It's really amazing to see how Google has come from, first it was just an internet search box but now its a variety of things. It can create blogs, documents, and now it has Google translate. I believe teachers should use this to their advantage especially if they have students that english is not their first language. It’s free and can be download on your phone or used right on the computer. Yes, we all know there are language dictionaries but having the google translater right in the classroom can benefit the teacher and the students. Students can now have the translator handy on their phone or on their computer, while reading an article in a different language or if they see something on the news and didn't understand what it meant or what was going they can go to this app and figure it out.
There are so many tools we can use in the classroom as a teacher. We have come such a long way from where we started. We started out with chalk and blackboard to white erasable boards to now high tech boards with “wireless” markers to write with. We can use all the items we have in our classroom and transform them and have them advance to have students participate with these tools. Like back when I was a kid some odd years we would use paper, pens, and pencils. Now students have the advantage of using tablets schools provide for them, instead of wasting so much paper we can use the tablets and create our ideas right in front of us with color and bring it somehow to life. This I feel would keep the student’s mind involved in what they are doing.
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| Creative Credit from Flicker: IntelFreePress |
Spanish is my first language, but when I was in kindergarten I was learning english as a “second” language. It was really hard and I really got frustrated because I wanted to say something but I felt like I was saying it wrong so I practiced my english a lot. I went from Kindergarten to ESOL to ESOL mixed with moving into first grade, then being able to be in the first grade without having my ESOL teachers help me. I had finally “mastered” speaking and learning the english language. But my parents...? That was a completely different story. My dad was a construction worker so he had to pick up on the language really fast and was able to, kinda broken but got it. My mom was a housewife so she didn’t really understand a lot when people would try to talk to her. So what she did was buy herself an electronic speller and dictionary. It was the most greatest device I had ever seen. If she wanted to say a word in english she would write it in spanish and it would translate it in english, thus she was learning words of the english language. I really believe that teachers should use these devices in their classroom. I feel if I had this in my Italian speaking class, I’m pretty sure I would’ve picked up the words my teacher would throw at us. It’s so confusing with trying to say a sentence or even communicate with the teacher. There are usually games on the younger kids version and it makes it fun and get themselves involved with this.
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| Creative Credit provided by Flicker: Premshree Pillai I did make a fun short game on Zahoot, please click the following link to have access to it! It's called "Guess My Language!" |
Google Translator is a very helpful tool and now the app can provide not only the written translation, but also the oral translation which is even more innovating. I think we can only move forward on increasing the number of languages we can all have access to and thus increase communication. Fun Kahoot (watch your spelling!), too!
ReplyDeleteBe sure to provide proper links on the Flickr photographs - these only took me to the photographer and not to the actual photograph so I could not verify that it was licensed with Creative Commons.