Second Life Take 2
3 06 2008
After seeing that video about second life and thinking about it some more, i was interested in researching some more of the educational uses of the program. I found this slideshare show that explores using this virtual world for ESL purposes. Its called ESL, Second Life, and Teenagers: Learner Autonomy for the Digital Natives. The British Council have created an island in second life for teaching english. For example, the information center on the island which will provide resources. They claim that the island is a self access center for teenagers, and has no plans for direct teaching. Their sections include: layers of language, vocabulary, language in use, and lexical sets. Slide 29 in particular was interesting.
Ok honestly, for me the whole presentation was a bit fake and idealistic. Saying things like it will be “an attractive place for teens to meet and spend time”. But there were a couple of slides that stood out, and the general idea behind the slideshow was compelling. They were trying to create an space where students can meet and collaborate no matter where they are from. I can see how this would be a useful tool for learning languages in particular.
Presentation From: www.slideshare.net/bcgstanley/second-life-esl-learner-autonomy-for-the-digital-natives
Hello – Great to see that you are interested in using virtual worlds for langauge teaching. There is a lot of interest in this now and last month there was the second annual conference on virtual worlds in language education. If you missed this event you can take a look at the archives on the website… http://www.slanguages.net/archive.php
If you would like any more information, please just email me (howard*avatarlanguages.com).
Bye for now,
Howard