Reading+1

= Activity: =


 * WHAT TALES TELL US[[image:http://www.mobiletopsoft.com/pocket-pc/wp7img/el-nuevo-traje-del-emperador.png align="right"]] **

= Level:  =

4th ESO

= Short description:  =

// **What Tales Tell** **Us** // will consist in adapting H. C. Andersen's tales for the stage. Pupils in Ins Eduard Fontserè and in Zespol Skol w Prezclawiu will work in two phases.

In the first they will work on understanding the texts and creating a script; on the second they will produce an online document (possibly a play, but this has to be determined by pupils) based on what their twins have produced.

The texts and the sound files we will use can be found at: []

Phase 1
Pupils in each class will divide into two groups and read one original tale each, listen to it carefully, and once this is done, transform the tale into a script.

While doing that they will be expected to:


 * Create a picture dictionary (including a sample sentence for each entry)
 * Translate the picture dictionary of our Polish partners into Catalan and Spanish
 * Make a small diary on what they have learned doing the story (Grammar, cultural aspects....)
 * Read the story aloud and produce a podcast
 * Create a script
 * Express what the story means to them

Phase 2
The classes share their scripts. Polish pupils will make a documentary or play out of the Spanish scripts and vice versa. Pupils will be expected to:
 * Make some sort of performance based on their partners' scripts, which could be a play, a presentation, a documentary....
 * Share their production with partners

= Objectives  =
 * 1) Use collaborative and group work strategies to cope with authentic texts in English
 * 2) Reflect on language learning
 * 3) Familiarise with online dictionaries and understand in which ways they are different from translator tools
 * 4) Improve pronunciation and fluency in oral English
 * 5) Rewrite and simplify stories
 * 6) Share and have fun

= Assessment:  =


 * Peer assessment on the quality of their dictionary work
 * Translation of their fragment into Catalan
 * Writing a Summary of their stories
 * The quality of the performance (final product)
 * 50 gold stars if the production was completed in time

= Link **:** =

https://fluwiki.wikispaces.com/H.+C%2C+Andersen%27s+plays

= Add your comments: =

This is Lluís Miquel,

Hi Núria,

A complex, meaningful, relevant, authentic and engaging activity. I could add nothing more to it, just comment on the emphasis of translation and interpretation in this activity. Translation introduces language analysis, reflection on language, and gives me cause to post the following reflections on translation by Shaun Wilden, a teacher at International House, which I consider interesting:

Wednesday afternoon’s #eltchat was on the use of translation. Over my teaching career this has been a topic that has often come up in development session. As a teacher as I have got more experienced I think I have gone from the draconian ‘no use of l1’ to a more tolerant approach but nevertheless I was blown away by Guy Cook’s revelation (in a talk I saw at the weekend) that there is no research to support the ‘banning’ of translation. I tend to agree with the point made that translation is a skill (the fifth skill as it was referred to yesterday) but we need to be careful and ensure we draw a line between L1 use in the classroom and the use of translation.

As a language learner I have always needed translation as a crutch and as one tweet said:

“Show me a beginner learner who is NOT trying to translate at some stage”

And our learning experiences seem (for the most part) to hold this view:

Teachers reflecting on their learning and translation:

- Comparing structures is often quite useful – what crosses over between L1 and L2 and what doesn’t

- I learnt through translation as well but must say it was when I ABANDONED translating that my acquisition took off

- I need translation skills all the time (live with an Italian)

- Translation is what helped me realise how uniquely different the two systems are, on multiple levels.

- As a learner, I noticed a sequence (in myself) of translating from words to chunks…

In the summary of below I have tried to categorize the main points of chat, the topic headings are my own, I hope they reflect the chat as a whole.

Why is translation ignored?

- There is no research to suggest translation is a bad thing yet it is generally ignored

- It’s the effects of the Direct Method still gripping all other later approaches IMOHO

- I think it’s a general feeling that translation is ‘old-fashioned’ but it’s not

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- What I remember most about my CertTESOL course is the icy stare I got from lecturers when I told them I actually enjoy translation

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Perhaps the problem is that many still look at translation from a grammar translation point of view, which takes us back to those boring lessons.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Some schools actively ban L1 completely

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Plus points of translation:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- It can be great at empowering learners when they’re feeling overwhelmed by English speaker at front!

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Translation can be useful for highlighting specific differences between L1 and L2, but should we be using it for other things too

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Translation can be a great tool for students to grasp real meaning of what they’re saying

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Students also seem to feel secure with some translation of vocabulary items. Maybe as you know a language more you need it less.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Just yesterday a student of mine said he felt much more comfortable doing his homework and using an online translator

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Students find it very difficult to understand some concepts without translation

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Just as some students are visual learners, etc, some will benefit more than others from translating

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- It can help convey a cultural concept from one language which does not transfer to the other

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Translation is handy with monolingual groups when we can’t get meaning of a lexical item across after attempts: translate! Quick & effective

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Some issues:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- It’s a tricky thing for a teacher to manage or use in a multilingual class.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- As any other tool in the language classroom, translation has to be used carefully, but it may be useful if used properly

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Translation perpetuates the myth that the native English teacher is always best or the NEST perpetuating myth

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- It is widely used in mainly state education systems and often in “boring” grammar-translation” lessons.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Is there a danger of students becoming dependent on translation, if allowed more freely? The problem of overreliance.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- It’s important that we are encouraging students to speak English rather than banning them from using their L1

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- how does L1 culture affect attitude to using translation? Issues of identity, politics all play a part.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Allowing students to use L1 will prevent them from acquiring important features of pronunciation, for instance

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Some way to use translation:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Translation can be used in multilingual classes as personalised exercise

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- The lexical approach is a big advocate of translation

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Mixing translation with pronunciation. Sentences written in phonemic script

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Translation and contrastive analysis are important teaching tools

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Does the teacher need to be in control or is it a way of handing over learning to the students?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Have multilingual classes translate poems etc into their own language

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- It can be extremely useful especially in ESP courses.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Get multilingual classes to translate into their L1s, then give ‘literal’ translations back into English

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Fixing a bad translation into English is a great activity

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Learners’ conversation are much more natural if they think about what they would say in L1 in the context before thinking about L2

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Translating songs

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Writing subtitles in L1 for a TV clip

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Scraps of paper: L1 one side, L2 the other. Put in circle. Roll dice, say translation (works for very clear direct equivalents)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Getting students to translate L1 newspaper stories into L2 in summary and then present – works in reverse too

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- L1 can also be used for input or conversation trigger. For instance, a newspaper article in L1, but discussion in L2.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Drama activity: Students act out scene in L1 then watch it in L2 – great for cultural and paralinguistic features

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- For business lessons replicating real situations useful, e.g., getting students to explain menu, news headlines, signs, etc.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Translation great for practising reported speech as it should be practiced

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Students can build list of troublesome false cognates <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Find a badly translated menu and get students to improve it – mostly food vocabulary but a real task

Hi Lluís Miquel, this is Nuria

Thank you for this useful reflection! I think the people who despise translation are old fashioned themselves. Students need to learn to use online dictionaries and see how they differ from automatic translators. ICT has made language learning a complex experience, and we need to provide structure and accuracy, combined situations where students have to show their competence.