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     Over 190 hours of instruction for all levels from fledglings to nationally certified interpreters with 3.5 CEUs possible. We are awaiting final confirmation from a few presenters regarding their topics.   Interpreters will have approximately seven choices each class period to choose from while ASL students have approximately 12 choices!

     Paula Browning, President of Mississippi RID is joining Dan Parvaz as a new presenter, along with Dr. Karin Lewis from Lexington, Kentucky and Sharon Hurley from North Carolina. Also joining us are two more Deaf presenters:  Rey Vega and Zenaida Astone.  Popular returning presenters include Francisco Olivera, Shannon Simon, Keith Wann, Wink Smith, Trix Bruce, Peter Cook, Crom Saunders, Faith Powell, Bill Ross, Jose Granda, and many others (listed below).

Here is the tentative schedule!

     We are planning a total of FOUR entertainment venues Thusday night and Friday night!  We are also having VOICING and MUSIC workshops and have added two large rooms in addition to the entire 2nd conference floor!

Following are the topics for CEUs – suitable for interpreters and advanced linguistic students.  As presenters submit their abstracts and specific titles, the schedule will show them.  Topics for fledging, beginning, and intermediate ASL students are posted below.

An Overview of Child Cognitive & Language Development (2 hours) by Dr. Karin Lewis
ASL Semantics (2 hours) by Trix Bruce
ASL Whispering (1 hour) by Jose Granda
Become the Surrogate (2 hours) by Keith Wann
Bill Nye Who?  Interpreting Material With Scientific Terminology (2 hours) by Crom Saunders
Birth of a Sign (1 hour) --- a different workshop by Keith Wann and Wink Smith
Birth of a Sign (1 hour) by Keith Wann and Wink Smith
Blockbuster Cinematic ASL (4 hours) by Wink Smith
Broadway Musical (4 hours) by Keith Wann
Comedy Performing (2 hours) by Keith Wann
Credential Maze (1 hour) by Shannon Simon
Earning CEUs (1 hour) by Shannon Simon
English Equivalents (2 hours) by Trix Bruce
Facial Expressions in ASL (2 hour) by Paula Browning
Get a Grip on Fingerspelling (2 hours) by Sharon Hurley
He Said, She Said (2 hours) by Bill Ross
Humanistic Approach to Our Profession (2 hours) by Shannon Simon
Incorporating Expansion Techniques (4 hours) by Bill Ross
Interpreter Guild (4 hours) by Paula Browning
Interpreting the Medical World:  Through The Eyes of a Deaf Doctor and a Medical Interpreter (8 hours) by Mike McKee, MD and Lani Crosby
Interpreting Stand Up Comedy (6 hours) by Francisco Olivera
Islam Interpreting (6 hours) by Dan Parvaz
It's a Process:  ASL to English (2 hours) by Paula Browning
Judaism Interpreting (6 hours) by Dan Parvaz
Legal Vocabulary (2 hours) by Shannon Simon
Like Falling Off a Log (2 hours) by Dr. Karin Lewis
Making Yourself Valuable:  I Heard It, I Said It, but I Don’t Know What It Means (4 hours) by Jon Barr
Multi-Faceted ASL (2 hours) by Faith Powell
Music That’s Seen (2 hours) by Bill Ross
Parameters (2 hours) by Dr. Karen Lewis
Professionalism & Ethical Business Practices:  The RID Code of Ethics in Varying Shades of Black (2 hours) by Dr. Karen Lewis
Receptive Skills Voicing (4 hours) by Bill Ross
Self Care (2 hours)  by Dr. Karin Lewis
Semantic Clusters I (2 hours) by Faith Powell
Semantic Clusters II (2 hours) by Faith Powell
TBA (2 hours)  by Crom Saunders
TBA (2 hours) by Peter Cook
TBA (2 hours) by Peter Cook
TBA (2 hours) by Wink Smith
Voicing (4 hours) by Dr. Karin Lewis
Voicing (4 hours) by Shannon Simon

