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Say "Thank You" in 100 Languages!

Teaching Theme of the Week

by Gary Hopkins, Editor-in-Chief, Education World®

Work with your local shelter, food kitchen, or nursing home to brighten everybody's Thanksgiving.

Subjects: Foreign Language, Language Arts, Educational Technology, Social Studies

Grade Levels: K-2, 3-5, 6-8

Objectives Students will:

• use online resources (or printed pages from those resources) to learn how to say "thank you" in many languages;
• create a bulletin board around a world map (optional); and,
• use the bulletin board or printed/online resources to complete a matching activity.

Keywords
Thanksgiving, foreign, language, thank, translate, geography, world, map, multicultural

Materials Needed

• "Thank You" Around the World work sheet (easy version)
• "Thank You" Around the World word activity for older students (text provided in lesson)
• index cards (optional)
• world map (optional)
• Internet access (optional)

Procedure
Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks for many things. Remind students of that with this activity in which they learn to say "thank you" in many languages.

Post a world map on a bulletin board. Around the map place index cards that have on them the words "thank you" in many different languages. Extend a length of string or yarn from each "thank you" card to the location on the map where those words might be spoken.

Instead of creating the bulletin board for students, why not have students do the work? If you decide to have students create the bulletin board, prepare in advance index cards with the names of different countries written on them, one country per card. (Decide in advance how many countries you wish to map. If you plan to have your 25 students map about 50 countries, then each student will need two cards.) Then students will use the "Thank You" Resources on the Internet listed below to search for and write on each of their country cards the words that mean "thank you" in that locale. Once the bulletin board is created, have students use that display to complete the "Thank You" Around the World work sheet.

Another Idea
You do not need to create a bulletin board. Instead, students could use the Internet resources below to complete the "Thank You" Around the World work sheet. They could complete the activity in the computer lab or at a computer in the classroom.

Thank You Activity for Older Students
The "Thank You" Around the World work sheet is targeted at students in grades K-4. If your students are older, you might create a three-column chart (Country Name, Name of Language, and "Thank you"); provide the country names and have students fill in the other columns on the chart. Or provide a simple matching activity such as the following one. (See Assessment section below for the activity's answer key.)

"Thank You" Resources on the Internet

• "Thank You" in Over 465 Languages
• Say "Thank You"!
• Altavista Translator

Assessment
Students will achieve a score of at least 80% on the student work sheet.

ANSWERS: (for the easy version): 1.h, 2.d, 3.a, 4.j, 5.i, 6.e, 7.f, 8.b, 9.g, 10.c.

ANSWERS: (for the version for older students): 1.i, 2.b, 3.e, 4.j, 5.k, 6.g, 7.f, 8.h, 9.l, 10.a, 11.d, 12.c.

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