As an eighth grade science teacher, one of the neatest parts of my job is that all students who are learning English as an additional language are mainstreamed into my classroom for content instruction.
But that also presents a challenge: How can a student who is just learning English understand grade-level instruction in a content area that is so incredibly dependent on academic vocabulary?
There are lots of answers to this question, right?
- I could preteach academic vocabulary to my students who are learning English as an additional language, frontloading them with the language that they are going to need in order to comprehend the content that I am introducing.
- I could partner my students who are learning English as an additional language with a peer tutor who speaks their first language.
- I could show my students who are learning English as an additional language how to translate classroom documents using built-in tools available in Google Docs.
- I could show my students who are learning English as an additional language how to use the Google Translate app to have conversations with peers or to translate English text found in paper sources using their cameras.
And the reality is that I should be doing ALL of those things.
But I’ve got a new trick that I’m trying out right now that I’m really excited about: I’m using Google Meet to live translate my instruction into Spanish.
Here’s how it works:
Neat, right?
Now, as long as I am willing to open a Meet up at the beginning of each class and wear a Bluetooth earbud throughout my direct instruction, my students whose first language is Spanish (or French, Portuguese or German) can keep a computer open on their desks and see my words translated into their primary language. That is a HUGE scaffold that will provide just-in-time support to students that are learning new concepts and a new language all at the same time.
And it was a WIN for me yesterday, y’all: I’ve got a new student who is SUPER motivated, but who knows very little English. I could see him losing interest and motivation in my classroom over the last few weeks.
When we tried this live translation option together yesterday, the first thing he said as my words were translated on his screen was, “OOOOOH. Now I will finally be able to understand!”
And then he stopped by at the end of the day to ask me to teach his other teachers to do this work, too.
#winning
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