Questions about terps

[DeafNerdMommy]

I have personally never used an interpreter. I have many friends going to school to become terps. But what is the deal with deafies and terps? Many deafies I have talked to say that they hate terps and refuse to use them. Does anyone else feel this way and why?

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[Swedeafa]

Personally, I love terps. It's great to be able to be included in more situations than possible without terps. Historically friends and family have been translating, and that's not a good solution. You become dependent on someone you have a personal relationship with. I am really happy there are professional terps, that can be used in most situations free of cost to the deaf person in Sweden.

Nevertheless, terps are human which means some are excellent and some might be awful. Expecially if personalities don't match. Some deaf might have poor experiences. A terp might have cheated them in some context or might have been patronizing or maybe spread information about something that happened during an assignment. In general, you become dependent on someone else to speak your message. Of course people prefer to be in control of the communication. I have been interpreting between spoken languages, when my hearing was better, and similar issues arise whenever there is a third party mediating the communication. I trust the terps I have encountered and they do a great job, but I can see why there sometimes arise problems. Besides, in sign language interpretation the parties are very unequal. The Deaf person often needs to communicate with the hearing party, while the hearing party often easily could choose not to communicate with the Deaf person.

 

[Swedeafa]

In a school setting, where there are a lot of kids talking, the terp to some extent needs to decide which conversation to interpret. Imagine how unfair that really is, since a hearing child would have much more freedom in choosing who to listen to. If you experience bad terps and realize how dependent you are on them, that might cause you to hate the interpretation situation as a whole. I hope Deaf in general have good experiences.

 

[DeafNerdMommy]

That makes sense. I am happy you have had good experiences with your teprs. Now that I think about it I do have my husband speak for me, which is more of the blind leading the blind lol, he is hoh also but less so than me.

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[Reba]

In a school setting, where there are a lot of kids talking, the terp to some extent needs to decide which conversation to interpret. Imagine how unfair that really is, since a hearing child would have much more freedom in choosing who to listen to....

In a school setting, the teacher is supposed to be in charge of the classroom. There should not be a lot of kids talking over each other. The students should be speaking one at a time, to the benefit of everyone in the classroom, hearing and deaf.

 

[Swedeafa]

In a school setting, the teacher is supposed to be in charge of the classroom. There should not be a lot of kids talking over each other. The students should be speaking one at a time, to the benefit of everyone in the classroom, hearing and deaf.

It should be, yes, but there will be talking even during well organized classes. Pupils do group work and discuss or research a topic together. Or if the class is ending and pupils start discussing homework or the next lesson while preparing to leave the classroom. Or pupils might be leaving, but someone stays and asks the teacher something loud and clear so that it is easily overhear by the pupils nearby including the Deaf pupil. If the terp has not yet left and it is a little grey area between lesson and break, the Deaf pupil also needs to become somewhat aware of the small talk going on.

 

[Reba]

It should be, yes, but there will be talking even during well organized classes.

That is not a well-organized class.

Pupils do group work and discuss or research a topic together.

Yes, but within the group they still should speak one at time.

Or if the class is ending and pupils start discussing homework or the next lesson while preparing to leave the classroom.

Again, not a well-organized class. The teacher must control the class better.

Or pupils might be leaving, but someone stays and asks the teacher something loud and clear so that it is easily overhear by the pupils nearby including the Deaf pupil.

Then that's just one person speaking, and the terp can handle that.

If the terp has not yet left and it is a little grey area between lesson and break, the Deaf pupil also needs to become somewhat aware of the small talk going on.

Since the terp wouldn't normally be present in the classroom during breaks, that's not the terp's responsibility.

I spent a few years interpreting in classrooms--elementary, middle and high school, and college. In organized classrooms, everyone benefited from orderly discourse. In disorganized classrooms, no one learned much.

 

[Calvin]

I have no problem about terps. Occasionally, I need terps for training or meetings at work. My employer set up terp schedule upon my request.

 

[DeafNerdMommy]

Not every class can be organized or orderly. I went to a low income high school and we were lucky to learn anything from the teacher. Most schools here where I live are that way. So I can see around here how that Is a problem.

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[Jane B.]

It should be, yes, but there will be talking even during well organized classes.

1. Pupils do group work and discuss or research a topic together.

2. Or if the class is ending and pupils start discussing homework or the next lesson while preparing to leave the classroom.

3. Or pupils might be leaving, but someone stays and asks the teacher something loud and clear so that it is easily overhear by the pupils nearby including the Deaf pupil. If the terp has not yet left and it is a little grey area between lesson and break, the Deaf pupil also needs to become somewhat aware of the small talk going on.

That is not a well-organized class.


Yes, but within the group they still should speak one at time.


