Thank you, Graham for the invitation.
I will try to attend it.
Nelba Quintana  alias Nelba Aeon en Second Life 
http://englishvirtualcommunity.blogspot.com


--- El mié 28-oct-09, Graham Stanley <blogefl@...> escribió:

De: Graham Stanley <blogefl@...>
Asunto: [gamelearning] Brit Lit Event in Second Life – Saturday October 31st
Para: educators@..., evonline2002_webheads@yahoogroups.com,
efiwebheads@yahoogroups.com, gamelearning@...,
NETEACH-L@..., LearningTechnologiesSIG@yahoogroups.com,
learningwithcomputers@yahoogroups.com
Fecha: miércoles, 28 de octubre de 2009, 4:37 am






 





                   Apologies for cross-posting



We would like to welcome everyone to attend the first monthly event for

teachers and students on the British Council Isle in the main grid of Second

Life



WHAT: Language and Literature in the English Language Classroom



WHEN: Saturday October 31st at 9.30am UK time (02.30am SL time) - see

http://timeanddate. com/s/1et0



WHERE: British Council Isle

  http://slurl. com/secondlife/ British%20Counci l%20Isle/ 128/128/2



DETAILS:



This will be a mixed media event. APPI, the Portuguese English Teachers'

Association,

the British Council, and WordPowered, are holding a seminar in Coimbra in

Portugal on " Language and Literature in the English Language Classroom"

this Saturday.



In addition to various workshops in the afternoon, author Melvin Burgess and

poet Francesca Beard will be doing a Q&A session and performing some of

their works in the morning.



Melvin and Francesca will be present as avatars on the British Council's

Second Life island on the Main Grid (for over 18s), and will be answering

and performing in real time in Second Life.



MORE INFORMATION:



http://www.appi. pt/noticias/ doc/semAPPIBCPRO G.pdfhttp: //www.appi.
pt/noticias/ doc/semAPPIBCPRO G.pdf



PARTICIPATION:



For more information on Second Life and its uses in EFL, you might like to

read this:

http://www.teaching english.org. uk/blogs/ bcgstanley/ teacher-educatio
n-second- life



HOST and ORGANISER: Joe Pereira (Creed Juran in Second Life)



Hope to see you in-world,



Joe Pereira

British Council Second Life Project Officer



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





























       Yahoo! Cocina

Encontra las mejores recetas con Yahoo! Cocina.


http://ar.mujer.yahoo.com/cocina/

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Apologies for cross-posting

We would like to welcome everyone to attend the first monthly event for
teachers and students on the British Council Isle in the main grid of Second
Life

WHAT: Language and Literature in the English Language Classroom

WHEN: Saturday October 31st at 9.30am UK time (02.30am SL time) - see
http://timeanddate.com/s/1et0

WHERE: British Council Isle
  http://slurl.com/secondlife/British%20Council%20Isle/128/128/2

DETAILS:

This will be a mixed media event. APPI, the Portuguese English Teachers'
Association,
the British Council, and WordPowered, are holding a seminar in Coimbra in
Portugal on " Language and Literature in the English Language Classroom"
this Saturday.

In addition to various workshops in the afternoon, author Melvin Burgess and
poet Francesca Beard will be doing a Q&A session and performing some of
their works in the morning.

Melvin and Francesca will be present as avatars on the British Council's
Second Life island on the Main Grid (for over 18s), and will be answering
and performing in real time in Second Life.

MORE INFORMATION:

http://www.appi.pt/noticias/doc/semAPPIBCPROG.pdfhttp://www.appi.pt/noticias/doc\
/semAPPIBCPROG.pdf


PARTICIPATION:

For more information on Second Life and its uses in EFL, you might like to
read this:
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/bcgstanley/teacher-education-second-life

HOST and ORGANISER: Joe Pereira (Creed Juran in Second Life)

Hope to see you in-world,

Joe Pereira
British Council Second Life Project Officer


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Come and join us in our first virtual project on learning English and
having fun!

Our web address is http://firstvirtual.ning.com/
<http://firstvirtual.ning.com/>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Please disconnect me from this group; my mailbox is clogged

Hi everyone,

apologies for cross-posting

I thought I'd mention that the 'Second Life Education COMMUNITY CONFERENCE'
starts today.
There are lots of in-world presentations, events, educational games and
simulations.

My good friend Baldric is presenting at 10-10.30am SLT (5pm GMT)

Find out more here:
http://sledcc.wikispaces.com/SLEDcc+in+Second+Life

Hopefully see some of you there over the weekend:

Graham Stanley
http://blog-efl.blogspot.com


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi everyone,

these groups both started as part of the TESOL Electronic Village Online
(EVO) session that was run in January 2007.

