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ESL forum >
Techniques and methods in Language Teaching > Should we have students translate whole texts in mother tongue?
Should we have students translate whole texts in mother tongue?
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vickyvar
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Should we have students translate whole texts in mother tongue?
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Hello dear colleagues,
This year I came across a new challenge. A mother insisted(as if she knew the correct way to teach a language) that I should have my students translate the whole text in the first language as it is the only way - in her opinion - to make students understand a new text. I told her that this is not the case and the best way is through questions and other activities. This way they learn the new vocabulary and they comprehend the text. She insists though and I do not know what to tell her anymore. I am not going to change my teaching method as I will end up teaching Greek instead of English plus the students will never actually learn to speak English.
I welcome your opinion on the matter.
Thank in advance,
Vicky
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5 Oct 2009
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Nuria08
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Parents should never try to tell teachers what to do and how to teach, since they are not trained for that.
You should tell her that translation was discarded as a good method to learn a second language many centuries ago, and that there are many new methodologies which have been proved much more effective for the purpose of language acquisition.
Translation is good in specific situations, but it is not a method in itself. Students have to learn to communicate in the target language without translating the words into their own mother tongue first. Otherwise, communication would be really slow and painful.
Anyway, I think you should show this know-it-all mother who is in charge of the class!
Good luck Vicky! |
5 Oct 2009
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teacher_julia
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The methodology she �s describing is Grammar Translation. I have a Methodology Lesson Plan for teacher trainers about the differnet methodologies here: http://www.eslprintables.com/printable.asp?id=294848
The issue is not that translation isn �t useful, because it can be! It may help to have "educated" phrases to throw at her. If a parent told me this, I would tell them that my goal was for students to learn to communicate with one another and to use the words in spoken English, and that translation trains students to be good with reading and writing, but not interacting wtih one another. It is a solo task in which you are the authority, and you �re trying to train your students to speak and listen to one another and to learn from their own mistakes and not be afraid to make mistakes. I would also bring up, like you did, the use of the mother tongue, that grammar translation pretty much requires that the class be taught in the mother tongue rather than the target language. For Communicative Language Teaching, the mother tongue is only used as an aid to understanding.
Good luck to you. I would sincerely throw so much methodologically sound reasons at her and overwhelm her with your knowledge so that she would feel like you know what you were talking about. Not to simply pimp my lesson plan, but it does contain essential facts about both CLT and Grammar Translation, both which may help support your plan. WE �RE BEHIND YOU!!!
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5 Oct 2009
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teacher_julia
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Actually, @Zora, we do teach grammar points, even to children, we just don �t present it as such.
For example: in my beginning Russian class, the first week we learned how to say "I have ____" which is a great grammar structure. We had no idea what the parts meant, but we learned how to say it. Audio-lingual techniques (drilling) emphasize grammar structures but never outright teach grammar.
It �s possible she wanted to know if you would be teaching present tense or past tense, etc. Or also, very possible, exactly what you were saying--her trying to show off. Still, it �s not a totally ridiculous question.
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5 Oct 2009
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class centre
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You know, I do translation with my children. At the first level only( age 9). The more educated they grow the less translation I need to understand what they �ve understood in the text. When I see that they ask me correct questions, paying attention to unknown structures or "strange" use of a word, when I see that they can work with a text, I set them free and only use the text for speaking and retelling training. But to teach them how to work with the text and analize it I deffinitely need translation.
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5 Oct 2009
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Zora
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@Julia... I know exactly what this woman meant - she �s a supreme pain in the butt... she had me preparing her child - now 11 - for YL exam and in the end didn �t send him!
And I do know what you are talking about - I have been teaching English - and it �s grammar - for close to 20 years. But she wanted to know if we were going to see the present simple and all that jazz, names of the verbs included... I don �t think children know or care what a verb tense is called!!
She was just showing off and when I was talking to her that day, she even took a cell call and left me standing there waiting for her while I talked to another mom.
Sorry, I really dislike her... she likes to tell us she �s a Special Ed teacher BUT the funny thing is she called us to take a Special Ed student from their school because they didn �t have a Special Ed teacher!! Err.... 
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5 Oct 2009
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vickyvar
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Thank you all for your advice / suggestions. I willl definitely not allow her to interfere in my teaching. Yes, I sometimes use translation; that is when teaching grammar or when some expressions are difficult to understand as they differ from their mother tongue or is said differently. I don �t think it �s actually bad. What I do believe though is that it is definitely not the right way to teach children to communicate and interact in the target language.
P.S. Teacher_Julia : I will have a look at the printable you suggested and PM you when I read it.
Thanks to all of you.
Have a pleasant evening.
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5 Oct 2009
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But... What can be useful is translating from English into their language... but not literally.. just so it makes sense and they can maybe learn to think logically and relate concepts and collocations.