Again, not a well-organized class. The teacher must control the class better.


Then that's just one person speaking, and the terp can handle that.


Since the terp wouldn't normally be present in the classroom during breaks, that's not the terp's responsibility.

I spent a few years interpreting in classrooms--elementary, middle and high school, and college. In organized classrooms, everyone benefited from orderly discourse. In disorganized classrooms, no one learned much.

I think Swedeafa and Reba are actually referring to different circumstances.

1. I think Swedeafa is thinking the excited exchange where one comment is inspiring another and you get overlap.

2. The class is over and the students are gathering books, etc. and the conversation turns to the homework or the next lesson. So more than one person could be speaking at a time.

3. I think there could easily be a gray area at the end of if it is still part of the class or has break truly started?

 

[dogmom]

just adding in a note based on my school experience in general, specifically in terms of kids talking -
even within a group you may sometimes get more than one student talking at a time <without it being chaotic> - I don't remember any time where the teacher insisted that ONLY one student must talk at one time in the exactly literal sense - yes, we were supposed to be patient and share turns discussing but the reality was that it didn't always happen quite that methodically - and the situation was still organized/under control.

I remember kids talking as they were coming into the class and as they were leaving. There wasn't any rule that stated you -MUST- not interact or speak together once you hit the threshold of the class door. And the class was still organized/under control.

The only time I recall where it was more regimented, where it literally was - one person presents at a time - was in an elective class I took for kids who were either having problems, and/or kids who just were...well, we didn't quite "fit" <and no, this wasn't the informal Special Ed gym class I had > - in that class we had a talking circle. We would sit in a circle and literally one person had the floor - could present something about what they were feeling or whatever topic we were discussing - and others had to be "present" or listening for that person. I believe we may even have had a talking stick or other object.

Yes, there were chaotic times in classes I had <pre-college> with fights and swearing and throwing stuff and security called and all the stuff that happens - and sometimes happens in urban environments - and THAT was chaotic.

But not just a bunch of kids talking. Based on what else I saw, that didn't equal "disorganized"

anyway....my aside, back on track....

 

[Reba]

Not every class can be organized or orderly. I went to a low income high school and we were lucky to learn anything from the teacher. Most schools here where I live are that way. So I can see around here how that Is a problem.

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That's a school problem then, not an interpreter problem.

School administrators need to get a grip. Low income is no excuse for accepting bad behavior.

 

[Reba]

I think Swedeafa and Reba are actually referring to different circumstances.

1. I think Swedeafa is thinking the excited exchange where one comment is inspiring another and you get overlap.

I understood that. Still, the teacher needs to moderate the discourse or else no one gets anything out of it.

2. The class is over and the students are gathering books, etc. and the conversation turns to the homework or the next lesson. So more than one person could be speaking at a time.

Are you saying that the students are talking about the homework or next lesson amongst themselves, or with the teacher? All the students I've observed just want to hustle on out of the room.

3. I think there could easily be a gray area at the end of if it is still part of the class or has break truly started?

Huh? Aren't schools on schedules anymore?

I feel like Alice through the looking glass.

 

[DeafNerdMommy]

Lol anyways I have heard many good things about terps at school, my school had no deaf/asl users so I haven't seen a terp at school.
But I have had a lot of people tell me they never want to use a terp again or that they would rather write it down.
I personally like when others talk for me, like my parents or husband. Many people give my husband dirty looks when he answers for me though lol

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[Swedeafa]

I understood that. Still, the teacher needs to moderate the discourse or else no one gets anything out of it.


Are you saying that the students are talking about the homework or next lesson amongst themselves, or with the teacher? All the students I've observed just want to hustle on out of the room.


Huh? Aren't schools on schedules anymore?

I feel like Alice through the looking glass.

All environments are different so I can see how my example was not good in relation to your experiences. I am used to a relaxed lessons structure, which means there are formal parts in a lesson where no one interrupts the speaker, but there are also informal parts where pupils are activly doing things and many different things are going on at the same time time in the classroom, whiteout the situation being disorganized. There are a lot of ways teaching can be done, and I think the school culture differs between Sweden and US and between different schools.

Nevertheless, I just meant to give an example of where a hearing person can choose what to listen to, but where a terp would need to select what to interpret. I am hard of hearing, and I am used to not hearing conversations unless the listening conditions are good. So I have been positively surprised sometimes when a terp has translated something that was unhearable to me, but not to the people around in informal settings. Hearing people catch a lot just by passively listening. Normally it is neither possible or needed for terps to interpret everything, the focus is on the formal parts or whatever is important at the moment. I have appreciated skilled terps in complex situations, since they made me feel included in a way I normally cannot be.