Please join us Thursday May 17 at 8 p.m. (Eastern time) for a conversation about how online, multi-user “games” or MMPORGs such as Second Life and World of Warcraft can be used for second language learning.
Given the fact that one needs to pay for a license for WoW and Second Life is free, we anticipate we will talk about what is possible in WoW but hopefully explore (while we broadcast) in Second Life.
WoW-heads fear not…For a link to Todd Bryant’s wonderful paper written for NITLE on using WoW for language teaching, please click here
Where are we going? Well…here is a list of possibilities for language immersion opportunities SL
A note from Doug, one of our guides:
Go to http://www.secondlife.com . Click on the large button that says Free Membership, Join Now. You will be directed to a screen where you choose your avatar’s name (you will have to select from a list of last names for the free account) and enter your birth date and e-mail addresses. Follow the steps to create your account and password. Save this info!!
When you first run the program from your computer, you will be prompted to enter your character name (NOT your real-life name) and your password. Then, bingo, you will be at the opening to Orientation Island. You will be asked to select a sex for your avatar, which will then appear, back towards you. Then you will stand there, wondering what to do…
The importance of going through the orientation to Second Life cannot be overstated. For many people, the experience of navigating through a virtual world is not intuitive and requires a little practice. You should plan at least an hour to “gain your sea legs” once you have gotten into Second Life.
The Orientation area contains a great deal of useful information, and residents of the broader Second Life community are on hand to answer questions.
When you are ready, you will leave the orientation area and enter the world of Second Life, which is referred to as “the mainland.”
A note from Barbara: woo-hoo! The book “Second Life: The Official Guide” arrived today from Amazon
Have a favorite second language spot in SL? Please leave a comment here!
Some resources for our listeners to consider prior to show time:
A link to a series of Second Life Keyboard Shortcuts (Rev. 1.1) created by Ruben R.Puentedura (licenced under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License)
