Exploring Educational Places in SL

Wonderful ! I didn’t use to have any idea about the Second Life some time ago. Now, I know at leat what it means ; an amazing world. More than this I know that pleanty of things could be done there. The objective behind taking the course in discovering new technology that could help enhance the teaching and learning of languages, namely English. The idea was somehow unclear, but the more we proceed in the course, the more it becomes clearer. Exploring educational places in-world has given a better idea about how learning can take place in the Second World.

I- VIRTLANTIS
The first place I visited was virtlantis : www.slurl.com/secondlife/virtlantis/203/56/21 It is a devoted to teaching languages. I have discovered that aims at least at teaching English and Italian. The one which is devoted for English is owned by Kip Yellowjacket. The Second Life English group has been helping language learners and teachers in Second Life since 2006. The activities are mainly held at the English Village where the moderators organize weekly team-teaching events and assiste learners and teachers in various ways.

The Second Life English SIM is a free resource for language learners and teachers. The place is not a school. The users are a community of language learners and teachers who share the desire to use the virtual world of Second Life for the learning and teaching of foreign languages*.

The design of the region is of crucial importance as it is devided into different sections and classrooms. There are rooms for playing games that would enhance the target language learning, other rooms are equiped with the interactive board, boaards with charts, pictures, grammar rules… There is also a hut like place where you can find links to other blogs, wikis, webpages, facebooks… with the interest of teaching and learning English. Onother important thing is that teachers can take teaching tools for free.

* Information taken from a notecard taken from the region : what is second life English ? www.slurl.com/secondlife/233/73/21

II- EDUCATION UK:

This region owned by Chris Eggplant. It is a huge and it is composed of different places, each of which is specialized in a particular domaine in education. There many classrooms, amphiteathers, screens... I set here some examples here:

Manchester Art Gallery:

A very nice place to visit. This place is deseigned for people with the interest in art genres. In the entry hall, there are a lot of pictures, boxes, boards and links. Everyone can have access to reading materials to explore Art through history or take free clothes, set for quizzes, get information, send postcard, take nice pictures wearing very old but wonderful clothes. People who are interested in the art can benefit a lot. In the realm of teaching English, I think it would also be interesting to explore the area especially with intermediate and advaced learners. The place would facilitate the job and offer to the students a kind of real meseum or gallery where they can see and do.

Education Island - Teachers TV:

Teachers TV a devoted TV channel to teachers. Its main concern is teachers and education development in UK in particular. Teachers do benefit from it all over the world. It has a wonderful website with a big number of videos related to the domaine. I was amazed when I discovered that there Teacher TV in-world. Wonderful!

The place is owned by Chris Eggplant and it is composed of two big a classroom like areas with places to sit and watch. One of the rooms has a big screen where you can watch videas. In the other room, there is a section for participation in a survey Teachers Tv is conducting. (I think the latter is still underconstruction).

Education Uk Island Office:

This is the administration blog where you can get information about the region; schools, colleges, universities and institutes.

The British Literature Classroom:

This is a place for advanced English learners who would like to explore British literature. The classroom is equipped with a huge screen and there are many posters all over. Some of them are of great poets, writers... There are a set of pictures showing different masterpieces. Each one of them gives an assignment about the content and the analysis of a particular literary work.

III- MATAMATA: Home of DRIVE-THROUGH ESL

ESL SL (English as a Second Language, SL

Owner: Giovanni Tweak
This region is called Matamata. It is a language school of English for different purposes starting from beginner levels upward. The owner is Giovanni Tweak. The access to the place is reserved to people who have subscribed. It is a free place where anyone can learn the language. I got there and asked for information. I managd to get some, but I wasn’t allowed to take any snapshot. The owner said that it is copywrighted.


IV- LANGUAGE LAB:

Place: ESL - Learn English - Languagelab (ESL, EFL, TESOL, TOEIC)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/language%20Lab/128/196/30
This region is not a public one. The owner is languagelab.com group. It is restricted to subscribed people who desire to learn English. Once you teleport there, there is an assistant at the entry to offer help. What is striking there is that there are boards on which you can choose a city to teleport for language practice. I wanted to take a tour to discover, but I didn’t have the permission as the responsible was absent. I managed to take some few snapshots. I also asked for information but I got none. I wonder what kind of learning place it is!!!!

V- INSTITUTO ESPANOL:

Teaching and Learning Spanish : Instituto Espanol

The region is owned by Instituto Espanol Segunda Vida Group. It is settled for teaching and learning Spanish. It doesn’t offer free courses, but people can subscribe and pay so as to learn the language. There are classes for beginners , false beginners and others for intermediate learners. The owner of the rgion is