tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26256446808621368012024-03-12T19:34:45.780-07:00EFL in Second LifeDennishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13404851424299855026noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2625644680862136801.post-44044989105201865472008-08-10T01:45:00.000-07:002008-10-13T02:13:27.931-07:00A guest lesson in EFL in Second Life<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIinQCJuabxLtkUa5rF4mNThG0mH3iWsWpkgnp7hZeXbnUGSMwO7nyczVQAgxeMb-CYfxSHteUIpYfGGKzw7gAz6YpLqODSLkLdnDm-5-4oG3-0TgdeXb0DjSEtnNAi60-gr4QEUVH7FA/s1600-h/Nergiz.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 58px; height: 58px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIinQCJuabxLtkUa5rF4mNThG0mH3iWsWpkgnp7hZeXbnUGSMwO7nyczVQAgxeMb-CYfxSHteUIpYfGGKzw7gAz6YpLqODSLkLdnDm-5-4oG3-0TgdeXb0DjSEtnNAi60-gr4QEUVH7FA/s320/Nergiz.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5232951349695569714" border="0" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" spt="75" preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"> </v:formulas> <v:path extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" connecttype="rect"> <o:lock ext="edit" aspectratio="t"> </v:shapetype><v:shape id="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75" style="'width:48pt;"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\DOKUME~1\n\LOKALE~1\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.jpg" title="Nergiz"> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span style=""> </span>Nergiz (Daffodil) Kern, based in Turkey, Webhead, creator of the <a href="http://www.slexperiments.pbwiki.com/">slexperiments</a> wiki (along with Alicia and Maru) with a group that meets weekly in SL, and founder of </span><a href="http://edurizon.com/" target="_blank"><span style="" lang="EN-US">EDURIZON.COM</span></a><span style="" lang="EN-US">, kindly in</span><span style="" lang="EN-US">vited me to be a guest on Saturday 9th. August, 2008 and teach her group of SL students - five men, from Turkey, Germany, Saudi Arabia, France and Egypt and <span style=""> </span>two young women from Qatar. (The young women did not use voice for religious reasons, but they could hear and they used written chat energetically.) <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Since I had not the rights to use some of the equipment in the first site we chose, we decided to move to outside my villa on Gavin Dudeney’s <a href="http://www.theconsultants-e.com/edunation/edunation.asp">EduNation</a> island.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLCMcxQ1bFZ9WcE2kquOXixCUJR22cflFmNX7nx9UAikCWhehyMBm_mPQ4_B5Y9nyHZiiYiMu_-mGHTAV3-Z5GnS9xknHL5Awnx2bhNWhPD-YfFhgvo68S5ef0I1a2zCTROK5bM18eRHc/s1600-h/SL+home+from+above_003.bmp"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLCMcxQ1bFZ9WcE2kquOXixCUJR22cflFmNX7nx9UAikCWhehyMBm_mPQ4_B5Y9nyHZiiYiMu_-mGHTAV3-Z5GnS9xknHL5Awnx2bhNWhPD-YfFhgvo68S5ef0I1a2zCTROK5bM18eRHc/s320/SL+home+from+above_003.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5232970407265662546" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Earlier in the day Nergiz came and gave me and instructed me in the use of Gavin’s screen viewer. She also brought along 7 mats and a burning fire.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEd1POWkDCFy23KhDrC1nDi0jpm7rDRQFkx_7XL_VyEANU2XVy7M91Moa6RmLjetV3Pj9d_GvWCaG8njylFL_08zP5QiJGW1BQ4PzVNjpzzqwVE9pP6P3JbfOai8yhlFB0JyvNxQqtEgU/s1600-h/WEaiating+for+Nergiz+students+to+arrivew_004.bmp"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEd1POWkDCFy23KhDrC1nDi0jpm7rDRQFkx_7XL_VyEANU2XVy7M91Moa6RmLjetV3Pj9d_GvWCaG8njylFL_08zP5QiJGW1BQ4PzVNjpzzqwVE9pP6P3JbfOai8yhlFB0JyvNxQqtEgU/s320/WEaiating+for+Nergiz+students+to+arrivew_004.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5232973814776495810" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBPIQBb2-pb_1swF8-MpxjoXiUD2bpvXX0F_SgFalgV5ZW2wD9lUhdoucKrip22w0E7FDgu_FVqsNHi2-5fZE9gBPPfXccDKqO8mh4SLnq7o_O2uEfXy9GtMu9mEy1q_HzFSK0eVw6rbQ/s1600-h/Fire+and+mats+me+and+Negritz.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBPIQBb2-pb_1swF8-MpxjoXiUD2bpvXX0F_SgFalgV5ZW2wD9lUhdoucKrip22w0E7FDgu_FVqsNHi2-5fZE9gBPPfXccDKqO8mh4SLnq7o_O2uEfXy9GtMu9mEy1q_HzFSK0eVw6rbQ/s320/Fire+and+mats+me+and+Negritz.