Learning that LASTS

L = Learner Centered
A = Action with Reflection
S = Solving problems
T = Teamwork
S = Self discovery and self direction

The LtL workshop is an intensive course for people who want to improve their teaching skills for adult learners of various cultures, learning styles, experiences, and educational backgrounds. It is based on the work of teachers such as Jane Vella, Roland Walker, Paulo Freire, Malcolm Knowles and Kurt Lewin.

May 22 - 26 was an awesome week for us at BRTC as we successfully went through another learning that LASTS event. LtL is one of my favourite workshops because everyone who takes it goes back knowing very well that something is going to change in the way they teach.

At learning that LASTS, every participant always come alive at the end of workshop and appreciate their being at the workshop. At the start we always have their expectations posted and by the end, most if not all those expectations are usually met.

LtL = Dialogue Education = Adult Education and it means change

For me personally, it was particularly helpful because at the end, I was certified as a LtL lead trainer. This is a very good opportunity for me to continue to use my LtL skills and pass them to others.

Our May 2017 prayer updates and prayer letter

Consistency Checking with the Ngombale Project

This week I am working with the Ngombale language in the Western Region of Cameroon. They are nearly finishing their New Testament so I am training them on how to use some advanced features in ParaTExt software to run some checks to make sure that everything is done correctly. This involves:

Text checking to make sure that the message will be complete, communicate clearly, be free from typing mistakes, and be correctly formatted. These checks allow the teams to be sure that all the chapters and verses are present. This helps them to find typing mistakes such as incorrect verses, characters, punctuation, markers etc.

Spell Checking: It is important to correct any spelling mistakes so that the text will communicate clearly. This cannot be easily seen without the advanced use of this ParaTExt features.

Content Checking: Here you use Key Biblical Terms to check a variety of terms in your text. These checks will show you all the verses that contain a particular term or name and will help you see if you have been consistent in using the terms and also be able to record the term you use in your language.

Parallel Passage Check: The tools help the translators see side by side how it is rendered in the Greek and Hebrew Text and then looking at theirs, they can compare with other versions and this helps them make the right decisions.

In order to do all these properly, you must configure the fonts, keyboards, language settings and inventories. This is usually a very exciting moment for the translator because they easily find errors and correct them as their product is coming to an end. Usually they express to me that their NT or Bible will have been a mess without this process. This is a very painstaking exercise and can become very challenging especially if the typing was not done with the right keyboards and fonts. The team also need to begin this ahead of time else they think they are almost finished just to realise that they still have a lot to deal with. After the training, they will be working on their own and asking me questions where necessary and I will do a final check to see that everything has been done well before they go to typesetting as this process feeds the typesetting process.

LTCT 2017

The Purpose of Language Technology Consultant Training (LTCT) is to develop a base of competent language technology consultants and specialists to resource Bible translation and language development in Africa, by teaching relatively new tools and methods for performing common language software support tasks and by presenting specific problems that occur frequently and discussing their solutions from the combined experience of the group. The participant will gain tools and skills that will make them more effective as a language technology consultant or specialist.
his year we focused on Paratext 8 (for Bible translation), Bloom (for Literacy), Scripture App Builder, Reading App Builder, Dictionary App Builder (for making android apps), Regular Expressions (programming language for problem solving). Anki (for learning purposes). Planning a workshop (To plan and run workshops)