Myself, Rita Zeinstejer and Nick Noakes moderated what turned out to be a
very fruitful exploration of gaming and virtual worlds (especially Second
Life), with discussions and other artifacts archived at
http://evogaming.wikispaces.com/

The call for papers for the January 2009 EVO session is now out and I
thought it would be interesting to re-run the session taking into account
all of the things that have happened since the last one.

If any of you are interested in helping (either as a co-moderator, or a
presenter / SL tour guide /  helper)  for this session, please let me know.

All the best,

Graham

Graham Stanley
http://blog-efl.blogspot.com


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sorry to hear that Lynne. Second Life is a little unforgiving if you don't
have the right PC specification unfortunately. Perhaps if you could let us
know a little about what kind of PC operating system you use we could find
out what the problem is. For example, do you use Windows Vista or XP?

Regards,

Graham

On Sun, Mar 30, 2008 at 11:53 PM, lynne <lynnekahatapitiya@...>
wrote:

>   i would like little more than to be present but...my pc won't let me.
> any ideas? i'm getting real 2nd life withdrawal symptoms and i've never
> even got one yet...a 2nd life, that is!!! help!
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

i would like little more than to be present but...my pc won't let me.
any ideas? i'm getting real 2nd life withdrawal symptoms and i've never
even got one yet...a 2nd life, that is!!! help!

Hi everyone,

apologies for cross-posting...

The fourth in the EduCation@EduNation series of presentations in Second Life
(http://www.secondlife.com) will be held next Sunday 30th March at 12:00 PST
(Second Life Time), 19:00 UTC/GMT or 21:00 CET. Check here for your local
time: *http://tinyurl.com/3dfn7z

*The special guest this time round is Jeremy Harmer,
http://www.jeremy-harmer.com/, the well-known and best-selling ELT author
and international speaker, and it will be his first public event in Second
Life - he'll be behind the avatar Dirk Beatty.

The session is entitled "Watching Teachers Watch Themselves" and will be a
real-world talk (rather than being about SL education) looking at teacher
observation and how teachers perceive their work and their teaching
practice.

The session concerns the teacher observation Jeremy carried out whole
preparing the new edition of Jeremy's book, 'How to Teach English' [ Pearson
Longman, 2007].

So, be sure to sign up quickly to ensure a place next Sunday (by visiting
http://tinyurl.com/3awkys - the sign-up stands on EduNation III - it
promises to be a lively session which teachers worldwide will undoubtedly
enjoy and benefit from.

Hope to see some of you there!

Regards,

Baldric Commons / Graham Stanley
http://blog-efl.blogspot.com


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hello all



SLanguages 2008 now has a website – HYPERLINK
"http://www.slanguages.net/"www.slanguages.net.



Please do pass the message on to others who would be interested in attending
and/or presenting at conference.  The slideshare presentation on the front
page is embeddable so you can include it in your blog, website or ning
group.



The website and the slideshare presentation are available in various
languages to encourage participation and presenters in languages other than
English.



Hope to see you all there.



Howard





Howard Vickers

HYPERLINK "mailto:howard@..."howard@...

HYPERLINK "http://www.avatarlanguages.com/"www.avatarlanguages.com


No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.21.8/1339 - Release Date: 3/22/2008
4:43 PM



No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.21.8/1339 - Release Date: 3/22/2008
4:43 PM



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi everyone,

and apologies for cross-posting...

This is a reminder about the third monthly session of
Education@EduNationtaking place this Friday February 29th from 12:30 -
13:30 PST - a special
session on educational games in Second Life with Jeremy Koester (Jeremy
Braver in SL) - check here for your time: *http://tinyurl.com/35t4zc*

Here's Jeremy's introduction:

I am first of all an educator. My heart is to work with learners in
interactive learning environments. I am the Founder and President of Gaming
and Learning in Second Life. I consult with educational entities regarding
learning and technology. I am currently working on my graduate degree in
Instructional Technology at the University of Texas at San Antonio (ant.
'08). Gaming and learning is a passionate interest of mine. I regularly
present my educational technology findings at large conventions such as
SLBPE, SLCC, TCEA and CAMT. I want to be a part in shaping the future of
education and how America addresses it's educational needs going into this
digital, global environment.

I will be talking about Gaming and Learning in SL as an organization.
Participants will learn about what GaLiSL is, what we do, and also get a
chance to play a game that Jeremy Braver (Jeremy Koester-RL) designed. The
game is called 'Windbag'. It's a whimsical game of social bluffing where
everyone has a good laugh and learns at the same time.

