4/24/2010
Can Students in Hong Kong Learn English through Second Life?
I think it is difficult for students in Hong Kong to learn English through "Second Life". One of the reasons is that it is not very convenient. First of all, they have to sign up and design their own appearance. Not many students in Hong Kong have Broadband at home. Some even do not have their own computer. All the sign up process may take very long if they are not using Broadband. Also, when they want to communicate with someone they know, both of them have to be on-line on the same server and at the same time. However, why don't they just chat face to face or talk on the phone or use MSN or ICQ? Won't it be a faster and more user-friendly tool? Some may say that it allows more than one person to talk at the same time, however, MSN or ICQ also have this function. I can't see any reasons why they have to use Second Life. Finally, as a language teacher in a Hong Kong secondary school, I notice that students are more misbehaved whenever they are in the MMLC or computer room, they won't listen to the teacher. They will simply go to the Internet and check email or browse through the websites they like. It's so difficult to manage them if you allow them to use computer during the lessons.
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I may agree partly with you, but we have to remember our bright students who are pretty keen to explore everything new nowadays...
ReplyDeletei agree with you that it's hard to manage students' discipline, but may be, when computer-oriented learning becomes part of their daily life, they will become more task-oriented rather than wandering off the tasks as learning online would be no more a new thing for them, but it would be a routine-thing. remember, students always show more excitement to something that they can access few and far between. so, possibly, we can make online-communication more common so that it is no longer a thing of too much excitement that make students forsake their netiquettes.
ReplyDeleteI am teaching in a girl school now, my students also told me that they are not very interested in playing online games. They told me that playing online games is a waste of time. They also don't think that they can learn English through online games. However, boys are much more interested in online games. I do think that some students can still make some improvements in English if they know how to make good use of the online games.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the online community is suitable for students in Mainland China, either. The parents and most of the teachers are strongly opposed to online "games". They think online game will distract the students' attention to study. And it has absolutely no relation to the course content. So it is nearly impossible for the students in Mainland to use Second Life as a learning tool.
ReplyDeleteConcerning the disciplinary problem you've mentioned, I see the point of having difficulties in class management in the MMLC and the misbehaviour students may have in the virtual world. I do think that virtual world couldn't be a core, or regular elements in the syllabus, but could be served as a platform in one of the units that students have to do. In such case, students only need computers when they are working on the project, which would cause less inconvenience with broadband and computer access is limited. Secondly, incorporating Second Life in one of the units can also keep students' interest and excitement.
ReplyDeleteConcerning the attitude towards playing online computer games, I actually found that many girls love playing them too. If the themes or the type of games involve elements which are more feminine, I think it could raise their interest towards playing online games and learning from them.