As a new teacher, I have understood that some of the things I couldn’t function without from day one are classroom routines, clear explanation of consequences for misbehavior and non-completion of tasks, clear statement of expectations from each task. Taking care of those is a learning process, but in the end, it pays off. One of the things that caught me off guard is the fact that students do not necessarily have accountability for their work. They tend to shift the ownership of their completed assignments to me, hoping I will magically turn them into A graded papers. So the question my students have been driving me bananas with is…

Today I want to talk about the problem of Google translation for assignments in an ESL classroom. To give you an idea how painful it can be not only to an ESL teacher but any teacher, let me describe a scene in one of my classes. It’s an English as a Second Language class, level A which means that students are beginner learners of the language. Although they have language basics, they continue developing their vocabulary, learn how to connect ideas logically and grammatically correct. Some of them might have the struggle to write a sentence. Some of them can create a pretty good paragraph and more. The task students…