Fresh from the 1 st Skills Enhancement Seminar for Certified SL Interpreters, RIDE had finally embarked on its mission and vision to produce highly qualified SL Interpreters in the country. Were you one of those who had apprehensions after you receive your Certificate as Certified Sign language Interpreter? Worry not because RIDE does not stop to give continued services to its graduates. In fact, RIDE had been very busy lately with a lot of commitments with the different Deaf Agencies who need Interpreting Services. These activities gave exposures and skills training to better improve the competency of its pool of Certified SL Interpreters.
Conference Topics include: Settings for Interpretation ( Educational, Medical, Mental Health and Legal Settings); Interpreter’s Skills and Competencies; Filipino Sign Language (FSL), Sign-to-Voice & Voice-to-Sign Interpreting; Be Natural: A Glimpse of Meaning- Based Signing. The Facilitators, composed of very competent and experienced deaf advocates include Alfredo Celada Jr, RIDE CEO; Michael S. Potian, Ma. Teresa Buenaventura, Joy Cristal and Lily Pardo. It was always a different experience to be a part of this team. All the participants benefited a lot from these seminar workshops.
The seminar was designed to give continued exposure in Sign Language Interpreting. As the seminar progressed, it had given us the participants a deeper sense of commitment to become true advocates of the deaf community. Our understanding of the Deaf Culture also widened. It had given us the opportunity to understand better, a person with hearing impairment.
Apart from the rigorous trainings and workshops, of course we enjoyed the camaraderie arising from the group. With the “pasaways” like Emelie, Irene, Bubby, Nemz and Cris in the group, there was never a dull moment. Well, we all had pieces of entertainment, laughter, and angelic moments especially when Lily Pardo was the facilitator. Somewhat, we were tamed at some point, but still we were able to get away from her strictness by laughing it off after the session. WE love you Lily. We indeed learned a lot not only from you but from all our facilitators.
For those of you who have missed this seminar workshop, worry not because, it will still be offered in the near future. Do not miss the chance of attending this workshop because it will definitely change your perspective about being a Committed Sign Language Interpreter and as a person serving the Deaf Community. As Miss Tess Buenaventura and Joy Cristal said, it took them more than a decade to have finally understood the deaf. They did it by being committed and dedicated to their mission and vocation of serving the deaf. Kudos to all of you for enlightening us and for opening our eyes to the deaf World.
As part of its culminating event, the participants did a mini concert to showcase their talents in the performing arts during the Culminating Program last September 11, 2004 at Angels Institute of Learning. Ride is not only known for its competent and dedicated SL interpreters, but also as great performing artists. Once again. Congratulations RIDE for this worthy endeavor. Expect more in the future.