CREATIVE TRANSLATION - Translating Ndebele praise poetry into English

I created this activity with my friend and former pupil Albert Nyathi, the Zimbabwean poet, musician and performer.

This short unit of work focuses on the task of translating a Zimbabwean praise poem from Ndebele, and the creative task of making an successful version in English. (NB no knowledge of Ndebele is necessary!)

Literary translation is a high end yet accessible activity, blending language awareness, cultural exploration and creative / poetic skills. All these elements feature in this resource.

There are two versions - one which I have used with year 9 students (teacher and student version) as a fun end of term activity, and one which I have used with visiting year 5 students.