Bree Fairlady's Blog

I had an interesting conversation with a couple of learners tonight. While I would usually insist on us using voice, it wasn’t possible in my living room at that moment. However, it allowed me to “record” the conversation I had with July and Haibin. (I’m not publishing their last names to protect their SL privacy.) A learner from the Philippines asked me for resources to help him when he’s not in SL. That opened other discussion about learning while in SL. July said something about not being a good learner, and I assured her she was just a different learner. She pointed out that she likes speaking English with people in SL. When I asked why it was different, she basically said that her motivation is much different that when she was in a classroom.

Haibin said he’s improved his English in 18 days in SL more than 10 years of school! WOW! Whether or not that’s actually true, I like his attitude! I had met him yesterday, and he was very hesitant to use voice. Today, he asked if we could! That made me so happy!

Both of them agreed that learning in a social environment was much better (not just more fun) than learning in a formal learning setting. This shows me more and more that student motivation and engagement is vital in any kind of learning. An environment like SL offers opportunity for more varied conversation and experiences. They were more excited about learning at Cypris than in a regular classroom in RL.

That made me 🙂 .

(I’ve pasted the conversation below. Keep in mind these are language learners, so excuse grammar mistakes. I’ve also “edited” other IM entries that appeared in local chat. I got July and Haibin’s permission to share this conversation.)

[23:34]  July *****: I’m not such good learner like ***** though 😛

[23:35]  Bree Fairlady: you’re just a different learner, July!

[23:35]  Bree Fairlady: everyone learns differently

[23:35]  July *****: ok :))

[23:36]  July *****: yeah…I had many chance to learn english more when I was student

[23:36]  July *****: but was not so interested in it..

[23:36]  July *****: then..

[23:36]  haibin *****: hehe

[23:36]  Bree Fairlady: that happens

[23:37]  July *****: and since I came in SL…I found its fun to communicate with people in english..

[23:37]  July *****: I never thought I can do that before..

[23:37]  July *****: before I came in SL

[23:41]  July *****: are you a student or worker,haibin ?

[23:41]  haibin *****: teacher,ur time is 11:41?

[23:41]  haibin *****: oh,haha,i 35 old,hehe

[23:41]  July *****: wow….but you are still younger than me 😀

[23:41]  haibin *****: i leave school 10years more

[23:42]  haibin *****: hehe

[23:42]  July *****: ok :))

[23:42]  haibin *****: teacher ,can we ,4 people chat in voice?

[23:42]  July *****: lol

[23:43]  Bree Fairlady: yes, we should be chatting in Voice, but I can’t right now…lol

[23:46]  haibin *****: i come here 18day,i think my english is better than my 10 years “student”.

[23:47]  July *****: Nice 🙂

[23:47]  Bree Fairlady: lol…that’s great, Haibin!

[23:47]  July *****: SL is amzing place 🙂

[23:47]  haibin *****: hehe

[23:47]  July *****: *amazing

[23:48]  haibin *****: oh,hehe

[23:48]  July *****: by the way….

[23:48]  Bree Fairlady: how is this different than a class in rl?

[23:50]  July *****: I think…the most different thing is…

[23:50]  haibin *****: i think ,in sl and in rl student,the different is :sl is i want to learn,rl is somebody want to let me learn,yes?

[23:50]  July *****: the lessons here are not ” lesson” actually…

[23:51]  July *****: We don’t need to attend to them if we don’t want….

[23:51]  July *****: and we can talk antying what we really want to talk about.

[23:51]  July *****: in SL

[23:51]  haibin *****: yes

[23:52]  July *****: but a class in RL…we have to do what we have to do there..

[23:52]  haibin *****: yes,hehe

[23:52]  July *****: even if we are not interesed in it at all..

[23:52]  haibin *****: yes

[23:53]  haibin *****: interested is a most power of learning anything,i think

[23:54]  Bree Fairlady: I agree 100%!

[23:54]  Bree Fairlady: bye Arturius!

[23:54]  haibin *****: hehe

[23:54]  July *****: and maybe because…there are many learners from all over the world here

[23:54]  July *****: not only japanese.

[23:55]  Bree Fairlady: so, the social part helps make it interesting?

[23:55]  July *****: If the learners are all japanese. it may be boring..

[23:55]  haibin *****: yes

[23:55]  July *****: yeah

[23:55]  Bree Fairlady: that’s great

I made an appearance at NECC (National Educational Computing Conference) in Washington DC. It was cool to meet other avatars for the first time. Erin also met many other avatar controllers in rl.

I found some really good tools to use in teaching in sl. I’m looking forward to be able to spend more time in world and start teaching already.

I broke a cardinal rule of bogging. I didn’t blog about something before I went to bed. 🙂 So, I’m doing it just under 24 hours after the fact…

Yesterday I led my first chat in Cypris Village. It went very well, and the feedback has been very good. I had a circus theme and everyone dressed up as clowns, or at least wore a red nose that I made.

The lesson consisted of pictures of circus vocabulary, that I had people match definitions to. Then I wrote a short dialogue about the circus and made a gap fill activity with missing vocabulary words. I split people up into pairs and sent them off to fill in the dialogue, practice it, and then come back to perform it.

At one point, I was just sitting around, while the participants were off chatting. It was wonderful. (It’s strange to have such motivated learners!)

Then after the lesson, we went to a Victorian Carnivale to ride some rides and play some games. It was really fun! Check out the Cypris Chat Flicker or Ning page (link to the right and down) for some more photos. But here is one of the group riding a Ferris Wheel.

Cypris Chat group at the fair

Here’s another one of me throwing knives and barely missing Showshow…good thing this is just a virtual world! 🙂

So, in looking for humor topics and discussion with Professor, I decided to narrow the lesson a bit more. Professor’s advice was that a humor lesson may turn into all the native speakers telling jokes and laughing, and the learners being lost and not part of the group….after all, that’s really who should be benefiting from this experience.

So, we’re going to the circus. I found some circus apparatus(es)….tight rope, flying trapese, etc. I’ve set them up in Cypris Village for people to play around on and get into the circus mood.

I found some pictures of circus vocabulary, and I wrote a dialogue for the learners to fill blanks in and practice and perform.

I’m nervous…my first online class! But I’m excited at the same time. It’s a completely different planning process. For starters, there are definitely mixed levels in this group. But I think it’s more about the conversation, than the level and skills that are being taught.

After the lesson, I have a cool place to visit…reminds me…I should go check to see if it’s still there. Sometimes they will clear whole sims in a day. This place is a carnival with rides and games and even a Big Top that we can rez items. I’ll bring my circus stuff and we can have our own circus there.

Off to teach!!!!!