Topics suitable for intermediates

ABC Stories (1 hour) by Jose Granda
All Spaced Out (2 hours) by Jon Barr
Analyzing ASL (2 hours) by Rey Vega
ASL Extreme Makeover (2 hours) by Trix Bruce
ASL Number Rules and Everyday use (2 hours) by Sharon Hurley
Challenging Classifiers (2 hours) by Jose Granda
Cities, States and Country Signs (2 hours) by Jose Granda
Classifiers:  A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words (2 hours) by Paula Browning
CODA That! (Entertainment) by Keith Wann
Do You See What I See? (2 hours) by Faith Powell
Empty Space (2 hours) by Wink Smith
Entertainment by Francisco Olivera
Entertainment by Peter Cook
Entertainment by Trix Bruce
I Need My Space (2 hours) by Crom Saunders
Music Videos in ASL (2 hours) by Keith Wann
Polish Up Your Fingerspelling (2 hours) by Jose Granda
Semantics in Fingerspelling (2 hours) by Sharon Hurley
Signer vs. Interpreter (1 hour) by Jose Granda
TBA (2 hours) by Francisco Olivera
TBA (2 hours) by Peter Cook
The Eyes Have It (2 hours) by Jon Barr
Understand, Huh? (2 hours) by Rey Vega<>
Visible Words:  The Art of Storytelling With Classifiers (2 hours) by Trix Bruce
What the @#$! Did You Just Sign??? (2 hours) by Crom Saunders


Topics suitable for beginners

ABC Stories (1 hour) by Jose Granda
ASL Grammar (2 hours) by Sharon Hurley
Buffet of ASL (2 hours) by Wink Smith
Children’s Book Storytelling (2 hours) by Keith Wann
CODA That! (Entertainment) by Keith Wann
Entertainment by Francisco Olivera
Entertainment by Peter Cook
Entertainment by Trix Bruce
Fluidity Hands That Speak (2 hours) by Zee Astone
Grammar – How do ASL and English Differ? (2 hours) by Laura Lenes
Making Faces (2 hours) by Crom Saunders
Non Manual Markers (2 hours) by Laura Lenes
Polish Up Fingerspelling (1 hour) by Jose Granda
Signing to Music (2 hours) by Laura Lenes
TBA (2 hours) by Francisco Olivera
TBA (2 hours) by Peter Cook
Time --- Past, Present, Future (2 hours) by Laura Lenes
Trix Upon a Time (2 hours) by Trix Bruce

Topics suiitable for fledgings

Classifiers by Grace Bermudez
CODA That! (entertainment) by Keith Wann
Conversational ASL by Grace Bermudez
Entertainment by Francisco Olivera
Entertainment by Peter Cook
Entertainment by Trix Bruce
Facial Expressions by Grace Bermudez
Grammar by Grace Bermudez
Nouns,by Grace Bermudez
Numbers by Grace Bermudez
Verbs by Grace Bermudez
Vocabulary by Grace Bermudez

      Thursday afternoon will start with with The Interpreter Guild:  Apprentice to Master Crafts(wo)man for 4 hours (1 p.m. to 5 p.m. ) which is free for registered participants by Paula Browning*.  Here is a description:

      In Medieval times, craftsmen joined together in guilds to protect their trade secrets, to ensure the preservation of their crafts, and to train those who desired to learn the crafts from those most experienced.  The metaphor of a guild applies to the field of sign language interpreters: apprentices, journeymen, and master craftsmen are equivalent to ITP graduates, practitioners, and mentors/trainers.
        
