Project Events
June 2005 to October 2006: How it all started
- June 2005: Pirkko visits Jens.
- September 2005: Jens visits Pirkko.
- September and October 2005: Pirkko, Graham and Jens send a few mails to each other.
- February 2006: At last, Jens sits down and writes a grant application. Pirkko and Graham mail some comments.
- March 1, 2006 (deadline!): Jens sends off application to Brussels.
- Aug 18, 2006: The EU-Agency EACEA is pleased to inform us ‘that your proposal has been selected for a community co-financing.’
- September 21, 2006: A mail by the EACEA project manager specifies the ‘total eligible cost of the project.’
- Oct 23, 2006: The Grant agreement is signed by EACEA.
November 10 to 12, 2006: First project workshop in Edinburgh
Nevermind the Scottish rain, the kick-off meeting went very well! We discussed the overall structure of the programm, contents as well as teaching methods, responsibilities (who does what?), budget matters (oh dear!), dissemination issues, etc. International communication was practised very convincingly by interpreting from English into BSL (Caroline Bickerton, Brigitte François, Jo Ross) and from BSL into International Sign (Robert Adam, Ramon Woolf) and vice versa. Thank you very much, Brigitte, Caroline, Jo, Robert, and Ramon! Catherine King of Heriot-Watt’s Languages and Intercultural Studies Unit gave valuable input AND took a large chunk of the minutes. Not much time to get away from the Heriot-Watt campus, but we did manage an evening meal at Howie’s!
January 23, 2007: Co-ordinators’ Meeting in Brussels
Jens went to Brussels to meet the coordinators of other ERASMUS Curriculum Development Projects. The meeting had little to do with sign language and deafness but was interesting in providing insights into the workings of EU funding schemes, seeing EU spoken language interpreters at work and listening to the queries and suggestions of some 40 Curriculum Development projects (for a list of these projects check out http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/... --> „Selection 2006“). Jens came home with a whole lot of nice Belgian chocolates.
March 28 to April 1, 2007: Second project workshop in Helsinki
Another intense and productive meeting! We discussed the results of work done on a number of modules, revised the overall structure of the programme, agreed on dates and deadlines and puzzled over questions concerning student requirements, costs, evaluation, etc. Toni Sinisalo introduced us to the secrets of Humak Pro, the web platform that forms the organisatory backbone of Humak University. Eeva-Liisa Antikainen, Humak’s Rector, gave an interesting presentation, setting EUMASLI in the wider context of Finnish university education. Again, international communication was a pleasure with Virpi Thuren and Lea Tuomaala interpreting between English and FSL and Markus Aro, Dawn-Jani Birley and Katja Merentie interpreting between FSL and International Sign. Three Humak students, Milla Hietaharju, Anna-Kaisa Gaudio and Aino Tynkynnen shared the arduous task of taking the meeting’s minutes. Cosy Martta Hotelli was located conveniently opposite from Humak’s Helsinki premises. Though we did not see it all too often, the sun was shining nicely. A highpoint of the meeting was the visit to Kynsilaukka, the garlic restaurant!
July 13 to 15, 2007: WASLI 2007 conference in Segovia, Spain
Though the organisers of the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters' conference had chosen not to include us in their programme of presentations, we sent Katja to represent the EUMASLI project. Katja contacted a number of people interested in our project and was generally impressed by the level of International Sign interpretation. She went on to have fun at the World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf in Madrid a few days later!
July 25 to 29, 2007: Jens visits Graham in Edinburgh
Work on the modules had progressed nicely, but there were still a number of things to be wrapped up before the programme handbook could be presented to the evaluators. Seeing that Finnish summer holidays went on indeterminedly, Jens decided to visit Graham. We spent some very effective days in Graham’s Heriot-Watt office, while our sons Tilman and Jacob were roaming the city. All of us saw Harry Potter V together, and Tilman and Jens climbed Arthur’s Seat!
August 2007: First round of evaluations
Not so easy to send off the programme handbook after a thunderstorm had cut off telephone lines in the area were Jens was spending his summer holidays! Eventually however, our evaluators received the handbook, and they did all very well to meet a September deadline and provide us with interesting feedback!