Be sure to sign up beforehand at Edunation III:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Edunation%20III/202/27/21/%20
More about Education@Edunation here:
http://www.theconsultants-e.com/edunation/educationedunation.asp

Please forward this message to people you think may be interested

Thanks and look forward to seeing some of you there

Graham Stanley (Baldric Commons in Second Life)
http://blog-efl.blogspot.com


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi everyone,

Just a reminder that later today I'll be taking part in the second of
a monthly series of educational talks, visits and other events to be
held at the island of Edunation III in Second Life

Sunday January 27th
12.30 Second Life Time (20:30 UTC, 21:30
CET)<http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?month=1&day=27&year=20\
08&hour=12&min=30&sec=0&p1=224>

Teen Grid Angst

The session will be about the differences between running educational
projects on the Teen and Main Grids of Second Life and will be sharing my
experience so far of being involved in setting up a three-island virtual
self-access centre for language learners

I'll be looking mainly at the project that I've been involved with for the
British Council, which recently opened in beta on the Teen Grid. We have
just started running a trial with EFL students and I should be ready to
report on the first impressions and have their feedback for this session.

There's more Info here:
http://www.theconsultants-e.com/edunation/educationedunation.asp

Hope to see some of you there!

All the best,

Graham

Graham Stanley
http://blog-efl.blogspot.com


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- End forwarded message ---

Hi everyone,

and apologies for cross-posting...

Later this month I'll be taking part in the second of a monthly series of
educational talks, visits and other events to be held at the island of
Edunation III in Second Life

Sunday January 27th
12.30 Second Life Time (20:30 UTC, 21:30
CET)<http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?month=1&day=27&year=20\
08&hour=12&min=30&sec=0&p1=224>

Teen Grid Angst

The session will be about the differences between running educational
projects on the Teen and Main Grids of Second Life and will be sharing my
experience so far of being involved in setting up a three-island virtual
self-access centre for language learners

I'll be looking mainly at the project that I've been involved with for the
British Council, which recently opened in beta on the Teen Grid. We have
just started running a trial with EFL students and I should be ready to
report on the first impressions and have their feedback for this session.

There's more Info here:
http://www.theconsultants-e.com/edunation/educationedunation.asp

Hope to see some of you there!

All the best,

Graham

Graham Stanley
http://blog-efl.blogspot.com


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Grace -

I'm currently working on some findings/conclusions from the first 3
months of the project. Once I have that paper in better shape, I'll
post it here for the group to review/comment on.

If there's something specific you have a question about, I'll, of
course, try to answer it as best I can here.

Thanks!

Jonathan



--- In gamelearning@..., Graciela Juretich
<graciela_ar30@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Jonathan,
>
> I write to you from Argentina and pretty interested in your research
and findings. Where can I have some more data?
> Cheers,
> Grace.
>
>
> ----- Mensaje original ----
> De: j2151121 <dehaan@...>
> Para: gamelearning@...
> Enviado: viernes 26 de octubre de 2007, 7:05:29
> Asunto: [gamelearning] What are we working on?
>
> In the interest of starting some discussion among everyone here (it
> may be we're working on similar topics!):
>
> What are some of the new media/game language learning projects you're
> working on now? What are some of the questions/issues you have with
> media/games and language learning? Are you running a study?
> Integrating games in a school curriculum?
>
> Looking forward to learning more, getting to know you better, and
> hopefully digging deeper into some great topics.
>
> Best -
>
> Jonathan deHaan
> http://www.u- aizu.ac.jp/ ~dehaan/
>
> --
>
> To answer my own question:
> - my dissertation research examined how the interactivity of Parappa
> the Rapper affected vocabulary recall, cognitive load and telepresence
> (once the document has passed my committee (in Dec., hopefully!), I'd
> be happy to share it with the group here)
> - This year, I'm doing an ethnography of a language video game library
> ( http://aizulvl. pbwiki.com ) that I set up at my University. I'm
> looking at a variety of issues: interactions among players in the
> library, players' reactions to various game genres, how the resource
> fits in with the culture/curriculum of the University, and some
> initial usability-related projects.
>
>
>
>
>
>
________________________________________________________________________________\
____
> Yahoo! Noticias
> Todo lo que tenés que saber sobre Elecciones Presidenciales 2007
encontralo en Yahoo! Noticias.
> http://ar.news.yahoo.com/elecciones2007/
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Hi Graham -

The games/systems are for students to use in the library. I wanted to
better understand how NNS play games in a foreign language, so I
needed to be able to observe them playing. Next year, I plan to let
students check the equipment out.

I developed a variety of guided diaries that low - high level students
can use to reflect on what they experienced in the game. I'm currently
working on some more materials/seminars to ease students into writing
game reviews/FAQs and perhaps some creative writing as well.

