The Language of Translation

Children transport and transform within our spaces everyday so why not let them translate as well? Translation can be thought of in its simplest terms of being changing information from one spoken (named) language to another. I frequently use Google Translate with the children I work with regardless of whether they are already speaking some English. The reasons I do this are many and varied. Firstly, I want them to know I value their home language and. that it allowed to be used in the classroom. Secondly, it is a gateway for me so that I can better understand the depth of their thinking which they can usually explain better in their home language but it then allows me to translate this thinking into English and teach them the specific vocabulary they might need to explain themselves in English. Therefore the translation app is not a way for them to avoid trying to using English but rather a tool which supports their acquisition of English, or at times it helps them fill any gaps they might have in their home language. Thirdly, teaching children that at times we need to slow down and give people the time and support they need to communicate fully is an important social skill.

It takes a few weeks at the start of the school year to set up expectations and routines around the use of translation in the classroom but once this is done I find that children are able to honour all the languages present in our class community and access translation at whatever point suits their needs. Multi-lingual learners know that they will try to explain themselves in English but then when they are struggling they can say: 'Phone please'. While children who are more proficient in English use may ask: 'Can you say that again in (insert requested language)?' and even start to ponder how words are expressed between each others languages.

In its broader terms I find that children are natural translators and this focus on translation between named languages allows us as teacher researchers to be more aware of translation that is occurring between all the languages we value in early years settings.

A wonderful example of this happened early this school year when a new child arrived into my class who was early in her journey of English acquisition. During our first visit to the forest I noticed her diligently creating something from sticks. I used the translation app to get her to explain what she was doing and she informed me that she was making a camp fire and she modelled how to sit by it.

Over a month later she was working with a Rigamajig set in class and she again explained to me, this time in English, that she had made a fire. She modelled how she could sit by it and roast marshmallows. I then used the translation app to remind her that she had also made a fire in the forest, I asked her what she liked about making fires. In my mind she had already translated the concept of a fire from sticks to the materials of the Rigamajig. She used her home language to explain that she liked to build in a planned and structured way to make her fire. She did indeed use a very structured and organized method to create both fires.

I then asked her if she could document on paper how she makes fires. By inviting her to do this it was an opportunity for her to translate her understanding again.

She chose to express her information in several forms. Firstly, in the top left corner she wrote a numerical list:

1) Get big sticks

2) Make fire

3) Get small sticks

4) Toast marshmallows

Then she drew a representation of the completed fire. After which she wrote a sentence in Hebrew, her home language. I then encouraged her to also write the same in English: 'Then you burn fire'.

This is one example of how when teachers are open to translanguaging techniques children are encouraged to translate their understanding in many ways.