Kangan Batman TAFE

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Auslan Staff Profiles

Julian Hertan - Centre Co-ordinator

Julian commenced work at Richmond TAFE in 1988, the same year the college started an Interpreting course. A qualified Welfare Worker, he started working with Deaf people as a Residential Worker for the Victorian Deaf Society, later moving into Head Office in East Melbourne as a Community Worker. After four years at the Victorian Deaf Society (Vicdeaf), Julian achieved NAATI para-professional accreditation.

In 1988 Julian left the VDS to train other interpreters at Richmond College of TAFE whilst studying for his Diploma of Teaching at the University of Melbourne. After 12 years, he has shared in the transition of four institute name changes and the development of the Certificates in Auslan and Diploma of Auslan.

Julian co-ordinates the Auslan & Deaf Studies Centre and teaches various modules including Deaf History, Psychology of Deafness, Audiology, Welfare as a Profession and general Communication modules.

Industry Involvement:

Melissa Anderson - Teacher

Qualifications:

Melissa has been working with the Centre since 1992, where she commenced teaching at what was then, Richmond College of TAFE. She teaches many modules such as Auslan, Consolidation of Auslan Language skills, Deaf Culture and various electives.

Melissa loves teaching Auslan and thoroughly enjoys working with students, keenly watching their progress and ultimately achieving success through their course studies. The highlight of Melissa's work at the Auslan and Deaf Studies Centre is to see so many past students working within the Deaf community in many different careers. This always makes her very proud.

Industry Involvement:

Melissa actively participates in various sports within the Deaf Community, travelling the world to play in, coach and manage Deaf teams. She is a past President of Deaf Netball Australia. A dedicated teacher, Melissa also trains interpreters studying the Diploma of Interpreting (Auslan) at RMIT.

Anne Bremner - Teacher

Qualifications:

Anne commenced working full-time with the Centre in 1993 and arrived with a wealth of experience. She now works part-time and teaches Auslan, Linguistics (Basic Structures of Auslan 1 & 2) and Deaf Culture & Community.

The study of language and linguistics are Anne's passions and as such she takes great delight in researching and teaching these subjects. The other half of Anne's working life takes place at La Trobe University where she lectures whilst simultaneously completing her PhD research.

Industry Involvement:

Anne has a long and proud history of service within the Deaf Community and is a highly regarded leader by its members. For several years, Anne worked for Deaf Sports Australia and soon after leaving their employment became President of that body. Her love of sport led Anne to be involved in many Deaf sporting associations as player, coach and board member culminating in her position as Chairperson for the Deaflympics Bidding Committee whose successful bid brought the 2005 Deaflympic Games to Melbourne.

Anne has also been a board member and held the office of Vice President of the Victorian Deaf Society. Her knowledge and experience have made Anne a popular speaker at community events locally, interstate and on occasion, overseas.

Christopher Dunn - Teacher

Qualifications:

Memberships:

Christopher Dunn has been teaching Auslan with the Centre since 1990 however he previously taught for several years at Methodist Ladies College, Victorian Services for Deaf Children (now Deaf Children Australia), La Trobe University, Deakin University, Melbourne University and some community centres. He has also conducted workshops in Sydney, Tasmania, and rural Victoria, e.g. Horsham and Wodonga.

Christopher trained interpreters studying the Diploma of Interpreting (Auslan) at RMIT for 10 years until recently resigning. At Kangan Batman TAFE, he teaches a number of modules including Auslan, Deaf Theatre, International Signs, Narrative Discourse, Fingerspelling & Numbers.

Christopher's speciality is Classifiers and he always encourages students to use more Classifiers in their Auslan presentations when describing concepts in a story. He always enjoys teaching and watching the students as they progress. He feels great delight when considering the many past students who have become successful interpreters, teachers of the Deaf, community workers, and who now work within the Deaf community.

Industry Involvement:

Christopher is heavily involved with the Deafblind group, mostly those Deaf with Usher Syndrome. He is a skilled relay interpreter who has, for a long time, supported Deafblind at a variety of indoor and outdoor activities, including social events, meetings, and visiting interesting places.

Sandra Leane - Teacher/Curriculum Officer

Present position: Teacher, Curriculum Officer

Qualifications:

Sandra has been co-ordinating resource projects for the Auslan curriculum for a number of years and last worked on the re-accreditation of the Diploma of Auslan curriculum. With the new Diploma in place, Sandra is happy to be back in the classroom and is enjoying the challenge of teaching two of the new modules, Language and Terminology, and Semantics & Sociolinguistics of Auslan. Other favourite subjects are Introduction to Interpreting and Orientation to Interpreting, which are directly related to Sandra's expertise in the interpreting field. She is currently Vice President of the Australian Sign Language Interpreters Association of Victoria (ASLIA - Vic).

Christine Thomas - Teacher

Qualifications:

Christine teaches a variety of subjects such as vocabulary training, Deaf Culture, Deaf History, Fingerspelling and basic Consolidation of Auslan Language Skills.

Her past involvement as President of the Victorian Deaf Angling Club, and the Kangan Batman TAFE representative on the Deafness Foundation's Victorian Sub-Committee (Education), provides an enriched perspective of the Deaf community's needs.

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