Hi,
I would love to hear what you all have to say about this. Since I was in high school (13 years ago), I have thought of being an interpreter. I learned some sign language while in school, and I took some classes on ASL from a deaf lady who taught out of her home.
After I was out of school, I was a teacher's aid in a preschool that had a deaf/hoh class with 4 children. I was offered a job as an interpreter for one of the little girls who would be in a hearing kindergarten. I would have loved it...(she was so sweet),but my family moved out of the area, so I had to turn it down.
I've used sign language on and off over the past 10 years doing things like teaching basic signs to kids. What I'd like to do is be able to interpret the services at my church. I am not ready to do that yet, but I am taking another class from a lady who is using the lifeprint.com website to teach from. She has a Master's in Deaf Education, and interprets at her church.
I am married and have 3 young children (ages 2-6) and also homeschool my children. Obviously I don't have the time that a full time college student would have to study and practice. I guess I wanted to know how much time will it take to get my skills up enough to interpret. I'm not talking about being a certified interpreter. I don't have the money for college classes, and I'm not sure what is required to be certified. I'm looking at this as a way to volunteer my time...not make a career out of it. Obviously no one can give me a completely acurate time table, since you don't know my skill level now...but some kind of idea would be great. Is it unrealistic to pursue this? Am I too old?
I have had 4 weeks of lessons, and so far, about 95% of the material is review. Which is good, since it's been so long since I've actively worked on ASL.
I appreciate any help with this!
Thanks!
I would love to hear what you all have to say about this. Since I was in high school (13 years ago), I have thought of being an interpreter. I learned some sign language while in school, and I took some classes on ASL from a deaf lady who taught out of her home.
After I was out of school, I was a teacher's aid in a preschool that had a deaf/hoh class with 4 children. I was offered a job as an interpreter for one of the little girls who would be in a hearing kindergarten. I would have loved it...(she was so sweet),but my family moved out of the area, so I had to turn it down.
I've used sign language on and off over the past 10 years doing things like teaching basic signs to kids. What I'd like to do is be able to interpret the services at my church. I am not ready to do that yet, but I am taking another class from a lady who is using the lifeprint.com website to teach from. She has a Master's in Deaf Education, and interprets at her church.
I am married and have 3 young children (ages 2-6) and also homeschool my children. Obviously I don't have the time that a full time college student would have to study and practice. I guess I wanted to know how much time will it take to get my skills up enough to interpret. I'm not talking about being a certified interpreter. I don't have the money for college classes, and I'm not sure what is required to be certified. I'm looking at this as a way to volunteer my time...not make a career out of it. Obviously no one can give me a completely acurate time table, since you don't know my skill level now...but some kind of idea would be great. Is it unrealistic to pursue this? Am I too old?
I have had 4 weeks of lessons, and so far, about 95% of the material is review. Which is good, since it's been so long since I've actively worked on ASL.
I appreciate any help with this!
Thanks!