The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA
Education:How To
Welcome to the Thursday edition of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast, a podcast for English teachers in search of creative teaching strategies. Whether you’re new to the show or a long-time listener, I’m so glad you’re here for today’s edition of “Highly Recommended.” This week, I want to make sure you know just how amazing the Google Translate App really is.
Living here in Bratislava, and traveling around Europe with our family, we are constantly confronted by languages we don’t know. On Street Signs, parking signs, parking tickets, frozen pizza cooking instructions, directions for using new toys on Christmas morning, mail that lands in our box, and so much more. Which is why we really couldn’t do without our Google translate app.
At first we stared at the strange text and painstakingly tried to type it into the app. But then we discovered the camera feature. Did you know you can pick any two languages in the app, then take a picture of the first and instantly see it translated to the second?
You can also speak into the app in one language and see your words typed out in another. Or hold the camera up to someone you want to understand and get their words translated.
It’s an incredible tool, and one I use constantly in my everyday life.
For your emerging bilingual or trilingual students, Google Translate can be a huge lifeline. They can quickly hold their app camera over handout instructions, printed writing prompts, or classroom posters and see it in their own language. They can take a picture or screenshot and have the translation available for the rest of the class. And of course, beyond the app, they can plug large sections of text into Google Translate online to help them better understand a podcast transcript, close reading passage, or news article.
Google Translate can help your students keep up with your content and express the complexity of their ideas as their second or third language skills catch up with their thought processes. That’s why this week, I highly recommend you add it to your phone and get familiar with it. It doesn’t take long, and it could make all the difference to some of your students (and perhaps their parents come conference time, too).
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033: The Quick Guide to Genius Hour
032: Shakespeare Activities for Any Play
031: Using Murder Mysteries, Ted Talks, and SNL Clips in Class
030: The Simplest Method for One Pager Success
029: A Beginner's Guide to Teaching Abroad
028: Empower your Students, with John Spencer
027: Turn your Class into a Discussion Panel with Audience Tweeters
026: My Teacher Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
025: The Best of ELA this Year
024: A Beginner's Guide to Student Blogging
023: Why you Need Discussion Warm-Ups
022: 10 Top Books for your Classroom Library
021: The Best Websites for ELA Teachers
020: Authentic Audiences for Student Work
019: Active Learning outside the Classroom Walls
018: A Simple Trick to Cut Grading Time
017: Get Started with ELA Escape Rooms
016: ELA Maker Spaces
015: Building Professional Community as a Teacher
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