Thanks for your questions! All the best -

Jonathan


--- In gamelearning@..., "Graham Stanley" <blogefl@...>
wrote:
>
> Hi Jonathan,
>
> a very good idea - this list has been quite dormant for a while.
I've just
> taken a look at your wiki - looks like a very interesting project,
and of
> particular interest to people will be the list of games (
> http://aizulvl.pbwiki.com/Games) - I'd like to know if you have
developed
> any support materials to use with the games (for student reflection,
etc)
> and whether the students also have access to the consoles in the
library, or
> are they simply for them to borrow and take home.
>
> And to answer your question about projects, I'm currently working on
a trial
> that the British Council (http://www.britishcouncil.org) is running
in Teen
> Second Life, to set up and test the viability of using this platform for
> self-access learning and to build a small community of language learners
> there.
>
> We are in the final development stages, and will be using a number
of quests
> and game-like builds to deliver materials. You can find out more
about this
> here: http://www.slideshare.net/bcgstanley
>
> All the best, and hope to hear more from others on the list,
>
> Graham
>
> Graham Stanley
> http://blog-efl.blogspot.com
>
>
>
> On 10/26/07, j2151121 <dehaan@...> wrote:
> >
> >   In the interest of starting some discussion among everyone here (it
> > may be we're working on similar topics!):
> >
> > What are some of the new media/game language learning projects you're
> > working on now? What are some of the questions/issues you have with
> > media/games and language learning? Are you running a study?
> > Integrating games in a school curriculum?
> >
> > Looking forward to learning more, getting to know you better, and
> > hopefully digging deeper into some great topics.
> >
> > Best -
> >
> > Jonathan deHaan
> > http://www.u-aizu.ac.jp/~dehaan/ <http://www.u-aizu.ac.jp/%7Edehaan/>
> >
> > --
> >
> > To answer my own question:
> > - my dissertation research examined how the interactivity of Parappa
> > the Rapper affected vocabulary recall, cognitive load and telepresence
> > (once the document has passed my committee (in Dec., hopefully!), I'd
> > be happy to share it with the group here)
> > - This year, I'm doing an ethnography of a language video game library
> > ( http://aizulvl.pbwiki.com ) that I set up at my University. I'm
> > looking at a variety of issues: interactions among players in the
> > library, players' reactions to various game genres, how the resource
> > fits in with the culture/curriculum of the University, and some
> > initial usability-related projects.
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Our apologies for cross-posting!

Dear all,

The CALL Interest Section of the international TESOL
professional association is pleased to offer the
opportunity to participate in the Electronic Village
Online (EVO) 2008 season. This is a professional
development project and virtual extension of the TESOL
2008 Convention in New York. The intended audience
for this project includes both TESOL 2008 participants
and those who can participate only virtually.

You do not need to be a TESOL member to participate in
a free , six-week , wholly online session of the EVO,
Jan 14 - Feb 24, 2008. Please visit our Announcement
Page to select one or two among the various offerings.

http://evo08sessionscfp.pbwiki.com

Feel free to distribute this annoucement.

Looking forward to having you in the EVO 2008 sessions,

Yours in TESOL ,

Dafne Gonzalez
On behalf of the EVO coordination team

Johnathan, Graham,

I've nothing to report, except that I read both of your messages with
interest and am folloing up the links.

Dennis


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Jonathan,

I write to you from Argentina and pretty interested in your research and
findings. Where can I have some more data?
Cheers,
Grace.


----- Mensaje original ----
De: j2151121 <dehaan@...>
Para: gamelearning@...
Enviado: viernes 26 de octubre de 2007, 7:05:29
Asunto: [gamelearning] What are we working on?

In the interest of starting some discussion among everyone here (it
may be we're working on similar topics!):

What are some of the new media/game language learning projects you're
working on now? What are some of the questions/issues you have with
media/games and language learning? Are you running a study?
Integrating games in a school curriculum?

Looking forward to learning more, getting to know you better, and
hopefully digging deeper into some great topics.

Best -

Jonathan deHaan
http://www.u- aizu.ac.jp/ ~dehaan/

--

To answer my own question:
- my dissertation research examined how the interactivity of Parappa
the Rapper affected vocabulary recall, cognitive load and telepresence
(once the document has passed my committee (in Dec., hopefully!), I'd
be happy to share it with the group here)
- This year, I'm doing an ethnography of a language video game library
( http://aizulvl. pbwiki.com ) that I set up at my University. I'm
looking at a variety of issues: interactions among players in the
library, players' reactions to various game genres, how the resource
fits in with the culture/curriculum of the University, and some
initial usability-related projects.





      
________________________________________________________________________________\
____
Yahoo! Noticias
Todo lo que tenés que saber sobre Elecciones Presidenciales 2007 encontralo en
Yahoo! Noticias.
http://ar.news.yahoo.com/elecciones2007/

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Jonathan,

a very good idea - this list has been quite dormant for a while. I've just
taken a look at your wiki - looks like a very interesting project, and of
particular interest to people will be the list of games (
http://aizulvl.pbwiki.com/Games) - I'd like to know if you have developed
any support materials to use with the games (for student reflection, etc)
and whether the students also have access to the consoles in the library, or
are they simply for them to borrow and take home.

