Virtual worlds
Imagine being able to take your class on a trip to meet another set of learners from another country.
Imagine getting your students talking to the foreign students, finding out about their lives and cultures. Finding the similarities and differences between their lives.
Imagine joining with these students to carry out a language task together, working together to solve the clues to a mystery.
This kind of trip is impossible for most schools. The costs of travelling to and staying in another country is far too high and organising an event like this far too complex.
However, it is becoming increasingly easier to do just this kind of collaboration and exploration through the internet in a virtual world.
Virtual worlds are three-dimensional worlds where users interact with objects and other users using a graphical representation of themselves called an avatar (see the picture).
There is usually a large community of other users who also use the virtual world.
Virtual worlds have been developed as areas to play games or interact socially. One of the most famous virtual worlds for social interaction is called Second Life.
In Second Life users can build within the environment. 'Residents' can buy land or 'islands' and create realistic buildings and other objects. This has enabled users to make creative use of Second Life and build a large interactive world online. Of course, you don't need to build anything, most users just go into the world to meet other people.
To get an idea of what Second Life looks like watch this promotional video of the British Council's area in the teenager section of Second Life.
