This document summarizes a language learner's experience using Second Life to practice English. The learner was initially curious about Second Life and joined at the recommendation of their English teacher. They found Second Life easy to begin using and enjoyed exploring different places and chatting with other friendly English speakers. Over time, interacting in Second Life helped improve the learner's vocabulary, ability to describe objects and environments, and provided simulated real-world conversations. While it helped their English learning process, the learner regretted not using voice chat and found it difficult to keep up with group conversations.

1. A language learner’s experience in Second Life
• Pierre, France, language learner at the Avatar Languages school
• A feedback of one personal experience using SL
o why and how I used SL
o what did I find and like (or dislike) there
o how did the use of SL contribute to my learning process

2. Why I Started to Use Second Life
• Why I started to use SL about 2 years ago?
o curiosity
o practice my English
o tips from my English teacher at AL
• SL in France in 2007
o a lot of buzz about it, like today about facebook and twitter
o access to Second Life was not such an easy thing

3. First steps in Second Life
• Relatively easy and rapid to start and to learn the basics
o to walk
o to fly
o to customize your avatar
o to chat
o to add friends
• I wasn't interested in...
o spend time shopping
o build something
o spend real money
• What I was after?
o meet people
o understand what all the buzz was about
o explore places
o learn English

4. Places
• Places built by users
o kinda utopia to build your own world
o feeling of a world in constant evolution
o open world controled by its inhabitants
• To find my way
o blog post on the web
o tips from my teacher at Avatar Languages
o tips from people I met on Second Life
o CNN blog about Second Life was very useful
• Great variety of place
o places which remind you of a real place
o fantasy places with charming landscapes
o places to share a common interest or value
o even a place which was an art work

5. People
• Best experience of chatting with Second Life
o friendly people who enjoy having a chat
 a lot of people
 most of them speak English
 interesting people
 I got to know some regular
o completely different experience of chatting
 chat with someone while seeing him as an avatar
 chatting in an environment
• Never use voice chat
o I was afraid boring the person I was talking with
o Maybe I didn't want my avatar to have my real voice

6. Learning English in Second Life
• A good way to learn english
o new vocabulary and expressions
o quickly find the words and build the sentences
• Important role of the environment
 find the name of objects
 describe people
 give or understand spatial informations
 ask how to do something
• Kind of real situations

7. Chatting with a Group
• Taking part (or trying to take part) in a group conversation
 the group doesn't wait for you to understand and answer
 what the group is talking about can change very rapidly
 there were jokes and slang

8. My Experience of Second Life - One Year Later
• A place to meet people and share an environment
• Completely new experience of chatting
o interesting people
o very friendly and open minded
o something to speak about
• Milestone in my learning process
• Vast and so many things to do
• My limits with Second Life... what I still a regret
o I didn't use voice chat
o I was unable to take part in group conversation

9. SLanguages 2009
This presentation was given at
SLanguages 2009
The Conference for Language
Education in Virtual Worlds
slanguages.net