Language Learning and Teaching with the aid of Technology

November 2009 Blog Posts (11)

Second Life sims and tutorial materials in languages other than English

Many newcomers to SL are unaware of the fact that there are many sims where the dominant language is not English. I have made use, for example, of sims where the dominant language is Spanish. My understanding of Spanish has improved considerably as a result of visiting these sims, where I have met many native speakers of the language and where the signage is usually bilingual (Spanish and English).

As a former teacher of German, I am mainly interested in sims where German is the… Continue

Added by Graham Davies on November 30, 2009 at 3:48am — No Comments

Diary of a Second Life English Teacher … Part 5

It was a busy end of week last week, which is why it's taken until Monday to write this post. On Wednesday we had two very successful Meeting 4/Assessment 2s, once again, one for the far Easterners and another for the people based in Europe. Everyone had done their homework and downloaded the role play cards, and they all took to the activity directly. This was the first time I'd used this particular role play situation on the course, but everything went smoothly. One of the factors I had to… Continue

Added by David Richardson on November 22, 2009 at 11:00pm — No Comments

Two recorded presentations from the Virtual Round Table Conference

For those of you who missed the Virtual Round Table Conference last week, here are a couple of recorded sessions

Ton Koenraad's NIFLAR Presentation , 12 November 2009.

Panel Discussion, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it", 13 November 2009: Duane Sider, Vance Stevens, Graham… Continue

Added by Graham Davies on November 18, 2009 at 6:30am — No Comments

A busy week of conferences - time to reflect

It’s nice to be enjoying a quiet week. Last week was pretty hectic for me:

Face-to-face, 12 November: I gave presentation on Second Life at the Technology-Enhanced Language Teaching and Learning Conference, SOAS, London. Good conference. Jean Conacher (University of Limerick) gave an excellent presentation on Technology Enhanced Language learning, and I finally met Web 2.0 guru Nik Peachey… Continue

Added by Graham Davies on November 18, 2009 at 3:58am — No Comments

Diary of a Second Life English Teacher … Part 4

Today's the day my students do their guided role plays for their second assessment on the course. This post is about what I have to do to get ready for it. I'll do another one tomorrow to tell you how it worked out in practice.

What I'm trying to do today is to test their abilities to use English more spontaneously and in a situation where they might have to persuade other people to come round to their point of view. The form of the assessment is 'freely adapted' (as they say) from… Continue

Added by David Richardson on November 18, 2009 at 3:29am — No Comments

Christmas Holodeck in the EUROCALL/CALICO HQ

My colleague Randall Sadler has already done a lot of work on our EUROCALL/CALICO Christmas Holodeck. It's taking shape at the EUROCALL/CALICO HQ and will be accessible via the Horizons rezzer at ground level. It will include a skating rink:

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

I am putting together a box of Christmas goodies: decorations, trees covered in snow, and landmarks for Christmas… Continue

Added by Graham Davies on November 11, 2009 at 9:01am — No Comments

Language learning in SL - by Helen Myers

See this useful video by Helen Myers (Karelia Kondor in SL) on her introduction to SL and her experiences in learning Italian:

Language learning in Second Life: an introduction:
http://kareliakondor.blip.tv

Regards
Graham

Added by Graham Davies on November 9, 2009 at 6:46am — No Comments

Conferences, 12-14 November: Face-to-face and online

Busy week for me next week:

Face-to-face: Talking about Second Life, including an online tour, at the Technology-Enhanced Language Teaching and Learning Conference, SOAS, 11.45am GMT, 12 Nov: http://www.soas.ac.uk/lwwcetl/events/events/file54810.pdf

Online: Virtual Round Table Conference, Language Learning with Technology, 12-13 November:…

Continue

Added by Graham Davies on November 7, 2009 at 5:00am — No Comments

Report on Language Learning in SL by Stefanie Hundsberger

Stefanie Hundsberger's report on Foreign language learning in Second Life and the implications for resource provision in academic libraries has just been published:

http://arcadiaproject.lib.cam.ac.uk/docs/second_life.pdf

This report was produced as a research exercise for the Arcadia Fellowship Programme at Cambridge University Library over a period of nine weeks. It aimed to… Continue

Added by Graham Davies on November 6, 2009 at 7:09am — No Comments

New Web TV and YouTube viewer in the EUROCALL Building

I have just installed a new New Web TV and YouTube viewer in the EUROCALL Building in SL. It's located in Meeting Room 1, upstairs. You can view the video that is currently available by clicking on the Play button next to the video camera icon at the foot of the SL screen. I actually have a menu of videos available, but I have not worked out a way of allowing anyone other than myself to select freely from the menu without also allowing them to delete an existing video or add a new video. There… Continue

Added by Graham Davies on November 5, 2009 at 9:48am — No Comments

The Fall of the Berlin Wall - 20 years on

Have a look at this great sim of the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ciel/62/121/24

I crossed the border into East Germany on three occasions:

1. In 1963 when I was a student in Hamburg. The West German government organised heavily subsidised trips to Berlin for foreign students. The Wall had been there for just two years. There were memorials all along the… Continue

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