Beavers Community Primary School

translator: bhavit mehta

To kick off the Translation Nation project and to encourage the children to think creatively about their languages, Bhavit asked the children to invent an imaginary creature. They labelled the animal’s body parts in as many languages as possible resulting in lots of interesting variations, formal and informal synonyms and slang words. This was a useful way to think about language registers and vocabulary, and how thoughtful language use can enhance the description and dialogue in storytelling.

The school was delighted to welcome several parents on the second day of the project to share traditional stories from their cultures. The teachers commented that it was wonderful for the parents to be able to come into the school and take part in a fun project. As a result, the Translation Nation group was treated to nine stories told in eight languages, three of which, in Farsi, Romanian and Somali, were chosen to be translated.

The hub teams put an amazing amount of thought and care into their interpretations, creating colourful costumes and props, and even using projected backdrops to bring their stories to life. Each child was given the opportunity to showcase their individual talent, with some exceptional writing, acting, drawing and organisational skills emerging from the groups. Particularly some of the children who lacked confidence in English made excellent contributions to the project. Michael and the Angels, a story originally told in Romanian, was chosen by the audience as the winning story.

To give more children in the school a taste of the Translation Nation experience, Bhavit supported teachers so that they could echo the workshop activities in their classrooms. Following the project, the children showed an increased awareness of the benefits of language learning, viewing it as a useful life skill and as a tool to open up a new world of literature.

Audio files