Training seminar in Brazil: IT and blended learning in interpreter training

The Interpreter Diaries are off to Brazil! I’ve been asked by AIIC Brazil to run a workshop on IT and blended learning for interpreter trainers in the beautiful town of Curitiba on January 29-31, 2016.

This will be the fourth in a series of AIIC Training workshops on new technologies in interpreter training (following on from similar events held in Maputo, Paris and Seoul). The three-day course will be intensely practical, with hands-on sessions taking participants through the creation of their own online materials, guided tours of the virtual interpreting classroom, and more.

I’m told there are still four spots open on the course, so please spread the news to your colleagues in the Americas (note that attendees may be eligible to apply for a bursary to cover travel costs).

I’ll leave you with the blurb from the workshop’s registration page –  and I hope to see you in Brazil!

Photo courtesy of Gualberto107 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

IT is becoming an essential tool for students and trainers in all fields, and interpreter training can benefit enormously from technological developments. Virtual learning, a trend that has taken the world of post-secondary education by storm, can allow both established and up-and-coming interpreting programs to extend their reach while maximizing their use of resources, and enhance the training experience for both students and trainers.

In this hands-on workshop, Michelle Hof will take participants through topics such as:
Best practice in face-to-face and online interpreter training
Practical aspects of the virtual classroom and online learning platforms
Teaching and testing interpreting skills using virtual technology
Effective blended learning approaches
Leveraging online and offline resources in the interpreting classroom

Creating a better classroom experience: Workshop for interpreter trainers in Tenerife

The summer professional development season is swiftly approaching, and it’s my pleasure to announce that my colleagues at the University of La Laguna have decided to offer something new this year. This June, Dick Fleming and I will be running a Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop here on Tenerife as part of the University’s INTTRA training initiative.

The ToT workshop will focus on practical tips and tricks for teaching in both on-site and virtual interpreting classrooms. It will run over the course of three days at the end of June and be held in the sunny southern end of the island (yes, there are plenty of beaches nearby 😉 ).

I’m very excited about this new ToT initiative. The aim is to create a bridge between the more “traditional” forms of classroom-based learning and new approaches in the virtual sphere. We’ll be combining Dick’s years of experience training on-site at the European Commission in Brussels with the lessons I have learned while cutting my teeth over the past few years in the virtual classroom. Together, we’ll examine best practice in both settings and explore how on-site lessons can be adapted for virtual delivery, among other things. Participants will be encouraged to bring along their own questions and case studies for discussion in the group, and will run practical exercises to put ideas into practice. I know from past ToT experiences that great things happen when interpreter trainers come together – and this time as well, I am counting on watching the ideas fly!

To find out more about the workshop and consult the detailed schedule, please check out our infomation page. To reserve your spot, you can either drop us a line at masteric@ull.es or pre-register on the INTTRA workshop page.

Hope to see you in June!

The Rome Papers … or what really happened at that seminar, anyway?

I know, you’ve heard enough of training for trainers already. The thing is, I promised a colleague I would publish the links to the presentations made by Daniel Gile during the training seminar in Rome. So here they are!

In case you didn’t believe what I wrote in my past few posts, or simply didn’t read them because they were too long-winded (I don’t blame you!), here are the original Powerpoints themselves (now publicly available on the CIRIN website) to provide the definitive (or at least official) account of what really went on at that seminar:

Introduction

Main Powerpoint presentation

Conclusion and prospects

Daniel dubbed the provision of these documents his “after-sales service”, which fits in nicely with my theme of old-timer Vespas and Fiats.

Or should I have gone with a pizza theme?

Anyway, I wish you happy reading. I’m on holidays this week, but I will be back soon enough with a new post (on something other than training for trainers, I promise!).