This post is by David Cox about their plans for Skoolaborate.
Students from 1on1 English Language School, in Taiwan, have been busy working on projects for our "Cultural Area" build located near the Orientation Tower.
This space has been allocated for us to spotlight student projects reflecting local and Chinese culture. Our students have been very engaged in several projects that will be added to the area. We currently have two buildings under construction.
The first building is a pagoda that will house student projects. The structure is being designed so that through scripting, it will open up to reveal the content within. Each student has been researching a person, story or event from Chinese/Taiwanese history that they feel would be interesting to share with other Skoolaborators. Each completed project will be displayed in the pagoda, showcasing each individually.
The second building is a Chinese-style store. Students are currently brainstorming ideas for Chinese items that they can make and place for sale in the store. Some ideas going around: Clothing (Qi Pao, T-shirts), Kites (scripted for flight), Games (traditional toys: scripted tops).
We plan to add several more buildings to the area. One such building will be a take out restaurant. Students are making a list of the most interesting local delicacies. They will provide a photo, Chinese/English name, and a description in English of the dish. They will collectively put together a menu, and a photo display of each dish. The customer will be served the actual meal, to go of course!
The largest building will be a Confucius Temple, as he is the most revered teacher in China. Information concerning him is being gathered as an ongoing project. There is an actual Confucius temple not far from where we live. Students are finding/taking photos, so that we may model our temple after it.
We are hoping to put a Confucius avatar there, who will hand out notecards, each with a wise saying. Lots of information for students to work with. I have been working together with Jeremy Koester and Eloise Pasteur in developing a word skills game, similar to hangman, that will post high scores and names of players. It will offer translated clues for students who are still practicing English. The Confucius Temple seems a fitting place for this game to be placed. Hopefully, we can have the game up and running by mid 2009.
A Chinese Traditional Medicine shop was the brilliant idea of one of my students. Everyone is on a task to identify the most common ailmets. Along with the ailments, they list the medicine used and how to prepare it, and photos of the actual medicine. I'm really excited about this, as I am learning a lot of interesting information.
Each student shares documents through Google as part of a collaborative group.
They log on and add info to the documents when they have the time, and then I discuss this with them in class. As you can imagine, it is a difficult task for them to pull all the information together, translate, and combine it into something that conveys their message well. I think the key here is in not rushing them. These are on-going projects that will unfold in time. The list of projects is pretty long, but they are steadily working away, and making good progress.
When the buildings have been completed, the students will put together vocabulary and expressions that would be expected of a person working in a particular store. What greetings and helpful knowledge would be important in dealing with customers? After they have the information prepared, we can have each student take turns as the proprieter of the shop. Roleplaying in the best environment imaginable, with students from around the world. This has great potential.
I am trully excited about the future of English2ndLife and its partnership with Skoolaborate. The technology is here, the students are ready, let's take education to the next level!
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