Schedule of Events

Speaker Bios (Coming Soon)

SDS 1

Pre-Conference Session- Translation Style Guides and Glossaries: Making Everybody's Lives Easier 
Dr. Laurence Jay-Rayon Ibrahim Aibo 

This training, led in English, is designed for translators and language access coordinators working in school settings. Participants with any language combination are welcome. Translation style guides reduce time spent on translation projects, increase consistency across materials, and enhance translation quality, leading to better communication with limited- English-proficient families. Based on the analysis of existing translation style guides, this workshop is an introduction to building institutional translation style guides and walks participants through the various sections of a style guide, such as translation conventions for place names, addresses, dates, times, numbers, acronyms, and glossaries of preferred terms. The workshop includes practical activities done in small groups, and participants will take home reference materials for further exploration.

SDS 2

Carola Lehmacher 

Simultaneous interpreters provide a service that is mentally taxing and requires constant upkeep. Aside from specific research and preparation, interpreters must regularly practice their simultaneous interpreting techniques to maintain and improve the quality of their renditions. Reflective practice is a common technique used to enhance any interpreting skills, however, a rubric to evaluate our own performance and a path towards improving deficiencies is essential to level up one's interpreting. This session will apply deliberate practice principles to enhancing simultaneous interpreting skills and provide a rubric and skill enhancement exercise suggestions.

SDS 3

Giovanna Carriero-Contreras 

Educational interpreters work within complex school systems where decisions affect student access, family engagement, and educational equity. Teaching ethics in this context requires more than reviewing a code; it demands analytical skills and professional judgment to manage real dilemmas. This session examines the AAITE National Codes of Ethics for Interpreters in Education and their practical application in schools. Participants will compare educational standards with the newly announced medical interpreter code, identify shared principles, and analyze sector-specific differences. Through structured case studies from IEPs and school meetings, participants will practice applying a clear, actionable ethical decision-making framework.

Breakout Session 1

Mireya Pérez

This session helps administrators understand the legal framework for language access in educational settings and how it applies in practice. Using examples from U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights and U.S. Department of Justice cases, participants will examine findings of noncompliance, resulting resolutions, and how gaps in implementation can create risk for schools and districts.

Breakout Session 2

Lea Reyes

In an era that calls for resilience and purpose, reflective practice is essential to sustaining excellence in educational interpreting. This session introduces an Educational Interpreter Self-Evaluation Rubric designed to promote professional growth, reinforce standards, and support continuous improvement. Grounded in field-based implementation, the rubric serves as a reflective tool, not an evaluative measure, to help interpreters identify strengths, refine decision-making, and align practice with ethical and professional expectations. Participants will explore how structured self-reflection strengthens service quality, builds professional confidence, and contributes to equitable language access. Attendees will leave with practical strategies to integrate reflective tools into daily interpreting practice.

Breakout Session 3

Gabriela Espinoza Siebach

One of the most common error types in consecutive interpreting is omissions, and the culprit is usually that the idea was not fully processed or was forgotten. One technique to improve message recall and accuracy is note-taking. Note-taking equips interpreters with essential skills to capture and organize information effectively during consecutive interpretation. This hands-on introductory presentation focuses on developing concise and accurate notetaking techniques, enhancing memory retention, and honing the ability to produce high-quality interpretations. Elevate your interpreting proficiency through strategic note-taking mastery.

Breakout Session 4

Kelly (Grzech) Henriquez

How does what we believe about language impact how we interpret it? This workshop will examine common linguistic myths as vehicles for exploring the contrasting concepts of linguistic prescriptivism and linguistic descriptivism. We’ll explore why we might believe what we believe about language, who stands to benefit from these beliefs, and the impact of these beliefs on our interpretations. Participants will walk away with an action plan for their own professional development using what they’ve learned from the workshop.

 Breakout Session 5 

Language Access Plans and Policies in Practice

Mireya Pérez

This session examines how language access plans and policies are implemented at both the district and school level. Strong policies provide the structure for accountability, consistency, and compliance, but their impact depends on how they are carried out in practice. Participants will explore what effective systems look like, where gaps occur, and how implementation influences quality, consistency, and cost. Language access is not the responsibility of one department. It is embedded in the daily operations of a school system and requires coordination across roles to function effectively.

Session Descriptions

Breakout Session 6

Carolin Menéndez

When ChatGPT launched in late 2022, the interpreting industry faced another wave of technological disruption. However, leveraging lessons from machine translation, stakeholders acted swiftly. The SAFE AI Task Force, with 600 volunteers across 11 groups, developed frameworks for responsible AI integration. This session explores findings from three major studies on AI’s utility, safety, and adoption in interpreting. Discover key insights from the 2024 SAFE-AI Guidance, including ethical considerations, regulatory gaps, and industry-wide initiatives to establish guardrails. Leave with practical strategies to navigate AI’s opportunities and risks while upholding professional standards and shaping the future of interpreting.

