Alia Jimenez

I'm a first year interpreting student at SWCD! I love to learn about all sorts of things and I have a great interest in crafts, art, and computers!

Lauri Metcalf
Spoken English Reflection (cc wip)Oct 20th & 21st
For this workshop, we went over the Code of Professional Conduct, discussed each of the seven tenants, then applied that knowledge in hypothetical ethical situations. This was my first workshop that was entirely in ASL, which was a bit nerve-wracking for me! I understood what I think is a decent amount when Jeff and Teresa were presenting, but I struggled understanding the discussions. I think it had to do with the angles and not being able to see their face clearly. Other than that, I really did appreciate everyone's insight, especially Jeff's because of his perspective as a Deaf person and a seasoned interpreter. I'm excited to learn more about the ethics of interpreting, since there are so many different ways to approach things, and how aware I need to be because of my hearing privilege.Nov 10th & 11th
This workshop focused on professional development. On the 10th, we all focused on receptive and expressive fingerspelling by having different individuals fingerspell sentences from a slip of paper. We were also taught arm stretches and were given an informational passage on Helen Keller. On Saturday, we were broken up into groups. While others focused on developing their interpreting skills, I focused on language acquisition with Teresa through the ASL Skills Development workbook. I realized that my receptive skills are better than I give myself credit for, and my efficiency increases with my confidence. It does take me longer than others to understand what is being said in the monologues, but I know I can understand a good amount if I use my context clues and take the time to pick apart each individual sign. I still struggle with my expressive skills, but this is mostly due to fear of making mistakes, although I have been reassured multiple times is okay. I look forward to going to more workshops to pick up even more language and eventually having the confidence to express myself as well.