And to answer your question about projects, I'm currently working on a trial
that the British Council (http://www.britishcouncil.org) is running in Teen
Second Life, to set up and test the viability of using this platform for
self-access learning and to build a small community of language learners
there.

We are in the final development stages, and will be using a number of quests
and game-like builds to deliver materials. You can find out more about this
here: http://www.slideshare.net/bcgstanley

All the best, and hope to hear more from others on the list,

Graham

Graham Stanley
http://blog-efl.blogspot.com



On 10/26/07, j2151121 <dehaan@...> wrote:
>
>   In the interest of starting some discussion among everyone here (it
> may be we're working on similar topics!):
>
> What are some of the new media/game language learning projects you're
> working on now? What are some of the questions/issues you have with
> media/games and language learning? Are you running a study?
> Integrating games in a school curriculum?
>
> Looking forward to learning more, getting to know you better, and
> hopefully digging deeper into some great topics.
>
> Best -
>
> Jonathan deHaan
> http://www.u-aizu.ac.jp/~dehaan/ <http://www.u-aizu.ac.jp/%7Edehaan/>
>
> --
>
> To answer my own question:
> - my dissertation research examined how the interactivity of Parappa
> the Rapper affected vocabulary recall, cognitive load and telepresence
> (once the document has passed my committee (in Dec., hopefully!), I'd
> be happy to share it with the group here)
> - This year, I'm doing an ethnography of a language video game library
> ( http://aizulvl.pbwiki.com ) that I set up at my University. I'm
> looking at a variety of issues: interactions among players in the
> library, players' reactions to various game genres, how the resource
> fits in with the culture/curriculum of the University, and some
> initial usability-related projects.
>
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

In the interest of starting some discussion among everyone here (it
may be we're working on similar topics!):

What are some of the new media/game language learning projects you're
working on now? What are some of the questions/issues you have with
media/games and language learning? Are you running a study?
Integrating games in a school curriculum?

Looking forward to learning more, getting to know you better, and
hopefully digging deeper into some great topics.

Best -

Jonathan deHaan
http://www.u-aizu.ac.jp/~dehaan/

--

To answer my own question:
- my dissertation research examined how the interactivity of Parappa
the Rapper affected vocabulary recall, cognitive load and telepresence
(once the document has passed my committee (in Dec., hopefully!), I'd
be happy to share it with the group here)
- This year, I'm doing an ethnography of a language video game library
( http://aizulvl.pbwiki.com ) that I set up at my University. I'm
looking at a variety of issues: interactions among players in the
library, players' reactions to various game genres, how the resource
fits in with the culture/curriculum of the University, and some
initial usability-related projects.

The following gamelearning poll is now closed.  Here are the
final results:


POLL QUESTION: Have you used the voice facility in Second Life yet?

CHOICES AND RESULTS
- Yes, and it worked very well, 2 votes, 22.22%
- Yes, but it didn't work very well, 2 votes, 22.22%
- No, I haven't, 5 votes, 55.56%

INDIVIDUAL VOTES
- Yes, and it worked very well
      - rita@...
      - howard@...
- Yes, but it didn't work very well
      - alicebarr@...
      - tomdoliveira@...
- No, I haven't
      - daniela2000_ro@...
      - annette@...
      - mmendoza97@...
      - jennyv@...
      - trickiedickie@...


For more information about this group, please visit
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/gamelearning

For help with Yahoo! Groups, please visit
http://help.yahoo.com/help/uk/groups/

Hello all



Unfortunately Graham won't be back in Second Life in time to attend the
Monday Webheads meeting (he is attending the English Teaching professional
conference in real life London).  So Graham has asked me to step in and
organize this week's get-together.



Perhaps we could hold it at a different time this week (and have a few new
faces) - any suggestions of suitable times for Hong Kong, Buenos Aires and
other locations?



The last three weeks focused on using Second Life versions of real life
European cities.  I suggest that this week we move on to another topic,
although drawing on discussions from those virtual visits.  For those who
were not able to attend, both Graham's blog (http://blog-efl.blogspot.com
<http://blog-efl.blogspot.com/> ) and my own blog
(www.avatarlanguages.com/blog) have covered what we talked about.



A couple of suggestions for this week's meeting. How teachers can take
advantage of Second Life without owning their own land.  This follows on
from the European cities tour, but takes a broader look at what there is in
Second Life to be used.  Another topic we could explore is how to take
advantage of the scope for creativity and imagination within Second Life.



Now that I have your attention, I will mention the "Second Life in Real
Life" YouTube video that is doing the rounds.  It's funny stuff, and I think
it also raises some questions for language educators.  You can view the film
here.



http://avatarlanguages.com/blog/?p=27



I hope you will make some suggestions for both times and subjects.