September 12 to 16, 2007: Third project workshop in Zurich and project presentation at the EFSLI conference
The EFSLI conference had persuaded us to deviate from the workplan and meet in Zurich instead of Magdeburg. We were lucky to have Tobias Haug (and Patty Shores, who was ill unfortunately when we got there!) of the Swiss sign language interpreting training organizing rooms, meals, equipment, etc., for us and met in the amazing building of the local Hochschule für Heilpädagogik (http://www.hfh.ch). We thoroughly discussed the evaluators’ comments and suggestions, completing phase 1 (‘planning’) of the project and looking towards phase 2 (‘production’). We pondered on various aspects of implementing the programme, fully realizing that there is yet a lot to do and work out with our universities. Since (unfortunately!) it so happened that Katja was the only Deaf member of the project team attending the workshop, interpreting was done between English and DGS. Sabine Gossner and Oya Ataman did a terrific job, thank you very much! Milla Hietaharju and Christiane Otto, students in Helsinki and Magdeburg, respectively, had come all the way to Zurich to attend the meeting and take the minutes! We had an exchange of ideas with Tobias Haug and met Benno Caramore, the former head of the Zurich interpreting training, as well as Penny Boyes Braem, the Swiss based American sign language researcher. This time the culinary highpoint was the ‘Oepfelchammer’ (‘Apple Chamber‘), a traditional restaurant in downtown Zurich.
Some of us stayed on for the EFSLI conference, enjoying various presentations and workshops and meeting interpreters from all over Europe. We did quite well in the milking competition at the EFSLI Swiss evening, and Graham and Jens, joined by German interpreter Elvira Vega Lechermann and Scottish interpreter Ann Davis, excelled on the alphorn (if you can bear it, watch the video!). Those conference participants who chose not to attend a presentation on ‘The Impact of Positive Appearance’ on Sunday morning (i.e. the majority!), witnessed Jens, Graham, Outi, Katja and Sandra make a positive appearance and present the EUMASLI project (ppt-presentation). There was a lively discussion, and it was our impression that the programme met with great interest!
January 23, 2008: Coordinators’ Meeting in Brussels
Jens went to another EU project coordinators’ meeting at the Centre Albert Borschette in Brussels. The second day of the meeting afforded a welcome opportunity for networking in smaller working groups and discussing problems of recognition that most of the projects seem to face. Quite obviously, there are still many borders and barriers to overcome in Europe! A truly joint European programme with a joint degree seems a rare thing to achieve!
February, March and June 2008: Various video conferences between Magdeburg, Edinburgh, Helsinki and Kuopio
Modules and regulations were discussed in a number of video conferences. The technical staff at our universities seemed happy to provide services that do not seem to be used very often, though this is a great way of crossing borders at low costs! It was good to see our colleagues, if only on a tv screen!
April 10 to 12, 2008: Fourth project workshop in Magdeburg
At last, everyone met in Magdeburg. We had reasons to celebrate: The Finnish government had recognized the EUMASLI programme only shortly before the meeting! The Finnish and British guests saw the Hochschule, the cathedral and some bars and restaurants, but we did manage to go through a long list of things to do, too! Katja, Ulla and Gary concentrated on discussing issues of sign language and Deaf communities. Svenja, Sandra, Marjukka and Eeva worked on the interpreting modules. Pirkko, Jens and Graham had no choice but clarify some thorny issues concerning the study and examination regulations, before going on to discussing contents and methods of the research modules. Work in groups and plenary meetings was supported by Sabine Gossner and Lissa Zeviar, interpreting between English and International Sign, and Sandra Wolfien and Sarah Maas, who took the minutes. Thank you all for doing a great job! Importantly, at the end of the meeting we agreed on a schedule for the start of the programme!
July 29 to August 3, 2008: Jens visits Graham in Edinburgh, yet again
Wrapping up things in preparation for the start of the programme provided another opportunity for Tilman to see Jacob, while their fathers worried about research modules and negotiated study regulations with a number of representatives from Heriot-Watt University. There was a welcome chance to discuss sign language work with Gary and see Svenja for lunch. Apart from work, we happened to stumble across rehearsals for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo and enjoyed an additional day at the Edinburgh festival!
August 26, 2008: Graham, Svenja, Sandra and Jens meet at the AILA conference in Essen, Germany
Not exactly a EUMASLI event, but an opportunity to meet and discuss questions of sign language interpreting: Svenja, Sandra and Jens gave presentations at a symposium (“Translation, interpreting and sign language: Renewals and re-alignments”) organized by Graham together with Nadja Grbic (Graz) at AILA 2008, the World Congress of Applied Linguistics. It was a small but select event that involved Miriam Shlesinger, well-known translation and interpreting studies specialist from Israel, as a discussant.
October 31 and November 1, 2008: Fifth project workshop in Edinburgh
All work and no time to leave the Heriot-Watt University campus at this short but intensive meeting where we discussed the outcomes of the selection procedure, debated questions of e-learning with Nicole Cargill-Kipar, worked on module contents and settled some remaining points of the examination and study regulations. Lissa and Brigitte were not new to the EUMASLI project and interpreted smoothly and reliably as ever. Clearly, it is getting serious now, and we are very much looking forward to what looks like a most interesting set of participants with diverse backgrounds and experiences who will start the programme in January and contribute to a challenging experience for us all! Meanwhile, it was Halloween, and we felt like real Muggles in the midst of all the witches, magicians, elves and gnomes that populated the Heriot-Watt campus.
