A language learner’s experience in Second Life

A language learner’s experience in Second Life • Pierre, France, language learner at the Avatar Languages school • A feedback of one personal experience using SL o why and how I used SL o what did I find and like (or dislike) there o how did the use of SL contribute to my learning process

Why I Started to Use Second Life • Why I started to use SL about 2 years ago? o curiosity o practice my English o tips from my English teacher at AL • SL in France in 2007 o a lot of buzz about it, like today about facebook and twitter o access to Second Life was not such an easy thing

First steps in Second Life • Relatively easy and rapid to start and to learn the basics o to walk o to fly o to customize your avatar o to chat o to add friends • I wasn't interested in... o spend time shopping o build something o spend real money • What I was after? o meet people o understand what all the buzz was about o explore places o learn English

Places • Places built by users o kinda utopia to build your own world o feeling of a world in constant evolution o open world controled by its inhabitants • To find my way o blog post on the web o tips from my teacher at Avatar Languages o tips from people I met on Second Life o CNN blog about Second Life was very useful • Great variety of place o places which remind you of a real place o fantasy places with charming landscapes o places to share a common interest or value o even a place which was an art work

People • Best experience of chatting with Second Life o friendly people who enjoy having a chat  a lot of people  most of them speak English  interesting people  I got to know some regular o completely different experience of chatting  chat with someone while seeing him as an avatar  chatting in an environment • Never use voice chat o I was afraid boring the person I was talking with o Maybe I didn't want my avatar to have my real voice

Learning English in Second Life • A good way to learn english o new vocabulary and expressions o quickly find the words and build the sentences • Important role of the environment  find the name of objects  describe people  give or understand spatial informations  ask how to do something • Kind of real situations

Chatting with a Group • Taking part (or trying to take part) in a group conversation  the group doesn't wait for you to understand and answer  what the group is talking about can change very rapidly  there were jokes and slang

My Experience of Second Life - One Year Later • A place to meet people and share an environment • Completely new experience of chatting o interesting people o very friendly and open minded o something to speak about • Milestone in my learning process • Vast and so many things to do • My limits with Second Life... what I still a regret o I didn't use voice chat o I was unable to take part in group conversation

SLanguages 2009 This presentation was given at SLanguages 2009 The Conference for Language Education in Virtual Worlds slanguages.net

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A language learner’s experience in Second Life

by avatarlanguages_students on Jul 05, 2009

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A language learner’s experience in Second Life — Presentation Transcript