Translation skills

Translating the present tense I eat He drinks They are going We buy He is drinking We are buying They go I am eating Ich esse Er trinkt Sie gehen Wir kaufen Students translate the verbs into German – this could be done on mini whiteboards. This activity highlights the fact that the simple present tense and the continuous present tense are translated in the same way in German. The answers are animated in, one by one.

Why do you have to be careful when looking words up in the dictionary? Dictionary skills can have to fast rock park lie rain light post bar Why do you have to be careful when looking words up in the dictionary? Divide students into groups of three and give each group a dictionary. Assign one of the 10 words from slide 3 to each group to look up. Ask them to make notes on how to translate their word and to explain the potential problems. The point of this exercise is to make students aware that they need to consider whether the word they want is a noun, verb or adjective etc. as well as choosing the best word for the context of a specific sentence.

Korrigiere … Ich habe zu üben. Wir beobachten eine Menge TV. Im Moment bin ich höre musik. Ich muss üben. Wir sehen viel fern. Ask students to look at the three incorrect sentences and identify what the errors are and why they occurred. More able students may suggest correct versions of these (the answers will animate in on clicking). Emphasise the dangers of word for word translation and the need to ‘think in German’. Im Moment höre ich Musik.

I eat bread and jam for breakfast Ask students to translate the English sentence into German using all the words in the Wordle in the correct order (Ich esse Brot und Marmelade zum Frühstück). If your students need more practise, use a word image generator such as www.wordle.net to create more sentences of your choice. www.wordle.net

For breakfast I eat bread and I drink a cup of tea. Translate into German using the letter clues to help you. A capital letter means it’s a noun or the start of the sentence. For breakfast I eat bread and I drink a cup of tea. Z F e i B u i t e T T I like eating salad for lunch. I e g S z M Biscuits are unhealthy because they contain too much sugar and fat. K s u, w s z Z u F e Zum Frühstück esse ich Brot und ich trinke eine Tasse Tee. Ich esse gern Salat zum Mittagessen. Kekse sind ungesund, weil sie zu viel Zucker und Fett enthalten. Students translate the sentences from English into German but are given the first letter of each word that they need as support. Students needing more support could be given wordles of the vocabulary they need. The answers are animated in. Extension: Use these sentences as a model and adapt them to make your own sentences about your eating habits.

Spot the differences Ich wohne in einem Dorf etwa zehn Kilometer westlich von Braunschweig, das Vechelde heißt. Wir haben ein Doppelhaus in der Dorfmitte. In Vechelde gibt es eine Bäckerei, eine Metzgerei und einen kleinen Bahnhof, aber keine Buchhandlung. Ich wohne nicht gern in Vechelde, weil es zu ruhig ist. I live in a town called Wolfenbüttel about thirteen kilometres south of Braunschweig. We have a detached house on the edge of town. There is a castle, a church and a small supermarket in Wolfenbüttel but no cinema. I like living in Wolfenbüttel because it’s very quiet. I live in a town called Wolfenbüttel about thirteen kilometres south of Braunschweig. We have a detached house on the edge of town. There is a castle, a church and a small supermarket in Wolfenbüttel but no cinema. I like living in Wolfenbüttel because it’s very quiet. Hand out one copy of the texts from p.1 of this document. Ask students to read and compare the German and English texts with a partner and spot the differences. Students can come to the whiteboard to circle the differences they have found. They should then write a correct German translation of the English text on the right by adapting the German phrases in the text on the left. Answers will appear on clicking.

Mark your translations I live in a town called Wolfenbüttel about thirteen kilometres south of Braunschweig. We have a detached house on the edge of town. There is a castle, a church and a small supermarket in Wolfenbüttel but no cinema. I like living in Wolfenbüttel because it’s very quiet. Ich wohne in einer Stadt etwa dreizehn Kilometer südlich von Braunschweig, die Wolfenbüttel heißt. Wir haben ein Doppelhaus am Stadtrand. In Wolfenbüttel gibt es ein Schloss, eine Kirche und einen kleinen Supermarkt, aber kein Kino. Ich wohne gern in Wolfenbüttel, weil es sehr ruhig ist. A model translation for students to check their work against for self or peer assessment.