The short answer is no, participants cannot miss Friday night and then begin their seminar experience on Saturday morning. Friday night of Foundations Framework A begins with orientation for the weekend and an introduction to the Integrated Model of Interpreting (IMI) and the seminar pedagogy. The seminar then moves right into activities, which will be built upon throughout most of the day on Saturday. If someone were to miss the set up on Friday night, they would be unable to participate the following day. We would encourage anyone who is unable to resolve their schedule conflict to join us for another seminar on another weekend.
The longer answer...
Given the educational context of the professional interpreter in the US, many interpreters are perplexed at Foundations before they take it. The 3-day/2-night schedule, and the fact that many people report returning to Foundations Framework A (or Framework B, or Tools A, etc.) time and time again can seem strange. The design of Foundations has been heavily influenced by the educational pedagogy of Lev Vygotsky, who emphasized the social context of learning and the need to externally process (initially in dialogue with another person, and eventually with one’s own higher cognition) in order to move forward in understanding. While Foundations began with Vygotsky, its design has been borne out by experience. In Foundations Framework A, we start with introductions and then a dialogue-activity about interpreting. During this dialogue, individuals explore their own beliefs and operating assumptions in a group context. Participants also begin to practice using non-evaluative language and reflective listening, modeled by the presenter and assistants. Then we start working right away with texts. Participants explore these texts, and they are given activities to try and depict and articulate their understanding with others in small and in large groups. The activities prove new and difficult for many participants. Overnight, they have time and sleep to integrate whatever learning has happened during the day, and new questions might arise. The next day, we continue to work with the same text content as the night before, but in a different way, and in a different group arrangement. By midday, participants have had 6 hours of practice working with various texts and scenarios using this pedagogy, and they have been working together during this time. After midday Saturday, 7.5 hours of seminar time remain – for working, and dialoguing, and integrating (and sleeping), and questioning. By Sunday, we see many shifts in participants’ thoughts and beliefs, as well as in their understanding of the content, the seminar pedagogy, and, sometimes, the practice of interpreting itself.
If a participant were not able to join Foundations Framework A by the time text-based activities were to begin on Friday night, they would not be set up for success. They would miss orientation to this pedagogical model, as well as the initial group work, and if nothing else, they would miss the text material that forms the foundation of the first of many hours of work. Late participants would not be able to contribute to group work on Saturday morning, which would be detrimental both to themselves as well as to members of their groups, all of whom have particular roles in the activities. Many participants in this situation would feel lost, or frustrated, or left-behind; or like their time or money were being wasted, and none of those feelings are conducive to learning. The transformational potential of Foundations hinges on creating a space where dialogue is non-evaluative, and on the group activities and dialogue. It would be irresponsible and counterproductive to jeopardize the learning environment, both for the late-arriving individual and for the group.