SL Reflection 1

Icy and me went to Luskwood and see everyone here with costume of animal. I also see a man dressed like a vampire, hanging upside down on the street light. This give me the idea that maybe our final project we can do vampire role-play. But since the two other group members were absent today, we will ask them next week whether they think the idea is OK.

[19:54] Meimeiryo Littlebird: everyone here has a tail!XDDDDD
[19:54] IGY Spore: i think it's too complicated for me
[19:54] IGY Spore: ==
[19:54] IGY Spore: where did u get ur suit?
[19:54] Meimeiryo Littlebird: me?
[19:54] Meimeiryo Littlebird: i get my outfit at freebie
[19:54] IGY Spore: ya
[19:54] IGY Spore: whatz that
[19:54] Meimeiryo Littlebird: you wanna go there?
[19:54] IGY Spore: oh i see
[19:55] IGY Spore: no
[19:55] IGY Spore: i hate shopping
[19:55] Meimeiryo Littlebird: XDDDD i can understand
[19:55] Meimeiryo Littlebird: you see that fox?
[19:55] Meimeiryo Littlebird: the white one
[19:55] IGY Spore: where is the fox
[19:55] IGY Spore: oh i see
[19:55] Meimeiryo Littlebird: the very japanese one
[19:56] IGY Spore: ya
[19:56] IGY Spore: i am pm him
[19:56] IGY Spore: i want to ask where does he got his gear
[19:57] Meimeiryo Littlebird: did he reply?
[19:57] IGY Spore: no
[19:57] IGY Spore: guess he never want to reply me
[19:57] IGY Spore: hey
[19:57] IGY Spore: don't forget to shot some photo
[19:57] IGY Spore: in sl
[19:58] Meimeiryo Littlebird: OK! come stand beside that fox
[19:58] IGY Spore: am i in right position?
[19:58] Meimeiryo Littlebird: no
[19:58] Meimeiryo Littlebird: come here
[19:59] Meimeiryo Littlebird: see me?
[19:59] IGY Spore: damn
[19:59] IGY Spore: u r talking THIS fox
[19:59] IGY Spore: i just recognized a player as the fox u said
[20:01] Meimeiryo Littlebird: i took the shot
[20:01] IGY Spore: me too
[20:01] Meimeiryo Littlebird: see that vampire?
[20:01] IGY Spore: um
[20:01] Meimeiryo Littlebird: how about we do vampire role play for final project?
[20:01] Meimeiryo Littlebird:i remember vampire role play are very popular in SL.
[20:01] IGY Spore: i think it's fine. we can ask them next week
[20:02] Meimeiryo Littlebird: OK, wanna go to next place then?
[20:02] IGY Spore: ok
[20:02] IGY Spore: u go first then teleport me
[20:02] Meimeiryo Littlebird: OK

Article discussion

Designing Task-Based CALL to Promote Interaction:EN BUSCA ESMERALDS
by Marta Gonzalez-Lloret


Report of the article:

This article is mainly talking about nowaday all areas of education are undergoing some changes. It changes from teacher-centered to student centered, focusing more on letting students do the practice themselves. And also the increasing use of computers for learning, and net-working based teaching is a huge change. So L2 teaching is no exception in this shift. Computer-assist language learning (CALL) becomes more and more popular. CALL does not mean learning without the help of instructors, it mean that technology is one of the tool that teacher use to assist and promote language learning.

But although computers are useful and motivating for students' learning, but there are only few solid studies to support this learning method. So this article provides a research base to help confirm this argument.

It mentions about the advantages of using CALL activity for learning, such as allowing students to be immersed and actively involved in an enviornment. And students can access at any time from any computer. It is global wide. And it can integrate graphics, audio, and text together and etc.

Besides the advantages, there is another important point of CALL activity, which is to use the help of interaction to promote students in the area of L2 learning. Many scholars such as Long and Hegelheimer and Chapelle, state that learners are most likely to notice linguistic form during interaction

So by using CALL activity, student can learn L2 by interacting more with other students, and also by the help of the instructors.


YouTube videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evY4zv990z0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKx3gyQrqaA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcYyUwFLakQ



Summarize and Evaluate Classmates’ Ideas:

Question 1.Do you prefer this way of L2 learning based on multimedia, or prefer the traditional teaching method? What are the possible advantages or disadvantages of this method? Do you think the efficient of this method is good or not?

Answer: Yes I do like it. I feel it's more interesting than traditional ways of learning. I think the advantage of CALL is that it's fresh and free to students. In the past, some students might want to skip the class when facing terrible weather or the temperature is too hot or too cold. Now by using CALL, we don't have to go out to class, we can simply learn at home. I think it will help to lower the rate of skipping class. But when it comes to the efficiency, I think face to face learning is still better. Because it can save the time of typing and operating the computer.


Question 2.Do you have similar experience using this kind of device or join alike online activities? If you do, please share your experience with us, and tell us if you hold a positive attitude or not.

Answer: I've used Second Life to learn news writing before. I can teleport almost anywhere I like in this virtual world, and buy free gorgeous costumes to dress myself up. My group members and I also interviewed other players in this online-game about their attitude towards online relationship. Over all, it was an interesting experience, and I really did learn some interview and news writing technology through Second Life. So I definitely holds a positive attitude towards CALL.