If the goal of the class is to teach translating, then I guess that is fine, but translating as a language learning tehchnique mostly gives the impression that the TL is just English translated, and that 1 to 1 equivalents are always possible, and I guess desirable, which is the source of many language learning jokes. In short, never translating is a better approach. Finding other ways to convey meaning is likely to be much more successful since we are trying to get students not to translate in their minds as we or they speak. The worst writing I have ever read has been writing that was done in English by the student first, and then translated.