Microsoft 365 for Education has a number of excellent tools that can help support students who use English as an additional language (EAL). This quick guide gives you an overview of our three favourite tools you can use to break down language barriers in the classroom.
Live translate conversations with Microsoft Translator.
The Microsoft Translator app is a free app that can be downloaded from the Google Play Store or the Apple Store on any mobile device. With many different features and tools, the app is excellent for working with EAL students and opening up conversations who face language barriers in the classroom.
The translator app also has some extra features to support users with translation and learning:
- Select the speaker icon to read the phrase aloud again.
- Change the speed of the translation. For example, 0.75x for it to be read out slowly.
- Pin a phrase and save it to refer back to later.
- Share the recording and transcript in an email or via Teams.
Generate live captions for your lessons with Microsoft Translator.
The Microsoft Translator app in Class Notebook allows students to capture a transcript of what the teacher is saying during a lesson, which can help support EAL students to translate what is being said during lessons and make note-taking a lot easier.
The Live Captions can be set up to appear on the side of Class Notebook, allowing students to follow along and take notes as the lesson progresses.
This guide shows you how to set up live captions for your lessons with the Translator App.
Students have the ability to:
- Pause the transcript when needed. The transcript will then catch up with the teacher when played again.
- Change the text size of the transcript.
- Highlight parts of the transcript in various colours.
The transcript is saved in the student’s Class Notebook under Transcripts when the lesson is finished. The transcript shows any highlights made and is timestamped.
Immersive Reader.
Immersive Reader is built into many Microsoft apps and is brilliant for offering additional reading support to students. The tool offers many different features, including the ability to change font sizes and colours, read aloud passages and translate text into other languages, making it excellent for supporting students inside and outside the classroom.
Take a look at this guide, which shows you everything you can do with Immersive Reader.
Two features in Immersive Reader are particularly helpful for EAL students.
The Picture Dictionary is an excellent tool for quickly understanding the meanings of words. Simply click on a word, and a pop-up appears with an image to describe what the word could mean. Picture Dictionary is not always available on every word, but it is on those words that can be easily illustrated.
With Immersive Reader, you can translate text into over 120 languages, with the option to translate the whole document or just one word. A great feature to support EAL students with learning and all students during language lessons.
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