Breakout Session 7

Nora Díaz

NotebookLM offers interpreters a new way to organize knowledge, prepare for assignments, and create customized practice materials. This session introduces NotebookLM through an interpreter-centered lens, focusing on educational settings. Participants will learn how to use it to ground preparation in trusted sources, generate study questions, build glossaries, and create realistic practice scenarios.

Breakout Session 8

Agustín de la Mora

Sight and simultaneous interpretation are closely connected skills, and this session explores how mastery of one can elevate the other. Tailored for education interpreters, this session will go through techniques to build stronger processing skills, smoother delivery, and greater consistency across both modes. Participants will learn how to improve sight translation through reading for content and effective chunking, and how to enhance simultaneous interpretation using shadowing and targeted practice exercises. By understanding the relationship between these two modes, interpreters will walk away with practical strategies to increase efficiency, confidence, and overall performance in real classrooms and other educational settings.

Breakout Session 9

Ashley Jones-Lewis

When a client requests that a copyrighted material be translated, the translator needs to know what to do. My team and I have developed a workflow to respond to materials with a copyright to ensure we respect authors' rights and comply with copyright law. This presentation will empower you to make decisions confidently about copyrighted materials, and not shy away from translation opportunities because of their copyright status.

Breakout Session 10

Dr. Bill Rivers

This presentation will inform and engage the AAITE audience with up-to-date information on the legal status of language access in education at the national and state level, after the first year of the Trump administration. Dr. Bill Rivers, Chair of the National Coalition for Language Access, will lead participants through the current legal landscape, providing clear, actionable information regarding the civil rights requirements for language access. and will then engage participants in hands on advocacy for language access.

Breakout Session 11

Gabriela Espinoza Siebach

One of the most common error types in consecutive interpreting is omissions, and the culprit is usually that the idea was not fully processed or was forgotten. One technique to improve message recall and accuracy is note-taking. Note-taking equips interpreters with essential skills to capture and organize information effectively during consecutive interpretation. This hands-on introductory presentation focuses on developing concise and accurate notetaking techniques, enhancing memory retention, and honing the ability to produce high-quality interpretations. Elevate your interpreting proficiency through strategic note-taking mastery.

Breakout Session 12

Katharine Allen and Giovanna Carriero-Contreras

Breakout Session 13

Kelly (Grzech) Henriquez

The diagnostician asks you not to interpret something. The parent is speaking too quickly. A school administrator doesn't pause to allow you to interpret. You interject with important reminders but no one seems to listen. If any of this sounds familiar, this workshop is for you! We'll come together to explore the benefits of scripting our interjections and optimizing them for success. Whether you're a novice or an experienced interpreter, this session is aimed at empowering you to feel more confident and in control of interpreted encounters.

Breakout Session 14

Eliane Sfeir-Markus

In an era shaped by artificial intelligence, shifting language access policies, and increasing performance expectations, educational interpreters must draw on more than technical skill to succeed. Resilience is the key in supporting interpreters as they manage cognitive load, emotional demands, role boundaries, and the pressure to adapt to rapidly evolving tools and environments. This session examines resilience through the specific lens of educational interpreting. Participants will gain practical strategies to maintain accuracy, ethical decision-making, and professional presence while navigating uncertainty and change. The session will provide actionable techniques for stress management, mental stamina, emotional regulation, and sustainable self-care.

Breakout Session 15

Stephanie Sanyour

AI is rapidly changing the way we communicate across languages. In this session, we’ll explore how interpreters, translators, and language access professionals can make AI their ally — not their replacement. You’ll discover practical tools, strategies, and guardrails for using AI to enhance accuracy, save time, and strengthen multilingual communication.

Breakout Session 16

Amairiany Amador

Educational access often begins during developmental and autism evaluations, where diagnoses and recommendations shape future school services. Interpreters working across clinical and educational settings must navigate complex terminology, cultural perceptions of disability, and emotionally charged conversations that influence IEPs, 504 plans, and school supports. Drawing from experience in both IEP meetings and clinical evaluations, this session explores terminology challenges, common family misunderstandings, and the interpreter’s role in supporting clarity across systems. Participants will gain practical strategies for preparation, terminology management, and facilitating accurate communication that supports equitable access to educational services.

Breakout Session 17

Omari Jeremiah

Across the United States, there is a growing demand for trained community interpreters. At the same time, there is also a growing demand for workforce development opportunities for high school students, particularly for immigrant youth and/or English language learners. Delivering community interpreter training to multilingual high school students provides a strong and sustainable solution to both of these national demands. In this workshop, you will learn how your school/district can provide professional interpreter training to your high school students.