Second Life reflection

The one idea that I can't get out of my head about this assignment is that I truly think online virtual worlds could work in the foreign language classroom, but that I'm not sure Second Life is the proper one. Throughout my avatar's "journeys," I encountered a lot of interesting things. A lot if it, however, would probably be quite inappropriate for high school users. I "teleported" to a French-speaking area in the game, and the other users were saying a lot of inappropriate things (granted, in the target language). The fact that teachers can't control the content that students would potentially be exposed to is a major concern of mine. The idea of a Teen version of Second Life would be an excellent tool. Having a controlled environment for teenagers would make it a more acceptable resource for use in high school foreign language classrooms.


In general, however, I really think using virtual worlds could be an excellent innovation for foreign language teaching. This could solve problems of limitations when it comes to having access to native speakers of a target language. For example, a Spanish teacher who teaches Spanish in an area where this language is not very commonly used might have a hard time gaining access to a native speaker or native speakers with whom the students could converse. Making use of virtual worlds, this teacher could connect with a native speaker of Spanish anywhere around the world as long as he or she is using the same program that houses the virtual world. Also, to a certain degree, these environments allow for some type of authentic communication to occur. Students may not necessarily be speaking aloud, but they are speaking in real time to another speaker of the target language and are forced to think on their feet just as they would in a real, in-person conversation. Virtual worlds are also useful for recreating real-world situations that would be hard to recreate in the classroom, in an attempt to make experiences as authentic as possible for the foreign language learner.


Overall, I think virtual worlds could be very useful in the foreign languge classroom. I'm not sure that Second Life has enough restrictions to be used in a high school setting, but surely there must be something similar that teachers can use. I think nothing beats authentic, in-person interactions when it comes to learning a new language and practicing it, but this is certainly something to look into.