Language Learning Landmarks on Second Life

My first stop was Virtulantis, a free educational resource for educators and students. Teleporting never gets old and there are so many places to go it’s simply mind-boggling. Virtulantis is certainly an interesting place. There are notices everywhere for free activities, open gatherings and I was surprised to learn that they rely almost exclusively on volunteers. In Second Life, the virtual worlds are so vivid and so vast that you almost immediately feel a strong sense of presence. That is, of course, if your ISP doesn’t bring you crashing back down to reality. I just read yesterday that South Korea is launching a 5G service. Sometimes I wonder why I ever left that place. Anyway, perpetual lag aside, I enjoyed exploring Virtulantis. The island is huge and the facilities were top notch (as far as VLE’s are concerned). There were signs everywhere letting avatars know when the next class was. Everything seemed set up to be very communicative and relaxed. There were plenty of interesting places to sit and converse. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, I had to do a lot of typing, but I’m glad SL still has that feature. It sure came in handy, and I was still able to enjoy the Presence Pedagogy (P2) experience.

Due to further technical issues and time constraints I decided to head on over to Drive-Through ESL; yet another 3D learning sanctuary for students and educators. Fortunately, while searching their website for more information I found one of the most comprehensive Second Life tutorials I have come across so far. I’ll embed a link at the end of this entry. Overall, they seem to have a very solid business model that like Virtulantis, focuses heavily on the communicative approach. One thing that particularly surprised me was the realization that there is a clear code of conduct and that business is being conducted. I think a lot of people join Second Life, thinking it's a wild free for all; a place where you can do whatever you want. This is certainly not the case. Laid back? Yes. Unprofessional? Absolutely not. I think that because SL is a 3D environment, people are less likely to misbehave. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I believe that whenever there's a strong sense of presence, people are more likely to respect each other. Anonymity breeds contempt.    

It really doesn’t take that long to become a well behaved virtual student on SL. Most tutorials stress the importance of learning how to stand up and sit down. If there’s a class happening on Virtulantis island or Drive-Through ESL island, all you have to do is teleport, walk into the allocated room and sit down. That’s it. It’s simple, effective and a very enjoyable P2 experience.    

Drive-Through ESL Tutorial