With best wishes

Howard





Howard Vickers

  <http://www.avatarlanguages.com/press> howard@...
www.avatarenglish.com
www.avatarlanguages.com/press

  <http://www.avatarlanguages.com/blog> www.avatarlanguages.com/blog













[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hello all


Unfortunately Graham won't be back in Second Life in time to attend
the Monday Webheads meeting (he is attending the English Teaching
professional conference in real life London).  So Graham has asked me to
step in and organize this week's get-together.


Perhaps we could hold it at a different time this week (and have a few
new faces) – any suggestions of suitable times for Hong Kong, Buenos
Aires and other locations?


The last three weeks focused on using Second Life versions of real life
European cities.  I suggest that this week we move on to another topic,
although drawing on discussions from those virtual visits.  For those
who were not able to attend, both Graham's blog
(http://blog-efl.blogspot.com <http://blog-efl.blogspot.com/> ) and my
own blog (www.avatarlanguages.com/blog
<http://www.avatarlanguages.com/blog> ) have covered what we talked
about.


A couple of suggestions for this week's meeting… How teachers
can take advantage of Second Life without owning their own land.  This
follows on from the European cities tour, but takes a broader look at
what there is in Second Life to be used.  Another topic we could explore
is how to take advantage of the scope for creativity and imagination
within Second Life.


Now that I have your attention, I will mention the "Second Life in
Real Life" YouTube video that is doing the rounds.  It's funny
stuff, and I think it also raises some questions for language educators.
You can view the film here…


http://avatarlanguages.com/blog/?p=27
<http://avatarlanguages.com/blog/?p=27>


I hope you will make some suggestions for both times and subjects…


With best wishes
Howard


Howard  Vickers
howard@...
www.avatarenglish.com
www.avatarlanguages.com/press <http://www.avatarlanguages.com/press>

www.avatarlanguages.com/blog <http://www.avatarlanguages.com/blog>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hello

Thank you to Graham for organizing  the Real Life European Cities Tour
in Second Life, where we visited Liverpool  and Barcelona and even had
time for a chat in a  pub.

I have blogged (www.avatarlanguages.com/blog
<http://www.avatarlanguages.com/blog> ) about some of the ideas
discussed.  Perhaps Graham, you will blog yourself about the meeting
(transcript  too?).

See you all at next week's meeting –  same time, same place?

With best  wishes
Howard



Howard  Vickers

howard@...
www.avatarenglish.com
www.avatarlanguages.com/press <http://www.avatarlanguages.com/press>





--- In gamelearning@..., "Graham Stanley" <blogefl@...>
wrote:
>
>  Hi everyone,
>
> apologies for cross-posting
>
> WEBHEADS DISCUSSION TOUR #2
>
> REAL LIFE EUROPEAN CITIES IN SECOND LIFE
>
> For those interested in meeting up in Second Life on Mondays, I
thought it
> would be interesting to continue the tour of Real Cities we started
last
> week.
> We only got to visit two, and there are lots more that we can take a
look
> at.
>
> As the best part of last week's tour (see http://blog-efl.blogspot.com
for
> details) was having a guide speak us through it in Wonderful Denmark,
I
> thought I could attempt to do something similar in..
>
> * Barcelona
> * Liverpool
>
> and if anyone comes along who'd like to give a tour of another
destination,
> please let us know. Here are some of the other cities I proposed
visiting
> last week...
>
> * Moscow
> * Amsterdam
> * Lisbon
> * Brussels
> * Dublin
>
>
> FOR DISCUSSION:
>
> Second Life has its fair share of Real Life cities that people have
> created. Why build a recreation of a Real Life city in a virtual world
> where what you build is confined only by your imagination? Do these
> places attract native speakers from these countries and people
> interested in learning the language associated with the cities? What
> can you learn about culture from visiting these places?
>
> Join us for the discussion tour and find out the answer to these
> questions and more.
>
> DATE/TIME : Monday, September 10, 2007 at 20:00:00 UTC time:* *
> http://tinyurl.com/39j7n9* =*
>
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?month=9&day=10&year\
=2007&hour=20&min=0&sec=0&p1=0<http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fix\
edtime.html?month=9&day=3&year=2007&hour=20&min=0&sec=0&p1=0>
>
> MEETING PLACE: Meet at the Webheads hut at Edunation :
> http://slurl.com/secondlife/Edunation/73/51/22/
>
> CONTACT: IM Baldric Commons for a teleport link if you're late
>
> NOTE: If you activate the Second Life Voice Client before you come,
you
> will  get more out of this experience: In Second Life, go to Edit
> ->Preferences->Voice Chat and click on the box 'Enable Voice Chat'
>
>
> All the best,
>
> Graham
>
> Graham Stanley
>
> http://blog-efl.blogspot.com
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi everyone,

apologies for cross-posting...

