Translation in language classes: tackling the taboo
Translation is a fantastic tool for all language teachers to use in their classes. That might be a surprising statement from a native speaker teacher working in a multi-lingual teaching context in the UK. and to be honest it’s been a long and winding road that brought me to that view. Let me take you on that journey and show you some ways translation can help, even when you don’t share your students’ L1 – i.e. their own language.The absence of translation in trainingBack in 1993, when I did my four-week CELTA course, there was certainly no mention of translation,...