Community Interpreting -
Essential Skills and Knowledge Course (2006 -2009)           

CIAP is a Pan London Project and is a partnership between Mary Ward Centre as the lead partner, Workers' Educational Association (WEA), Select Training Partnership and Croydon Continuing Education and Training Service (CETS).

 

 

 

 

Community interpreting is about facilitating access to services by mediating between service users and service providers who do not share the same language. It is assumed that Community Interpreters are responsible for enabling service providers and their clients with different backgrounds and perceptions in an unequal relationship of power and knowledge to communicate to their mutual satisfaction.

 

The main aim of the programme is to provide unemployed ethnic minority beneficiaries with customised accredited training and employment provision in Community Interpreting and to improve their skills base to enable them to access interpreting employment opportunities within the public / private / voluntary sectors across London. Joined up action across London will align training providers and employers around a common set of goals/initiatives/provision to address the skills shortage area within the interpreting field. It will also contribute towards wider social and sustainability objectives in London.

 

 

 

Our Course Objectives: 

·   To learn basic interpreting techniques

·   To gain an understanding of the role of the Community Interpreter

·   To gain the skills to be able to carry out interpreting assignments effectively

·   To gain basic information about services where interpreters are needed

·   To gain nine OCNLR (Open College Network London Region) credits at Level 2 or 3

 

·   Good spoken and written English

·   Fluency in one of the local community languages that are spoken in London

·   An understanding and knowledge of the communities they represent

·   Some previous interpreting experience, either paid or unpaid

·   An interest in developing their interpreting skills to train as interpreters and gain employment

·   An interest in improving the quality of their work, voluntary or otherwise

The courses are available to those who are unemployed or who are working fewer than 16 hours per week, are eligible to work in UK and live in East or West London.

In some circumstances providers may wish to conduct individual interviews. These are aimed at checking applicants’ language skills, experience of interpreting and involvement in community activity.

 

 

Applicants who meet the entry requirements are invited to the compulsory three-hour pre-course meeting. The aims of the meeting are to enable participants to:

·   Gain a more detailed understanding of the aims and objectives of the course

·   Develop an understanding of the expectations and requirements of the course

·   Gain an understanding of the training methodology to be used

·   Gain an understanding of the assessment procedures

·   Identify any specific learning needs that they may have

·   Discover whether this is an appropriate programme for them

 

The course is accredited through the Open College Network London Region and offers 9 credits at Levels 2 and 3. The notional amount of study to achieve 3 credits is 30 hours, of which one third may be home study. The course therefore runs for a minimum of 60 taught hours, with a further minimum of 30 hours of home study.

 

The course consists of three Units:

 

 

 

The course submission includes a suggested programme. Assignment workshops are conducted which support students in their preparation for assessments. A glossary workshop comes fairly early in the course to get students started on their individual work and another assignment workshop is introduced to prepare students for the Research Skills unit.

Clear deadlines for presentation of completed assignments are indicated to the students and it is expected that every student submits work on the deadline.

It is necessary to have input from local services both to help with terminology for glossaries and to give participants an opportunity to practise role-plyas with "real" service providers. Speakers from different services are invited to provide these input sessions -  Health, Social Services, Education, Welfare Benefits, Housing and Immigration, and Mental Health is also offered if needed/appropriate.  

It is recommended that each participant has a language partner on the course to facilitate discussion of terminology and role-play practice. Where this is not possible and a participant does not have a community language in common with others on the course, it will be necessary for them to bring a friend/colleague, who is a fluent English speaker, to the course for agreed sessions to allow them to practise role-play.

Tutors usually conduct informal evaluation of each session as appropriate. A formal mid-course evaluation is conducted which helps in the adjustments that need to be made in order to ensure that students' needs are being met and checks can be made that assignments/assessment procedures are properly understood. A final course evaluation is conducted at the end of the course.

 

 

Tutors require 100% attendance, but a minimum attendance requirement for successful completion of the course is 80%. This includes the following sessions:

·   Introduction to the Course

·   Models of Interpreting

·   Interpreting Techniques

·   The Interpreter's Role

·   Managing the Interview

·   Glossary and Research Workshops

·   Confidentiality and Impartiality

·   Cultural Awareness

·   Intervention Skills and Advocacy

After finishing the course successful students can apply for work as in-house or freelance interpreters and typically find positions in interpreting agencies, Local Authorities, Hospitals, Immigration Services and Refugee and Asylum organisations.

 

 

 

There may be courses closer to where you live which will be run by one of our partners on this project.

 

 

If you are interested in Bilingual Advocacy, after having completed a Community Interpreting - Essential Skills and Knowledge course, please contact the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA).
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Website - http://www.london.wea.org.uk/programme.php?page=interpreting

 

If you live in North-West London and are particularly interested in Health and Social Care Interpreting, please contact Select Training Partnership.
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Website - http://www.selecttraining.co.uk

 

If you live in the outlying areas of South London or Surrey and are completing the Community Interpreting - Essential Skills and Knowledge Course and especially if you want to progress to Legal Interpreting, please contact Croydon Adult Learning and Training (CALAT).
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Website - http://www.calat.ac.uk

 

The Mary Ward Centre will be offering English for Interpreters course in addition to Community Interpreting - Essential Skills and Knowledge courses and Understanding Community Interpreting courses.
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Website - http://www.marywardcentre.ac.uk/Special-Projects.asp