The BBC has an article/audio report about Second Life, this time directed at
English language learners, which rehashes part of the World Service
interview that was published earlier.

There is also a comprehension exercise, transcript and notes for teachers
that can be downloaded (PDF)

The lesson plan is perhaps the most interesting, especially so for those
teachers interested in introducing non-native English speaking students to
Second Life.

The article can be found here

http://tinyurl.com/2dxdxz *

*
htp://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/2007/09/070905\
_second_life.shtml

Reagrds,

Graham

Graham Stanley
British Council Second Life project
http://grahambluecoat.edublogs.org/
http://blog-efl.blogspot.com


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi everyone,

apologies for cross-posting

WEBHEADS DISCUSSION TOUR #2

REAL LIFE EUROPEAN CITIES IN SECOND LIFE

For those interested in meeting up in Second Life on Mondays, I thought it
would be interesting to continue the tour of Real Cities we started last
week.
We only got to visit two, and there are lots more that we can take a look
at.

As the best part of last week's tour (see http://blog-efl.blogspot.com for
details) was having a guide speak us through it in Wonderful Denmark, I
thought I could attempt to do something similar in..

* Barcelona
* Liverpool

and if anyone comes along who'd like to give a tour of another destination,
please let us know. Here are some of the other cities I proposed visiting
last week...

* Moscow
* Amsterdam
* Lisbon
* Brussels
* Dublin


FOR DISCUSSION:

Second Life has its fair share of Real Life cities that people have
created. Why build a recreation of a Real Life city in a virtual world
where what you build is confined only by your imagination? Do these
places attract native speakers from these countries and people
interested in learning the language associated with the cities? What
can you learn about culture from visiting these places?

Join us for the discussion tour and find out the answer to these
questions and more.

DATE/TIME : Monday, September 10, 2007 at 20:00:00 UTC time:* *
http://tinyurl.com/39j7n9* =*
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?month=9&day=10&year=2007&ho\
ur=20&min=0&sec=0&p1=0<http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?mont\
h=9&day=3&year=2007&hour=20&min=0&sec=0&p1=0>

MEETING PLACE: Meet at the Webheads hut at Edunation :
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Edunation/73/51/22/

CONTACT: IM Baldric Commons for a teleport link if you're late

NOTE: If you activate the Second Life Voice Client before you come, you
will  get more out of this experience: In Second Life, go to Edit
->Preferences->Voice Chat and click on the box 'Enable Voice Chat'


All the best,

Graham

Graham Stanley

http://blog-efl.blogspot.com


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Enter your vote today!  A new poll has been created for the
gamelearning group:

Have you used the voice facility in Second Life yet?

   o Yes, and it worked very well
   o Yes, but it didn't work very well
   o No, I haven't


To vote, please visit the following web page:
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/gamelearning/surveys?id=2560220

Note: Please do not reply to this message. Poll votes are
not collected via email. To vote, you must go to the Yahoo! Groups
web site listed above.

Thanks!

Apologies for cross-postings!

Hi all,

I'm sending this on behalf of the EVO team; please help spread the
word!

Looking forward to seeing you all again in the EVO 2008!

Warm wishes,
Susan Marandi @>---;-
EVO coordinator

Tehran, Iran



******************************************************************
Dear colleagues,


The TESOL Electronic Village Online announces its Call for Proposals
for the Electronic Village Online 2008


The CALL Interest Section of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other
Languages, Inc. (TESOL) offers language teachers world-wide the
opportunity to participate in the Electronic Village Online (EVO), a
professional development project and virtual extension of the TESOL
2008 Convention in New York, NY, USA. The free 6-week sessions allow
participants to engage in online discussion and/or short hands-on
workshops on topics of professional interest in the field of ESL/EFL.
TESOL member groups, in particular, are invited to sponsor sessions
related to convention presentations.


For further information on how to become a moderator of one of our
sessions, please visit our Call for Proposals page at:


http://dafnegonzalez.com/evo08/Cfproposals.htm


Looking forward to your proposals,


Cordially,

Dafne Gonzalez
EVO Coordinator

Dennis,

I'd also like to publicly thank Gavin and his team for the symposium on
Saturday. Even though I was only able to attend the last part of the event,
it was obvious to me just how much careful thought and time had been put
into the organisation to ensure that it went smoothly and was a success. If
the comments that I heard afterwards (during the disco) were typical, I
think all of the presenters and participants appreciated this (I heard one
very interesting comment in particular, that this event had greatly
surprised the participant and that it was the first virtual conference he
had attended that he hadn't found in the least bit boring.  So, perhaps,
there still is no clear resolution about how best to use SL for language
learning, but what is clear to me after Saturday's event, and the previous
'Best Practices in Education in SL' is that SL is a fabulous platform for an
online conference. Many thanks to Gavin and his team, and let's hope it be
the first of many...

