Translating Activity Plans

Merge EDU includes activity plans for the Merge Explorer and Merge Object Viewer apps. Since they are in Google Doc format, the activity plans are easy to modify before sharing with students. In this article, we’ll show you how to easily translate the activity plans into other languages using Google's "translate document" option in the Google Doc. Follow the steps below to translate them:

Step 1 - Open a Merge Activity Plan

1. Go to https://dashboard.mergeedu.com/ and sign in to your account.
Click here if you need help signing in.

2. Select “Activity Plans” located under “Science” on the left menu.

3. Choose any of the activity plans you would like to translate. For this example, I will choose the "Frogs Life" activity plan for 3rd - 5th grade. 

4. Select "Make a Copy" to get access.

Note:If a grade band does not show up for a topic card, then it does not align to the NGSS standards for that grade level.

Step 2 - Translate the document

1. Now that you have edit access, select "Tools" from the top menu, then select "Translate document."

2. Rename your document, select the language you would like to translate the activity plan to, then select "Translate". You will see the document has now been automatically translated into the language you selected! For this example, we translated the activity plan into Icelandic.

Note: If possible, we recommend asking somebody who is an expert at the language read over the activity plan to make necessary corrections before sharing with students. While automatic translations are helpful, they are not always correct 100% of the time.

Step 3 - Share the translated Activity Plan

It's easy to share your translated activity plan using Google Docs! Simply tap the light blue "Share" button in the upper right hand corner of the document. Ensure the sharing settings are correct. For example, if you would like a single student to edit the document directly, be sure to give them "Editor" access. If you want them to make a copy of it first (so multiple students can have a copy), be sure to only give them "Viewer" access and instruct them to make a copy so they can get edit access.

That's it! Google Docs makes it really easy to add language translations of any document you are working on.

With activity plan translations through Google Docs, more students around the world will be able to use the activity plans while using the apps. Have fun teaching with Merge EDU!