This workshop presents a “tool belt” of activities that creates a reference for those who are graduates of ITPs of discover ways to break into the field, to know how to find resources to enhance their life-long learning, and to connect with peers (regardless of skill level) in ways that strengthen performance.  The activities and discussions in this workshop will require participation not only from those “apprentices” but also from working interpreters “journeymen” and those leaders and mentors in the field as “master craftsmen” to create an wholistic approach to professionalism and nurturing excellence from all who call themselves interpreters.  Emphasis on professional standards, communication, teamwork, and sharing knowledge creates a guild environment where the participants take care of their own in a safe environment! 
  

        A highly acclaimed new presenter, Dan Parvaz, will be presenting two exciting topics covering Judaism and Islam for six hour each!

Dan Parvaz is an Iranian-American born in the United States, and raised in Iran for much of his childhood. Fluent in Persian and Arabic, he worked full-time as an ASL/English interpreter for about 15 years before taking up employment as a linguist advising the Federal Government, where his linguistic and cultural knowledge is called upon in developing new language technologies used by military and law enforcement agencies. He has a MA in linguistics from the University of New Mexico (emphasis in signed languages), and hopes to complete his PhD some time before his 70th birthday. He served as an Interrogator of Prisoners of War during the Gulf conflict of 1991. He lives in Celebration, FL in order to live near his two teenage daughters, thus ensuring that they give him as many grey hairs as possible

As for the Islam track's description:  When interpreting about current events, we increasingly hear about concepts related to the Muslim world. Do words like fatwa, jihad, zakat, Shi'a, Sunni, Allah, Qur'an bring you up short in mid-process, wondering how to accurately and ethically interpret these ideas to your diverse clientèle? For that matter, what is a Muslim? If asked to interpret in a Mosque, would you know how to behave? This 6 hour workshop by a linguist and interpreter of Middle Eastern heritage will give you the confidence and background needed to handle basic concepts of the second largest religion in the world. Small group problem solving will be emphasized as a way to arrive at a "survival kit" of usable signs and techniques which can be used to effectively convey these concepts to our consumers.

      Thanks to yoru comments the past 32 Silent Weekends, we are planning FOUR entertainment venues, several early bird and night owl offerings allowing interpreters to earn up to 3.5 CEUs while providing fledging, beginning, intermediate and advanced signers many workshops in a family friendly atmosphere.

       Thursday night will have three additional hours of workshops offering CEUs running concurrently with the two entertainment venues (for all levels) allowing interpreters to earn the maximum CEUs possible.

      Friday will have an early bird workshop offering CEUs with the main workshops between 8 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. allowing you approximately 12 CHOICES each class period.  Friday night will have two separate entertainment venues (last year, it was just one) with additional workshops offering CEUs running concurrently.

       Saturday will also have an early bird workshop offering CEUs with the main workshops between 8 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. alloiwng you approximately 12 CHOICES each class period.  The Medical interpreting track by a Deaf medical doctor (Mike McKee) and his Medical School interpreter Lani Crosby will be offered for eight hours on Saturday. 

       Sunday will have FOUR hours (last year, it was 3 hours) of concurrent workshops, both religious and secular offering CEUs.

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* Paula Browning has been interpreting nearly 40 years.  She has previously interpreted in such venues as Salk Institute in San Diego, Deaf West Theatre, various community colleges and universities, as well as conferences such as RID Region IV, SERID, CAL-Ed, ADARA, and Alabama Interpreter Metamorphosis (AIM).

   While currently work in the video relay field, Paula also has experience in education, community, conference and platform, mental health, legal, medical, and theatrical settings.   She also taught ASL classes at the community college and high school level; conducted workshops in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi; and has been a mentor in California, Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi as well as having been a mentor in the Video Outreach Mentorship Program sponsored by PEPNet’s WROCC.

    Paula moved to Mississippi in December of 2003.  She is currently president of the Mississippi affiliate chapter of RID, secretary of the Mississippi Interpreter Registration Law advisory board, editor of the MAD newsletter, and member of the RID Historian committee.  Her passions are in ASL and bilingualism, Deaf culture, Deafhood, and history.


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