I'd also like to respond to your question about learning and gaming,
Dennis...

Organising the 'Digital Gaming & Language Learning' TESOL EVO 2007 session
was a real eye-opener for me, ( our  wiki is here:
http://evogaming.wikispaces.com/ ) and  led to a lot of resource and link
sharing that I've been following up on. One thing that I learned from it
that surprised me is the boom that is taking place in game-based learning at
the moment. Apart from Prensky, one other educator's name keeps coming to
the forefront - James Paul Gee (I don't know if Nik also mentioned Gee
during his presentation as I haven't had time yet to listen to the archive),
and I can highly recommend his research as a way into this.

Gee is the best example of a digital immigrant who has embraced the
potential of gaming in education - he was in his fities when he first
started to play computer games, and his fellow academics thought he was
crazy (see http://pc.gamezone.com/news/07_03_03_06_17PM.htm) - he initially
started to play to help his six-year-od son understand a computer game he
was playing, and he ended up teaching his father how to play (!)

Gee stresses the importance of playing the games proactively, and lays out
the learning pronciples embedded in 'good games', the importance of
"affinity groups" (this relates to CoPs) among other things. He is also a
highly respected theoretical linguist, and covers gaming and language
learning in his books and articles. I found his book 'What Video Games Have
to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy' an encouraging eye-opener, and I'm
currently in the middle of a new book of his collected essays : 'Good Video
Gaming and Good Learning', which goes even further. He is particularly
critical of the kind of "educational games" that Gavin mentioned in his
post, and very insightful on the principles that game designers follow to
motivate players to spend so much time "learning" in these gameworlds.

I can also highly recommend this video presentation given by Gee: *
http://tinyurl.com/2reuof*

Hope this is of interest to people - I know that Gee has inspired me into
doing some serious research with my X-Box this summer :) - I'd love to hear
from others about this subject.

Graham

Graham Stanley
http://blog-efl.blogspot.com

>Gavin,

>A public "Thank you" for yesterday's excellent symposium at EduNation,
>Second Life. (For those that were not there, there should be recordings
>within a few days).

>The 64,000 dollar question that is hammering in my brain is: What do we
>REALLY know about language learning? Whether we are facilitating learning
in
>Second Life or elsewhere, more than anything else, I suggest, we need to
>understand as best we can how people learn languages - and we can be sure
it
>will not be one single way. With such knowledge in place we can then
>evaluate and utilise what is unique about SL, and virtual places like it.
>Nik Peachey yesterday (I can't spell his avatar's name), speaking as a
>writer and developer of English language resources on SL, interestingly
>turned for insights into how people learn to gaming rather than
traditional,
>academic learning theories.

>As they say on discussion lists: What do you think?
>
>Dennis Newson (retired)
>University of Osnabrück
>GERMANY
>Webhead,
>Moderator of a number of TEFL e-lists


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

With apologies for cross-postings ...



Registrations are now open for the three-day conference "New and Emerging
Technologies in ELT" in Chennai (Madras) India.



The conference is jointly organized by IATEFL Learning Technologies SIG and
ELTAI.

It offers the perfect combination of a country  with a rich ancient tradition, a
modern venue, a wide variety of thought-provoking talks, examples of technology
implementation in language teaching, reflections on the current state in
technology use in language learning and hands-on workshops offering the
participants a chance to gain skills in a variety of areas.



Registration for the conference and its social/cultural events are available at
http://ltsig.org.uk



The conference programme should be uploaded soon at http://ltsig.org.uk

In the meantime, here is a taster of the talks and workshops.



Talks on:



Talking to the Digital Natives: Building Connections and Community on Web 2.0

Exploring Wikis for Written Language

Beyond the language classroom: Mobile learning with Podquests

Speaking and Listening Online and at a Distance

Evaluating user responses to students' blogs, wikis, forums

Using mobile technology to teach soft skills in ESL/EFL classrooms

E-learning: The myth and the reality

Using Interactive Whiteboards to Teach English as a foreign language

Fostering Collaborative Reflectivity among Teacher Trainees through Asynchronous
Discussion Forums.

E-assessment as aid to ESL/EFL learners: Planning, Designing, and Managing the
Tools.

A Web-based Audio Reader for Extensive Reading and Extensive Listening

The Role of Teachers and Online Community Networks in Facilitating Social
Interaction

Developing Video-Based Materials for Teacher-Trainers of ESL



Workshops on:



Training Learners for Autonomy in Web-based Listening

Using Wikis in Language Learning and Teaching

From Video Production to Video Blogging

Blogging and Learner Autonomy

Using MOOdle






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]