Peer Translating – A Teacher’s Approach
I had a challenge ahead of me. I was entrusted with a tough activity-teaching Analysis Methodology to college students pursuing their Masters in different disciplines. I had a strongly motivated class. They were keen learners. The only downside was the language. The participants were Cambodian nationals with a minimal proficiency in English. I did not speak their language and I was a non-native English teacher.
I was a powerful supporter of the Direct Approach. I did not favor the use of the mother tongue in the classroom. I strongly believed that college students must be taught employing the target language. Backed by expertise, I was confident I could deliver my teaching well. I embarked on the activity faithfully and diligently. I explained. I lectured. I simplified. I employed anecdotes, examples and illustrations, even photos. I drew, I scribbled on the board.
I used gestures-everything I could assume off, to get my lessons across to the learners.
Following four teaching sessions, I realized I was acquiring nowhere. Of the 25 learners only five could stick to the lessons, as is obvious from their capability to give right responses to my elicitations. The rest have been passive recipients. I could see and realize their struggles to comprehend the lessons. They understood mine as nicely.
I had to believe of a strategy -an choice, and it had to be soon. I had already wasted or i thought i wasted alot of my teaching time. Soon after a lot of reflection and a tossing of concepts, I made the decision on peer- translation as a strategy. I divided the class into 5 groups with five college students in every single. Every single group was assigned a leader.
The leaders have been naturally the five students who had been comparatively much better than the rest.
I divided the teaching time of 90 minutes into two halves. 45 minutes for my teaching and the other 45 minutes for peer translation.
It was not easy. Translation is certainly tough, especially in terms of getting equivalents for terms like – hypothesis, null hypotheses, a variable, an intervening variable, an extraneous variable, cohort study layout, error of central tendency, elevation impact. These are just a few of the numerous terms found in study methodology which cannot be readily translated into Khmer of any other language for that matter.
The strategy worked. (Of course I had to function additional time with the leaders of each and every group) The activity of translating the class discussions into Khmer did not only involve the leaders alone The entire group was actively involved. It encouraged them to use the dictionary- to search for the most appropriate word to convey what is meant. It motivated active discussions, as they tried to comprehend and search for equivalents in their mother tongue.
It encouraged communication, the two in the mother tongue and the target language -although ungrammatical. What I liked about the whole procedure although, was the energetic involvement of the learners. I could see their enthusiasm and their determination. But above all I saw the worth, the contribution and the validity of translation as an effective teaching method.
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This video will show teachers or homeschool mothers and fathers a exciting and basic concept for creating a Mother’s Day present in the classroom. Using the Wordle program, college students are able to sort in specific terms to create a word cloud, which can then be printed out and framed to give as a Mother’s Day gift. ***Please note that in the video it mentions copying and pasting words immediately into the simple Wordle box – I have given that located an less complicated way and have developed a Free of charge template to use which will make it much more organized when operating by means of this activity.
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