2008 September Archive at Languagelab.com Blog

Monthly Archive for September, 2008

languagelab.com نظرة نحو أفق جديد للتعلم(1)

Published

on September 30, 2008

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لطالما كان التعليم حاجة لم تستغني عنها البشرية على ممر العصور
وتنوعت أساليبه وطرقه باختلاف الأزمنة والحضارات . ولا شك أن الملاحظ لمسيرة التعل�
بتقدم الزمان يشهد تطورًا بالغًا من فترات النحت على الحجارة إلى استخراج الاوراق
والأحبار والأقلام هذا علاوة على تقدم أماكن الدراسة وظهور المدارس والجامعات وكل
أمر منها شهد ارتقاءًا وتقدمًا بالغين .

أما في عصرنا الحالي العصر الذي بلغنا فيه اقاصي الفضاء .. تبرز لنا استراتيجية
تعليمية حديثة ألا وهي التعليم عن بعد ” من مكتبك ومنزلك ” قد يكون هذا الأمر ليس
بغريبٍ عنا ولكن التعليم عن بعد هذا .. يستخدم تقنية العوالم الافتراضية ثلاثية
الأبعاد .

في هذه العجالة سأتحدث لكم عن تجربة التقيتها صدفة وذلك ضمن تصفحي شبكة الانترنت .
وهي تتلخص في موقع يدعى Languagelab.com .. هدف هذا الموقع تقديم الخدمات التعليمية
في مجال تعليم اللغات وذلك باستخدام أساليب مبتكرة تتيح لأي فرد من حول العال�
الانضمام لها . ويتم تركيز هذا الموقع وتقديم دروسه عبر برنامج يتيح للمشترك الولوج
إلى عالم ثلاثي الأبعاد ويدعى هذا البرنامج SecondLife وذلك بعد اجراء مستلزمات
التسجيل عبر الموقع . يتم استقبال جميع الطلاب الجدد في منطقة مخصصة لذلك ويت�
تعريفهم بالبرنامج والتأكد من ضبط إعدادات الصوت - لمحادثة بين المعلم والطالب
والعكس - وإرشاده إلى كيفية حجز الحصص الدراسية وكيفية حضور فعاليات التدريب على
اللغة المختلفة والمتنوعة والشيقة أيضًا .ولعل أهم ما يجذب المتعلم في هذه البرامج
تقريب العوالم له فمثلا قد تكون هنالك محاضرة في الانجليزية العامة عن كيفية حجز
التذاكر في المطار فيأخذك المعلم إلى مطار افتراضي ويتم هنالك استحداث درس . ويتنوع
البرنامج بالكثير والكثير من الأمور المفيدة والممتعة وهو ما يتيح بيئة تعليمية لأي
باحث عن تعلم أي لغة أخرى بأقل التكاليف.

Languagelab goes Japanese!

Published

lola

on September 29, 2008

in Japanese

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Konnichiwa!!! Languagelab is proud to announce that we will be introducing a new and fully translated Japanese version of our current website. We now also accept payments in Japanese Yen, so it’s even easier to sign up with Languagelab! To celebrate this, the Languagelab mascot La-la is coming out of hiding. Can you guess what La-la looks like? A cat? A two-legged horse? Do you think you know? Send your guesses as a reply to this blog and the closest answer will receive a unique virtual cuddly La-la just for you! There have been rumours of sightings of La-la around the English city for some time now but no-one’s been able to get a good look. The Languagelab teachers are so frustrated by this mystery that they have offered a big reward for the first picture of La-la taken by a student. La-la is very shy and English City is very large. The last sighting was near the Grammar House but who knows where next time? Good luck and see you soon in English City;-)

Booster Supcription - Special offer

Published

shiv

on September 29, 2008

in Uncategorized

. Closed

New Calendar Feeds

Published

shiv

on September 27, 2008

in Uncategorized

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Your Languagelab lesson calendar will now be available via Eventful.

This means you can subscribe to the weekly calender via

,

,

,

,

and many more.

Repeat after me! Part 2

Published

Administrator

on September 19, 2008

in Uncategorized

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Repeat after me! Part 2

Last week we talked about simple repetition techniques. This week we will cover spaced repetition, task repetition and recycling.

Spaced repetition:
increasing intervals of time are used between subsequent reviews. In order to follow this repetition technique,
we can use different recall methods such as questioning, free recall (e.g. write 3 words we studied last week), free association
(e.g. what words are related to “clothes”), intellective reflection (Identify the word that does not belong in a category), or
prompting using other mnemonic triggers or cues (describing images, matching words to sounds, for example). This is a great technique
to use at the beginning of each class to review previously presented vocabulary items.

Task repetition:
including the same kind of vocabulary in different tasks or activities. These different activities can be included
in one lesson. In Languagelab.com we have the City People who are always there to talk to our students in the different locations of the town.
Sending our students to complete a given task at these locations is a great way to use the language learned with other native speakers who are not teachers.
This is by all means the best repetition activity.

