Vocabulary Activation and Glossary Building Exercises
Glossaries are very useful tools for interpretation, but often end up simply as an Excel table that is not really used. Refer to the DOWNLOADS page for examples of what a glossary can look like. There is, therefore, merit in making the glossary relevant to the task of interpreting and here are some methods:
Vocabulary post-its (easy)
DESCRIPTION
During the training session, encourage people to add terms (with their translations) to a growing word cloud on the wall/board. They can be terms that come up in the course of the activities, those provided in the lead-up to speeches or other concepts that are likely to come up during the event. Make it a collaborative exercise; maybe even set a minimum number of terms to have up on Post-Its by the end of the day.
Speeches using glossary terms (medium)
DESCRIPTION
Participants are divided into groups of 3-4 and are given 10-12 terms from the glossary. They have to then prepare a speech that includes all of these terms (the terms provided should have a degree of commonality; creativity is encouraged!) After the speeches, there should be a discussion of the terms and their translations; ideally the speeches created by the small groups should be interpreted in consecutive into another language by another participant.
Pre-speech brainstorming (medium)
DESCRIPTION
One participant prepares a speech in advance. For the purpose of the exercise, they are the “speaker.” Ask the speaker to describe what the speech is going to be about to the entire group. Take notes on the board. Ask the group to brainstorm what kind of vocabulary might be used. Ask the speaker to add any additional words.
Activate vocabulary by finding an optimal word in the target language and speaking it out loud 3 times. Encourage participants to speak it out loud even if they don’t want to or feel shy.