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233104396391141506" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP_9geeKeG2xyjiOTgtvoVDUt8m-mgNZCAH-2MW4IATVIFlTAalU2JRPtWXL6ASOkvb3D_tUY0n4GdEAvVp06YAPTIXwEtsDN26dfYpJizxYk24SO7muI0okAmzbDssOsf5xeXuRqt_K4/s1600-h/Screen+me+graduatinjg.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 283px; height: 206px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP_9geeKeG2xyjiOTgtvoVDUt8m-mgNZCAH-2MW4IATVIFlTAalU2JRPtWXL6ASOkvb3D_tUY0n4GdEAvVp06YAPTIXwEtsDN26dfYpJizxYk24SO7muI0okAmzbDssOsf5xeXuRqt_K4/s320/Screen+me+graduatinjg.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233105467496085394" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me on my graduation day</span><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">My main aims were to get the students asking me questions about myself and for me to learn something about them.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">I’d decided to start with: “Let’s introduce ourselves”, but that intention got lost in the initial business of getting seated – and facing the right way to view the photos!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFgIRi_X93dPFydoEa2NWnZA9fSgFbUB00tG1226H0weXjKhhsISS66VvKeybg4T8MTdh1mBN2bm8I3UvI5bX1MaNCOEmOgN1DcJmJzeoiWoEhZs6BVsW2iT6CHe8grv1bZvZvhLJ2Y9w/s1600-h/Getting+seated.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFgIRi_X93dPFydoEa2NWnZA9fSgFbUB00tG1226H0weXjKhhsISS66VvKeybg4T8MTdh1mBN2bm8I3UvI5bX1MaNCOEmOgN1DcJmJzeoiWoEhZs6BVsW2iT6CHe8grv1bZvZvhLJ2Y9w/s320/Getting+seated.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233110288339776802" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">I’d chosen a number of personal pictures from what I had available in electronic form and planned to use them spontaneously, in no fixed order, according to how the presentation/discussion was going.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirZNb8otntf5TEz_o-s-FfzTLeUNtktvFKnbMRxY3hJ-nqx-79xgedYZWdyO9RhfE0TOvImXDJ9jWF2Bu1BwKURxKBJ8zMXRc058fxFqJt6jMk0udDJ8JuVcs35rpSHWkWLcpBedw4q74/s1600-h/Nan+with+tandem.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirZNb8otntf5TEz_o-s-FfzTLeUNtktvFKnbMRxY3hJ-nqx-79xgedYZWdyO9RhfE0TOvImXDJ9jWF2Bu1BwKURxKBJ8zMXRc058fxFqJt6jMk0udDJ8JuVcs35rpSHWkWLcpBedw4q74/s320/Nan+with+tandem.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233107439945006914" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><span style="font-weight: bold;">My grandmother and her tandem</span><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">This was just as well since at one stage the photos seemed to stick (or perhaps I hadn’t quite mastered how to select them). <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">As in First Life, it was a little unnerving before the beginning of the lesson <span style=""> </span>waiting alone for the unknown class to come and wondering who would come (over the bridge) and how it would all go.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTb_2-Xfb2AdOF5Lrx_rzpIfrm9zH4uc6TsAqWvhw-_l88T1BNkFOSDJktpctOkuNLBDrlaIAwEKIAFxY_8Ivpr2lQw7TwICaNh-kl7u6HPnwGFepaqr8sya78mO_DMEyc8DxQrgONins/s1600-h/Crossing+the+bridge.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTb_2-Xfb2AdOF5Lrx_rzpIfrm9zH4uc6TsAqWvhw-_l88T1BNkFOSDJktpctOkuNLBDrlaIAwEKIAFxY_8Ivpr2lQw7TwICaNh-kl7u6HPnwGFepaqr8sya78mO_DMEyc8DxQrgONins/s320/Crossing+the+bridge.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233108856553036354" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Students crossing the bridge</span><br /><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">In the event there were not too many spoken or written questions to begin with, but there were quite a few written answers to questions like: “ Who do you think this is?” “Why do you think I’m showing you this picture?” “Which town do you think this is?” The young women from Qatar were particularly active.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">In the last 15 minutes (prompted by Nergiz) I joined the students round the fire and there were quite a number of spoken and written questions – often quite demanding: “What do you think needs to be done so that education in Arab countries achieves more?”<span style=""> </span>“What is your wisdom?” I took that to mean – “Have you words of advice for us?”