When we add previously presented vocabulary to new vocabulary, we are talking about repetition through recycling. For instance, we have presented
vocabulary on clothing, this vocabulary can be incorporated, in a following class about seasons (What do you wear in the summer?).

Repetition is important, but it should not be boring!

In this picture we see the students repeating vocabulary already learned. Each student was assigned a pyramid which contained images. They had to project these images and identify them.

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Jessie Teacher speaks at the DRHA 2008

Published

jessie

on September 18, 2008

in Uncategorized

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The DRHA 2008 conference at focused on how cross discipline knowledge sharing is essential to the future of digital humanities and teaching. Languagelab as experts in this field were invited to participate. The interdisciplinary nature of virtual worlds is not only relevant to teaching English at Languagelab but to many other communities of practice. Digital art, heritage, 3-D visualisation and engineering, science and theatre are all using virtual environments to create and share content. The use of virtual worlds in education was highlighted as increasingly important and a number of practitioners showcased their student collaboration and creativity in virtual environments. Among the leading institutions discussing their successful initiatives were The University of Pisa, Brunel University and Rezzable, Harvard Law School are now using Second Life as a platform to teach their courses, which are being marketed globally.

The other speakers at the conference also gave interesting presentations, here are some links to find out more about them:

Mike Takeo Magruder

Hugh Denard

Olinkha Gustafson-Pearce

Enrica Salvatori

Stephen Byrne

However there is a stark contrast between successful institutions and others who have established projects that have stagnated due to the lack of maintenance and provision of new content. Indeed, one delegate at the conference stated that many have ‘Built very impressive empty spaces’. This differs from others that are breaking new ground and attracting a significant number of new students.

Languagelab was specifically invited to show how the combination of; live actor immersive practice (The City People), classes and full courses combine narrative, student generated content and pedagogy to create a new way to learn language. Attendees were also given sight of of future projects at Languagelab, new courses (IELTS, Business and General English) and even a glimse of a radical new teaching methodology, TRIP.

My visit to Atlantis

Published

Administrator

on September 17, 2008

in Uncategorized

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My visit to Atlantis

Although Atlantis is the name of legendary island which was created by Plato’s dialogues, I enjoyed visiting it feeling as it was really existed. I visited it with my friend Hoshy two days ago, when we wore our scubas diving to look for it, and search for some new information to solve some questions, and know weather it was imagination as scientists claim, or a truth as the ancients’ people believed. In fact, I enjoyed it so much and for a while I felt I was in real life while I was looking for some things to solve my questions.

For example, when I search for the gazebo to find and discover what did people used it for I was really curious to know is it really truth. In addition, I saw the dolphin statue, and it was really fabulous statue which stand on a big shiny pearl, and I was amazed to discover that people believed that touching that statue will make them happier, stronger, and healthier which scientists rejected that belief and find nothing about it. This made me feel more curious to know about that mysterious site.

Moreover, I saw the ‘embrace’ statue, and I found a new information about who created it and why its there. Furthermore, I knew where the idea of treasure chest came from, and I saw there a red see weed plant and knew that this plant was used to kill the disease of pain. Truly, I wish this plant is really true, and so pain won’t be existed anymore in world. Last but not least, I met a beautiful mermaid and talked to her about her life under the water, and she was so cute and helpful.

Finally , it was really fancy visit , and I liked it so much, however I didn’t interested before in Atlantis ancient site, but now and after learning new things about it I so interested to read more about it. In short, Atlantis is very great site and I wish it is not just a fantasy idea as scientists believed, because I believe that a site like Atlantis which confused people and scientist all during the time deserve to be real not only in legendary fictions, but also in real world.

Posted by: Sheera Learner Language Lab student

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Navine Bosatsu’s Departure from Languagelab

Published

Administrator

on September 15, 2008

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Navine Botsatsu’s Departure from Languagelab

We have received a number of emails concerning Navine Bosatsu’s abrupt departure.

Navine Bosatsu was a member of the City People at Languagelab’s English City (Second Life) as well as a real life actor.

Navine was responsible for running yoga and meditation classes within English city and was popular amongst many students. Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances she ceased employment with Languagelab.

It has come to light that there has been a misunderstanding regarding her character storyline. Languagelab decided that bringing back the cancer which had previously gone into remission would serve as a suitable explanation for her departure in the narrative. However, it has also come to our attention that a number of students were deeply worried about the condition of the actual actress that plays Navine.

This is an official statement to confirm that Navine Bosatsu’s real life character does not have cancer. We apologise for any misunderstandings regarding this matter.

Please bear in mind the fact that as much as Languagelab strives to provide a broad range of life imitating scenarios, these are nevertheless based in virtual reality and hence essentially fiction.

We do hope that you will continue to enjoy learning English with us here at Languagelab.