Apologies for two Second Life postings in a row! This one is to highlight the work of Language Lab who are really ahead in providing experiences for learners as well as the more traditional language lessons which people expect from an outfit calling themselves a language learning organisation. Language lab have built an entire city in their part of Second Life so that you can actually go shopping, visit an art gallery or relax with a cup of coffee at the cafe. They have also employed actors to play the part of shopkeeper, cafe owner and so on and who interact with visiting learners. And they also put on events in which learners can play an active part such as gallery openings and chat shows. I particularly like the way the events are run. Prior to the event you get a few prompt questions and likely glossary which may or may not be used during the event, then during the event there is always the possibility of participating in some way. Once the event is over you get an email with some glossary, grammar points and exercises derived from the actual interactions which took place. For me this is exactly the way to go in using Second Life for educational purposes. The only thing missing from the mix is a recording of the event.
The first event I attended was a Christmas party. The next event was a chat show with Juliette Towhidi, screen writer of The Calendar Girls. Towhidi is half-Iranian so there was lots of scope for asking how she came to do the screenplay for such a quintessentially English film. Language Lab are experimenting with recording these events and I was lucky enough to be able to edit a couple of extracts from this event for the current Absolutely Intercultural show. In the extracts you can see how the audience can interact with the chat show guests and let's face it, it's not everyday that you can quiz the screenwriter of a box office hit.
The event approach reflects the dogmetic approach of focusing on the language which occurred naturally, which I think has a lot of merit but which requires a lot of hard work at the time of the event. With planned teaching, the work is concentrated at the front end.
The show also includes a short interview I did in Oslo with Timo Väliharju of Mediamaisteri Group when he was questioned about the success of Finland in the PISA evaluations. His diagnosis was that the secret of Finland's success lay in part in the spontaneous study groups which students set up to help each other.
Keywords: absolutely intercultural, Calendar Girls, dogme, Juliette Towhidi, Language Lab, Mediamaisteri Group, Second Life, Timo Väliharju
