Main points in the teaching approach
- Many learning techniques come from the future professional life of the graduate translator
The teaching methods employed on the programme for the Master’s in Interpreting have been designed with the perspective of the graduate’s future professional life firmly in mind : a balanced mix of theory and practice, active learning in a central position, with an important place reserved for the development of professional skills.
The choice of teaching methods puts an emphasis on learning activities which focus on the expectations and requirements of the profession, to the extent of putting the students in a professional situation, in particular:
- classes (in the last year of the Master’s) given by professional interpreters whose starting point in their teaching is their daily practice ;
- class-seminars in small groups allowing real interaction with the lecturer;
- collaboration with large international institutions (EU, EUROCONTROL, NATO, Council of Europe etc.): visits to their interpreting departments and work placements in a dummy booth ;
- themed modules designed to help students and lecturers, given several times a year by professional interpreters from the European Commission ;
- simulations of multilingual conferences to replicate real working conditions ; open mike experience in a professional setting for various organisations at conferences, regular events etc. ; these sessions are carefully chosen to respect best professional practice and are supervised by lecturers.
In this way, many programme modules and activity enable students to gain knowledge and develop the necessary skills to work as an interpreter.
The dissertation provides students with the opportunity to develop and make use of a rigorous academic and methodological procedure which will make them into a university level interpreter, capable of building and enriching their professional practice through theoretical input and a reflective approach.
Students can benefit from up to date IT systems as well as classrooms with simultaneous interpretation booths which are also available outside class time enabling students to practice amongst themselves.
- A variety of teaching strategies and learning methods
There is a variety of teaching methods relating to the different skills to be developed: formal lectures, exercise sessions, individual assignments, seminars, simulations of professional situations and work placements.
This variety of situations helps students to build their knowledge and develop their skills on an iterative basis whilst also developing independence, a sense of organisation and timekeeping and communication skills in different forms.