in one of the bilingual communities in London. Participants will normally be native speakers of another language.

Participants will have some experience of interpreting for family, friends or community members with public service providers in the UK, although this should include some work with people not known to the participant.

Participants will have been in the UK long enough to have gained some knowledge of the British system with regard to public services.

What you can do next, after this course
Paid work, voluntary work, the Work Experience module, Bilingual Advocacy course and in some languages, courses run through the Institute of Linguists. Please ask for advice.

Course Content
The courses involves 66 hours attendance during which time participants will be introduced to the techniques and issues involved in Community Interpreting and will look at other styles of interpreting for comparison.

Participants will also be introduced to various public services, such as housing, immigration, etc., through visiting speakers.

Successful completion of the course involves a minimum of 80% attendance and participants may not miss any of the first 30 hours which set the context for the rest of the course or the final 6 hours which round up the course and deal specifically with issues of professionalism and looking for work as an interpreter. There are also three projects to be completed for assessment; a role play which will be done in class and video taped, a bilingual glossary of terminology from public services and a piece of research into services available to the community in the participants' local areas and London-wide as appropriate.

The course is accredited through OCNLR and offers up to 9 credits at levels 2 or 3.

What materials you will need for the course and estimated cost
Students will need to provide a folder which will contain the work to be presented for final assessment. Students will also have to provide evidence of research into services available to their own communities which will take the form of directories etc.

What you should be able to do by the end of the course
Participants will be able to demonstrate:

Ability to use basic interpreting techniques and skills as appropriate to community interpreting.

Ability to use intervention skills as appropriate to community interpreting.

Understanding of the role of the community interpreter. Familiarity with the language used in some of the public services and ability to render these to the nearest equivalent in their own language.

Knowledge and awareness of cultural and racial implications of their work.

Research skills to gain basic information about services where community interpreters are needed.

Awareness of the means by which a community interpreter may gain employment .

The teaching and learning methods we use on the course
The course uses teaching and learning methodology which involves the participants in exploring their own experiences and the needs of their own communities. Methods used are group work, pair work, role play, case studies, presentations from tutor and visiting speakers, workshops for the assignments.

How we assess your progress on the course
- ongoing assessment by tutor and peers - portfolio of evidence assessed by tutor and language assessors - taped evidence of role plays

What extra study/practice we expect you to do outside the class
Students will be expected to complete project work at home as part of the course accreditation. This amounts to a minimum of 30 hours of home study.