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDgggQQ9ZUa1SFpa1qKiT1RAodn_IHPH4ufxedZ7BxSheNTfdfsJVa71dk5YluNVvwRsDujKZ9z7H6nrngaF39K3_iKNh1LW4GVYgqH7SLoPpuwy5tKOKRZFYC5nQ5FPMhnqw_s-cOqOw/s1600-h/Nergiz's+class,+9+Aug+2008.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDgggQQ9ZUa1SFpa1qKiT1RAodn_IHPH4ufxedZ7BxSheNTfdfsJVa71dk5YluNVvwRsDujKZ9z7H6nrngaF39K3_iKNh1LW4GVYgqH7SLoPpuwy5tKOKRZFYC5nQ5FPMhnqw_s-cOqOw/s320/Nergiz's+class,+9+Aug+2008.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5232974711559420850" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDkCtw4a0s9dLCBmJ1-AKR3350HcKMcNUQAaXi-rltDzrWhQoP3w66YJg1Q9rAHHcx8VvcpCNnUWOwHY4SuTHa5QQi4nZLnsSUlXbKqqww6up53HmfxW59zViqLbvvlucqt1R2ebg-lUI/s1600-h/The+class.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDkCtw4a0s9dLCBmJ1-AKR3350HcKMcNUQAaXi-rltDzrWhQoP3w66YJg1Q9rAHHcx8VvcpCNnUWOwHY4SuTHa5QQi4nZLnsSUlXbKqqww6up53HmfxW59zViqLbvvlucqt1R2ebg-lUI/s320/The+class.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233106121259664530" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">As people started to leave one student thanked me for my “pronunciation and English words”.<span style=""> </span>Another thanked me for the chance to meet a person like me – whatever that might mean, and one of the men said he had visited my homepage and had a question about an Erasmus project mentioned there. One of the same students wanted to know how I'd come to concentrate on English. I got the general impression that most of the students had enjoyed the 60 minutes and had least experienced someone speaking English with a certain accent. And from Nergiz's notes in local chat I could see that she was explaining some of the vocabulary I had used.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">I most certainly enjoyed the experience.<span style=""> </span>At first I thought I’d spoken too much, but I can see that that was partly a result of the format we chose for the lesson. The presentation of the photos also led to the subsequent questions/discussion in the last 15 minutes. I didn’t learn much about the students, though – one of my declared aims.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">What would I change in a future session?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="" lang="EN-US"><span style="">1.<span style=""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="" lang="EN-US"><span style=""> </span>I’d master the presentation device so I could choose the sequence of the photos and not be at its mercy.<br /><span style="">2.<span style=""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="" lang="EN-US"><span style=""> </span>Of course I’d like to know the students better. I think my teaching of EFL has become all about communicative relationships between the students and between me. I need to be able to judge when to intervene , when to hold back, when to encourage, when to ask pertinent questions or make encouraging statements. I felt at a disadvantage not knowing the students and not always being able, for technical reasons, to hear them easily. Clearly, though, it is not possible to get to know a group as a guest on one visit.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">I can see that, perhaps even more critically than in First Life teaching, it is necessary to be crystal clear about the aims of a course and particular lessons and parts of lessons in it.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">This experience has whetted my appetite for EFL teaching in SL. A priority must be for the teacher to master the control and manipulation of the SL environment, including the use of language learning/teaching tools, but then the prospects are exciting – not least in terms of in-world travel. Just think, as long as there is a pedagogical reason for doing so, within one or two lessons you and your class can visit, say, The Red Square, Virtual Mecca, Knightsbridge and Morocco.<span style=""> </span>That will surely be motivating and generate language to be exploited .</span></p><br /><p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-style: italic;">Thanks to Nergiz for some of the photos.</span><br /><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Dennishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13404851424299855026noreply@blogger.com4