Translation and tech

Richard | Nov 28, 2025Nov 28, 2025

LESSON OVERVIEW

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

• engage in talking about translation and communication issues;
• practise phrases for discussing translation tools;
• watch a video on ChatGPT’s real-time translating feature.

In this lesson, students examine photos, talk about communication challenges and explore ways to communicate without speaking the same language. They read a text about a modern type of translation, explore vocabulary for dealing with communication (e.g. translate something from … into …, translate something in real time, voice recognition) and watch a video about real-time translation on ChatGPT. Students also compare their translations with AI’s and share their opinions about language learning and tech.

WARM-UP AND VIDEO

This lesson focuses on talking about translation and starts with a warm-up. Students look at photos of people interacting in various situations. They talk about the photos using questions about communication challenges. Afterwards, students look at different ideas (e.g. use a phrase book, point to things, use gestures) and decide if the people from the previous exercise could use any of them. They explain why. Moving on, students read a text on modern translation and match the phrases (e.g. misunderstand something, real-time translation, recognize your voice) with their definitions. Following that, they watch a video about real-time translation on ChatGPT and answer questions about how it works. Next, students look at a prompt given to ChatGPT in the video and complete the gaps. They then watch part of the video again and check the answers.

DISCUSSION AND VOCABULARY PRACTICE

In this part of the lesson, students engage in talking about translation. They translate questions (e.g. If cats ruled the world, what laws might there be?) into their first language. Then, students ask an AI app to do the same and compare their answers. When talking to AI, they use English only. After that, students discuss questions about their opinions on real-time translation technology. Moving on, they give reasons for some possible problems with real-time translation (e.g. the app translated my joke but nobody laughed). Students use different phrases for discussing translation and communication. Finally, they list arguments for and against statements about language and technology. Students then choose one statement and have a debate. 

HOMEWORK/REVISION

This lesson also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students complete sentences with the correct words or phrases. They then choose three sentences and explain what happened next. The task is available in the teacher’s version of the worksheet. You can print it and hand it out to your students. It’s also included in the e-lesson plan.

WORKSHEETS

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