Second life

I liked the idea of using virtual world in teaching especially for teaching history, chemistry and science. Students can be in the virtual world and experience the incidents happened in the past and by experiencing and living in the virtual world they can learn by interacting in real world but the real world of the past, which is something can’t be in traditional history class.

I think we can use it in language teaching too, but I think after our class discussion I will have clearer view about how to use it in teaching a foreign language. I am not sure about how we can make sure that students are interacting with native speakers. If they can interact with native speakers that would be a great opportunity for them to learn the language in a very communicative environment which is something traditional classrooms cannot offer. I think that travelling abroad to learn a language is expensive and unpractical and not everyone can do it, so by using the virtual world learners will get the chance to travel to the country they want and use the target language in a meaningful environment. The article that I have read mentioned that the learners’ fluency has improved and they gained confidence. Malvern and Graham (2008) said that French foreign language exam in UK schools are graded on knowledge of only 1000 words in French. But the research claims that the users of the second life produce more than 2000 words which is something great but can learners develop a variety of vocabulary words? I am not sure; they may develop certain vocabulary words important for their interaction so I think all this will be clear after my discussion with peers and our instructor. I wish I can observe classes that these technologies are used in teaching so I have the chance to learn more about the use of technology in teaching English as a second language.