Language Learning and Teaching with the aid of Technology

October 2009 Blog Posts (16)

Diary of a Second Life English Teacher … Part 3

Yesterday was the big day for my current group on the Business Talking course on Kamimo Island - their first assessed task. For me it was the day I printed up all the feedback forms, filled the coffee mug and sat down to concentrate on what they were saying - so hard that even the night security man didn't come and disturb me.

I'm running two sessions each meeting this time round, so at 3.00 pm the contingent from Beijing, Shanghai and Moscow came along (the regular 6.30 pm meeting… Continue

Added by David Richardson on October 28, 2009 at 11:59pm — No Comments

SL meeting on Language and Literature in the English Language Classroom

SL meeting on Language and Literature in the English Language Classroom

Forwarded from Graham Stanley, The British Council:

We would like to welcome everyone to attend the first monthly event for teachers and students on the British Council Isle in the main grid of Second Life.

WHAT: Language and Literature in the English Language Classroom

WHEN: Saturday October 31st at 9.30am UK time (02.30am SL time) - see…

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Added by Graham Davies on October 28, 2009 at 8:16pm — No Comments

London Language Show ICT sessions (and a test to see where this blog goes ...!)

Lots of ICT sessions over the three days of the London Language Show this coming Friday - Sunday.

I'll be doing my usual preaching about the massive potential of SL to the lively people who come along! (They usually smile indulgently!!) Please say hello if you're there .. I'll definitely be at the sessions I'm in (!) on… Continue

Added by Helen Myers on October 28, 2009 at 1:00pm — 1 Comment

More ICT and Language Learning Events, November 2009

Two more events: November 09 is beginning to look busy!

Virtual Round Table Conference on Language Learning with Technology, 12-13 Nov 09:

http://virtual-round-table.ning.com/page/conference-1

ICT Show and Tell Day for Teachers of Modern Foreign Languages, 14 Nov 09:…

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Added by Graham Davies on October 27, 2009 at 5:30am — No Comments

Conference on Technology Enhanced Language Teaching and Learning

A one-day conference on Technology Enhanced Language Teaching and Learning will take place at SOAS, University of London, on 12 November 2009:

http://www.soas.ac.uk/events/event53702.html

The focus will be on the following themes in language pedagogy: computer mediated communication; Web 2.0 technologies; mobile learning; and intercultural exchange. It is hoped that the discussions will widen to… Continue

Added by Graham Davies on October 27, 2009 at 4:46am — No Comments

Simulation of Jura region in Second Life

I just found a nice sim in Second Life: Jura, France

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Jura/131/106/46

A French-speaking guide showed me around, showing me a wine cellar, a cheese shop, the port and a mock-up of Louis Pasteur's house. There is a Christmas Village there too, complete with ski resort, chair lift and Father Christmas!

Then the guide directed me to a magic chair that took me on a tour of the whole… Continue

Added by Graham Davies on October 26, 2009 at 12:55pm — No Comments

Using holodecks in language teaching

Members of the AVALON team are developing a holodeck system that can easily be set up and modified by teachers. See the thread on holodecks in the AVALON Ning:

http://avalon-project.ning.com/forum/topics/is-holodeck-editing-a-future

The EUROCALL/CALICO HQ contains three Horizons holodecks, each of which can be accessed by the teleporter system - start at the Welcome… Continue

Added by Graham Davies on October 24, 2009 at 3:58am — No Comments

EUROCALL 2009: Videos of plenary sessions

Videos of the plenary speakers, their PowerPoint presentations and handouts are now available at the following link:

http://eurocall.webs.upv.es/eurocall2009/speakers.php

The conference blog is still active at:

http://virtualeurocall09.blogspot.com

The blog records the impressions of a number of people… Continue

Added by Graham Davies on October 16, 2009 at 4:32am — No Comments

40 members as of today, 13 October

Wow! We have 40 members already. Thanks for joining!

Greetings from the University of Ulster, where I am conducting an evaluation of their multimedia facilities.

Added by Graham Davies on October 13, 2009 at 11:31am — No Comments

Video Clip of EUROCALL 2009 Social Events

Video Clip of EUROCALL 2009 Social Events

Those of you who attended the EUROCALL 2009 conference in Gandía can relive some of the social events in the video clip that I've uploaded to the EUROCALL CMC SIG Ning.

Those of you who were not able to attend the conference can see what you missed!

I have uploaded this video just once to the CMC SIG Ning rather than uploading it three times to all three EUROCALL Nings to which I belong, namely:

EUROCALL CMC… Continue

Added by Graham Davies on October 9, 2009 at 7:30am — No Comments

Diary of a Second Life English Teacher … Part 2

There aren't going to be as many as one a day of these blog posts … it's just that I did something more today! After each Course Meeting I try to publish a podcast, really as a way trying to keep the group together. This is quite a challenge with these 'place of study' SL courses, because the students never meet IRL. I've been podcasting on my courses since 2005 and the feedback I get is always very positive. It seems as if being able to listen to the teacher's reflections at regular intervals… Continue

Added by David Richardson on October 9, 2009 at 2:00am — No Comments

Diary of a Second Life English Teacher …

I teach English at a small university in south-east Sweden, and I've been running a university course exclusively in Second Life in each of the last four terms. The course is called Business Talking and successful students get 3 European Credits for it. Students apply for it in exactly the same as for any university course in Sweden, and we haven't been advertising it at all, mainly to keep the student numbers down to a level we can handle!

We started the course this term on 17th… Continue

Added by David Richardson on October 8, 2009 at 3:18am — No Comments

Learning Chinese in SL

Interesting blog post by Kristie Williamson on using Second Life to learn Chinese:

http://lingkris.blogspot.com/2009/10/my-china-village-language-learning-in.html

I dabbled in Chinese many years ago. I followed a BBC radio course in spoken Mandarin, and I can still remember a bit. More recently I have visited Ling's Chinese City in SL. Using my X-Lang translator, I… Continue

Added by Graham Davies on October 5, 2009 at 7:32am — No Comments

The EUROCALL/CALICO HQ: seasonal change

Randall and I have made a few changes to the EUROCALL/CALICO HQ to reflect the seasonal change. It's Autumn/Fall now and Halloween approaches - pumpkins, falling leaves, ghostly figures...

Have a look: http://slurl.com/secondlife/EduNation%20III/31/35/22

Added by Graham Davies on October 3, 2009 at 4:35am — No Comments

EUROCALL Teacher Education SIG

Just to let you know that a EUROCALL Teacher Education SIG has recently been set up. Members welcomed:

http://eurocallteachereducation.ning.com

Teacher Education is a personal interest of mine. I have been involved in training language teachers to use ICT since the mid-1980s. It was a major activity of mine when I was Director of the Language Centre at Ealing College (later merged into Thames Valley… Continue

Added by Graham Davies on October 2, 2009 at 12:00pm — No Comments

M3 Project: MUVE, Moodle and Microblogging

Hi everyone

I presented on our M3 Project (integrating a MUVE, Second Life, and a Microblogging tool, Twitter with a Moodle course for international students ) in September at Eurocall, Spain. If anyone is interested, the slides are available here:

Powerpoint presentation

If any of you have international students coming to study in the UK, you might also be interested in this… Continue

Added by Julie Watson on October 1, 2009 at 3:33am — 1 Comment