4.4 Translator

OBJECTIVES

Students gain practice with compound coditionals NOT, AND and OR compound by remixing a rocket launching project.

OBJECTIVES: By the end of this lesson, students will:

    • gain experience using scratch extensions: Text to Speech

    • gain experience using scratch extensions: Translate

    • discuss useful apps that can help others

TEACHER RESOURCES:

Standards

    • CSTA 2-AP-13: Decompose problems and subproblems into parts to facilitate the design, implementation, and review of programs.

CSTA

Do Now (5 minutes)

    1. Watch "Language Translation Device" (1:49)

    2. Discuss:

      • How did the people react to the device?

      • When would you use a device like this?

      • Is there an app on your phone that could also translate?

TEACHER GUIDANCE:

  • You can see that the people did not understand and then they react to the translation. Surprise and excitement.

  • You could use this device when travelling to a country where you do not know the language.

  • Yes there are apps that do the same thing: Translate, iTranslate. We will make a translation app today.

Mini-Lesson (5-10 minutes)

Recap Answer block[ video 0.37 minutes] and then show the students the two extension blocks: Text to Speech and Translate. [ video 1.36 minutes]

Scratch Extensions, slides 9-19

Project (20-30 minutes)

Part 1:

Create a new project in scratch, play with the Translate and Text2Speech extensions. Students should know what each block does. See page1 of student handout.

Part 2:

Using starter project, finish building a English to Spanish translator. Page 2 of student handout.

Close-Out (5 minutes)

Close-Out (5 minutes)

Discuss the following questions:

  • Do you see your translator program being used by someone? How useful would it be?

  • Do you think there are limitations to using software to translate language?

  • What other kind of program could you use the “Text to Speech” extension for?


Potential Responses

  • Yes, it could be useful.

  • Maybe, but it is a good start.

  • Text to Speech is useful for people who can not read. eg Blind people.