Being the newest an most innovative form of learning languages, plenty of students world-wide are jumping on the band-wagon to be educated on a virtual platforms. However, in the name of quality control it is now the time to really scrutinise the services available beyond the hype.
…So we here at Languagelab have decided to give you 10 handy questions that any student wanting to learn a language efficiently and effectively need to ask before they join one of the many schools out there on virtual platforms… Happy Reading:
Continue reading ‘Top Ten Tips to Choosing a School in a Virtual World!’
夏末的一天，在英语城购物的时候，终于又见到我最喜欢的英语城居民（English City people）之一Donatella，假期归来的她依旧谈笑风生。话题还是些老话题，但是每次都让我耳目一新。
英语城有很多故事，而Donatella总能把第一时间把第一手小道消息传给我，这次她谈到了pebbles（pebbles是另一位城市居民，一个做着好莱坞梦的乐观小姑娘，如果你常看美剧，说不定可以在屏幕中看到她）她告诉我pebbles的小兄弟也要搬来英语城生活了，然后不忘飞短流长的加一句pebbles的小兄弟是大胖子。
谈到最后她又要张罗着要给我找个如意郎君把我嫁出去，这个英国妞就是不顾文化差异，每次都是要用结婚的话题开我的玩笑，也不管我都羞的满脸通红了。还好她很快又转移话题说她迷恋的贝克汉姆马上要为她而和辣妹维多莉亚离婚了。
在Periwinkles 成衣店门前的Donatella总是一幅职业模特的姿态：） 她说自己还在为英语城筹备时尚设计和模特大赛，期待中：）
对于Donatella来说蜚短流长都是她的生活方式了，她总能用诙谐幽默和坦诚把说闲话演绎得精彩出色。她还是精明的生意女人，经营这英语城里最大的成衣店Periwinkles
如果你需要时尚、着装建议，一定不要错过Donatella：）
The end of summer is the beginning of new season Donatella Benoir back to English city
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.
