Translation Activity
About This Activity
Language
German
Level
Intermediate 1
(3rd semester college level)
Time Needed
Three 50-minute classes
Class 1: 50 minutes
Class 2: 50 minutes
Class 3: 20 minutes
Goal
For students to learn how to accurately and successfully use a German-English dictionary, to work on translation skills, and to realize the many ways there are to translate a word or phrase.
Materials Needed
- Library classroom with a smartboard/projector with screen
- German-English dictionaries
- Access to dictionaries online
- Handout 1
Class One
Class will meet in the library. The teacher will need to have talked to the library beforehand about reserving a classroom with a smartboard/projector with screen and the library’s collection of German-English dictionaries for both Monday and Wednesday. Dependent on the number of students and the number of available dictionaries, students will be by themselves or with a group with a dictionary. The teacher will give students different words for them to find, and then explain the different parts of a definition (word, word classification, meaning, etc.). The teacher then uses the smartboard/projector with screen to explore online dictionaries. Students are then tasked in groups of 3-4 to write five sentences in English, and then using the dictionaries both paper and online, translate the sentences word for word. For the remainder of the class, groups will work with other groups and explain their process in choosing the words they chose.
Class Two
Class will meet in the library. Students are given Handout 1 and work by themselves to translate the text. With the time remaining, they compare their translations with a partner. If students do not finish in the time, they can finish the text as homework.
Class Three
Class will meet in the regular classroom. Students will take the first 10 minutes of class to compare their translations with a partner. They will then participate in a class discussion about the activity and how their translations differed.
My Thoughts
I think that this activity is really beneficial because students don’t typically learn how to successfully use a dictionary when they learn a new language. The handout they are given is the first section of the class fairytale “Little Red Riding Hood”, which makes it more recognizable to students as they are trying to figure out what the text is. Doing translation work not only strengthens those skills but also their language proficiency as a whole – by doing translation they both learn new words and learn how many words can be used in different ways. Mastering that skill will make them more proficient in the target language.