How to Use AI to Translate Teaching Materials into Other Languages

• You save hours of work and… nerves. How long does it take you to try to explain something “in signs“? How much energy does it cost to find someone who can help with the translation? Artificial intelligence does it in seconds. Instead of spending the evening trying to prepare a simplified version of the material, you outsource this task to a machine and have the file ready while the tea is brewing.
• You make invaluable contact with your parents. The language barrier applies not only to students, but also to their parents. How to inform about a trip, a meeting or learning difficulties when there is no common language? The ability to quickly translate key messages opens up a communication channel that has been closed until now. This builds trust and partnership, which are the foundation of good education.

What are you risking by ignoring this topic? The deepening isolation of students with migration experience, the growing gaps in their knowledge and your own frustration. You also risk burnout by taking on a burden that technology can largely carry for you.

Workshop: How to do it step by step?

Don’t immediately rush to translate the entire reading. Start with something small and crucial. What is the biggest problem for your foreign-speaking students?

• Homework instruction.
• Commands on a test or quiz.
• Safety rules in PE or chemistry lessons.
• A short note with the most important definitions.

The goal must be ultra-practical, e.g. “I want Ivan to understand what he has to do in today’s art lesson” or “I want Oksana to know what topics to repeat for the science test“.

Simplify and clean up source text (MOST IMPORTANT STEP!)

Artificial intelligence is brilliant, but it is not a poet or does not read minds. The biggest errors in translations come from too complicated source text. Before you paste anything into the translator, do this:

• Use simple, short sentences. Instead of: “Bearing in mind the need for all students to understand the legitimacy of our project, please read the instructions below“, write: “This is an important project. Please read the manual.”
• Avoid idioms and metaphors. Phrases such as “have flies in your nose” or “fall like a plum into compote” will be translated literally, creating a comical but useless text.
• Check the unambiguity of the words. The word “castle” can be a structure or part of a jacket. Make sure that the context of the sentence leaves no doubt.

Choose a tool and translate your document

Forget about simply pasting text into Google Translate. Use tools that do it a lot better.

1. Prepare your simplified text in a Word or Google Docs file.
2. Go to DeepL (https://www.deepl.com/translator) – it’s the gold standard in machine translation right now, and it’s much better at handling context than most of its competitors.
3. Select the “Translate Files” option. Upload your document, select the target language (e.g. Ukrainian, English, Russian) and after a while download the ready, translated file. The whole thing retains the original formatting!

Pro-Tip from a practitioner: Never trust a translation 100%. How to check it without knowing the language? Do a reverse translation. Copy the translated text and paste it back into the translator to translate it back into Polish. If the resulting text still makes sense and is close to the original – you’re home! This simple trick allows you to catch 90% of nonsense mistakes.

Create a bilingual layout

Don’t give the student material only in their language! This is a shortcut that does not teach Polish. Always create bilingual materials – this is the best method to support learning.

• Open both documents: original (PL) and translated (e.g. UA).
• Create a table with two columns. In the left column, paste the paragraphs in Polish, and in the right column, their exact translation. In this way, the student naturally gets used to the Polish vocabulary, having a “lifebuoy” at hand.

Built-in template: Copy and use (Bilingual worksheet structure)

Use the material and collect feedback

Give the student a prepared worksheet. But don’t stop there!

• Watch: Does this format help him? Does it use both columns?
• Ask (if possible): You can use the translator on your phone to ask, “Is this understandable? Does it help?”
• Ask for help: If your student already knows some Polish, ask them to point out any translation errors. This will strengthen him and give him a sense of agency!

Scenarios from school life: Case studies and typical pitfalls

Scenario 1: Mrs. Joanna and communication with parents in kindergarten

• Problem: Mrs. Joanna, a teacher in a group of 5-year-olds, had two children from Ukraine in the group. Their mother, despite her sincere intentions, spoke very little Polish, which made it difficult to convey important information about the children’s progress or announcements.
• Application of the method: Mrs. Joanna began to write all the key announcements (about Mother’s Day, a trip, a new project) in simple sentences in Word. She then used DeepL’s file translation feature to create a Ukrainian version. She printed both versions and handed them to her mother.
• The result: Mom felt turned on and informed. She began to ask more questions, sometimes using the translator on her phone. The teacher-parent relationship has warmed up and cooperation has become much easier.

Scenario 2: Mr. Krzysztof and history in high school

• Problem: In Mr. Krzysztof’s graduation class, there was a student from Belarus who wanted to take the matura exam in history, but had great difficulties with specialized vocabulary in source texts.
• Application of the method: Mr. Krzysztof did not translate the entire texts. Instead, he prepared a bilingual glossary with 10-15 key terms (e.g. “real union”, “rokosz“, “liberum veto“) for each topic. He translated them into Russian (which was used by the student). It took him 10 minutes to create such a dictionary.
• Result: The student, equipped with key terms, was able to work independently with Polish source texts. Her confidence increased and her test scores improved significantly.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them:

• The literalness trap: You are trying to translate a poem or a piece of artistic prose.
  x) Solution: Don’t do it! AI can’t handle poetic language. Focus on usable texts: instructions, definitions, commands, announcements.
• The one-time trap: You give the student one translated material and that’s it.
  x) Solution: Be systematic. Make it a habit to prepare bilingual versions of key materials. The student will feel stability and real support.
• Monolingual trap: You give material only in the student’s language “so that it is easier”.
  x) Solution: Always use a two-column format. The goal is to support learning, not to create a “bubble” that cuts off from the Polish language.

