3D virtual worlds like Second Life are now being used by
language teachers to provide simulation of real life environments and
allow students to discover more creative and more realistic ways to
improve their language skills.
Language teaching is appearing in Second Life and the online language
school "Avatar English" is taking an innovative approach by combining
Second Life with voice messengers such as Skype and other online teaching
tools. Language educators in Second Life are working together to develop
and improve their teaching methods, and an example of this collaboration
is the recent SLanguages 2007 virtual conference.
Language teaching in 3D virtual worlds is still at its early stages of
development, yet it is generating interest from students, teachers and
education consultants. Second Life with over 7 million registered users
and $1.7m of business done daily is rapidly becoming a parallel world for
socializing, trading and, learning. The 3D online world is free to access
and allows its virtual residents (or avatars) to build their own
creations, allowing for an imaginative virtual world.
"Second Life brings immersive, immediate and - more importantly -
supportive, social and truly constructivist - potential to distance
learning. Combined with a virtual learning environment such as Moodle,
this is the killer education application for the inventive teacher" says
Gavin Dudeney online-education consultant of The Consultants-E and
co-author of How to Teach English with Technology, Longman, 2007.
Second Life is especially suited to younger learners of foreign languages
because they already see the internet as a natural place to learn and
play. Marc Prensky (author of Digital Game-Based Learning, McGraw Hill,
2001) refers to this generation as "Digital Natives" because they have
grown up within a digital world.
Second Life offers new approaches to language learning and initial
feedback from students is very positive. "At first I was so surprised by
this virtual school in Second Life. It was a totally new experience for me
to learn English like this. Every class was a virtual experience, but at
the same time, you get a real improvement in your English" says Bo Jian,
student at Avatar English. Teaching in Second Life is more than just the
3D experience. "Technology doesn’t replace the professionalism of an
experienced and qualified native speaking teacher, it simply allows us to
be more creative" says Howard Vickers, Director of Avatar English.
A growing movement of foreign language educators is exploring the
potential of virtual worlds. The SLanguages 2007 symposium on 23 June 2007
brought together language educators to share experiences of teaching
languages within Second Life and explore how best to use the virtual
world. "SLanguages 2007 served to explore the major issues for language
education in Second Life, and guided educators towards best practice" says
Gavin Dudeney, whose education consultancy company, The Consultants-E,
organized the virtual conference.
Although Second Life will introduce an internal voice chat soon, some
language teachers have already been using messengers such as Skype to fill
this gap. "Languages are all about verbal communication" says Howard
Vickers, "so we were very keen to make sure that the students are talking
and listening within our 3D virtual classrooms. To do this we use VOIP
alongside Second Life". Tools like Skype have additional advantages by
allowing the teacher and student to simultaneously work together on the
same document.
Avatar English is an online language school in the 3D virtual world Second
Life. The school offers individual English classes with professionally
qualified and experienced native speaking English teachers to students
globally. Classes take place in custom built virtual classrooms that
reflect the theme of the classes, such as airports, markets, banks and
cinemas. Avatar English has recently opened its doors to students around
the world and was established by Howard Vickers, an English teacher with
international experience, currently based in Bolivia.
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