Teacher’s Essentials: Tools and Resources

You don’t have to be a polyglot. All you need is to know these 2-3 addresses.

Translation tools:

1. DeepL (https://www.deepl.com/) – Your number one. The highest quality of translations, it works great with entire files (Word, PowerPoint). The free version has some limitations, but it is quite enough for everyday work.
2. Google Translate (https://translate.google.com/) – A good old friend. The quality varies, but it has one powerful function: live call translation in the mobile app. Perfect for quick conversations with parents. It also has a document translation function.
3. Microsoft Translator (https://www.bing.com/translator) – Often underestimated, but integrated with Office. If you work in the Microsoft ecosystem (Word, Teams), the translation feature is built-in and works really well.

Summary: Your personal checklist

I hope you already feel how powerful and simple this tool is. To turn this knowledge into real action, let’s summarize three key thoughts:

1. Inclusivity is not an add-on, it’s the basis. Thanks to AI, you can realistically involve each student in the educational process without additional working hours.
2. Simplify before you translate. The quality of the translation depends in 90% on the quality and simplicity of the source text.
3. Always act in two ways. The bilingual format supports learning Polish, not exempts from it.

Your roadmap for implementation – Checklist to get started:

1. Choose ONE instruction or short assignment that is a problem for students.
2. Rewrite them using as simple sentences as possible.
3. Go to DeepL and translate the finished file.
4. Create a simple table in Word with two columns (PL/UA) and paste the text.
5. Print out and give to the student in the next lesson. See what happens.

That’s all. Five steps that can change someone’s world in your classroom.

For immediate use

Want to get started right away? Here are 3 micro-actions you can do in less than 15 minutes:

1. Still today: Translate the sentence “Well done! I’m proud of you.” Tomorrow, tell your student by showing the text on your phone. You will see a smile that will reward you for everything.
2. Before the next lesson: Prepare a bilingual command for the first task in the lesson. Only one. See how this small gesture will affect student engagement.
3. On your next break: Go to the DeepL website and translate the same paragraph as in Google Translate for the test. Compare the results and see how big the difference in quality is.

Teacher’s Essentials 2.0 – Advanced Tools

You have already mastered the translation of documents. Now it’s time for magic: real-time translation, from images and in videos. These tools solve problems that until now seemed insurmountable.

Live and Image Translation

Situations in which you do not have time to prepare a document. You need a translation HERE and NOW.

Google Translate app for smartphone (Camera and Call)

Why is it worth it? That’s two superpowers in one app.

• Camera mode: You launch the app, point the lens at any text (e.g., photocopying, book page, poster), and see the translation superimposed on the image in real time. No more rewriting! Perfect when you get materials that you didn’t prepare yourself.
• Conversation mode: You turn it on during a meeting with a parent. The app listens and translates both sides of the conversation on an ongoing basis. Everyone speaks their own language, and the phone is an intermediary. The quality varies, but it breaks the first ice and allows for basic communication.

Microsoft Translator app for smartphone

Why is it worth it? It has similar features to Google, but its chat mode is often considered more advanced. It allows you to have a group conversation where several people can connect their phones and everyone can see the translation on their screen in their own language. Brilliant for small projects in multilingual groups.

Browser plugins (Translator always at hand)

They save hundreds of clicks and integrate translation into your daily work at the computer.

DeepL Plugin for Chrome/Edge/Firefox (https://www.deepl.com/pl/app/)

Why is it worth it? Once installed, you can select any piece of text on the website, click on the small DeepL icon and immediately receive a high-quality translation in the speech bubble. Ideal for quickly translating emails from parents, articles or educational resources found on the Internet.

Google Translate plugin

Why is it worth it? In addition to translating snippets, it can translate an entire web page with a single click, preserving its layout. Irreplaceable when you are looking for inspiration on English-language educational blogs or want to show students the foreign website of a museum or scientific institute.

Video translation (Subtitles for all)

We use movies more and more often. How to make them accessible to everyone?

Automatic translation of YouTube subtitles

Why is it worth it? This is a built-in feature that many teachers don’t know about. If you find a great educational video in English (or in another popular language) that has subtitles, you can generate subtitles in the settings (gear icon -> Subtitles -> Translate automatically), for example. They are not perfect, but often enough to understand the context.

Clipchamp (built into Windows and online)

Why is it worth it? Are you recording a short instructional video for your students? Clipchamp has a feature to automatically generate subtitles from your voice. Once you have these subtitles in Polish, you can copy them, translate them in DeepL, and then paste them as an additional layer of text in the video, creating a bilingual version.

Intelligent AI assistants as partners in adaptation

This is no longer just a translation. This is a cultural and linguistic adaptation.

ChatGPT (version 3.5 or 4), Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini

Why is it worth it? You can assign them tasks that go beyond just translating. Instead of pasting text into a translator, you can write a command (prompt) that takes into account the pedagogical context.

Pro-Tip from a practitioner:

Use AI Assistants as your teaching partners. Instead of the usual “Translate this“, try giving a more complex command, such as:

• “Translate this command from mathematics into Ukrainian for a 10-year-old. Use simpler words than in the original. Finally, add a sentence of encouragement, e.g., ‘You can do it!’ in both languages.”
• “I have this definition of patriotism in Polish. Translate it into Ukrainian, but add a short explanation of whether in Ukrainian culture this term has any additional, specific meaning that I should know about.”
• “Create a simple, bilingual (Polish-Ukrainian) glossary of 5 key words from today’s lesson on photosynthesis.”

This is the difference between machine translation and a conscious, technology-enabled teaching process.