Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Second Life

Due to the fact that I have been bogged down with work and studying, I will now post some comments about our activity in class using Second Life, although late. In class two weeks ago we spent some time using Second Life just to experiment with it and then see how we could apply it to teaching foreign language or possibly using it in the classroom. Let me start off by saying that I am not a very big fan of virtual world or simulated reality games. With that said, using Second Life in class strengthened my dislike of these things. Firstly, I had a lot of trouble with the practice area that you have to pass in order to continue on to other features. I found the character to be extremely slow and the graphics just weren't too impressive. I was under the impression that Second Life was supposed to be very realistic. I don't consider the ability to fly and pass mega joints around in the middle of Peru a very realistic game. Second, I cannot say that I found any use for Second Life in the foreign language classroom. The program slows down the PC way too much, and there are too many distractions in the Second Life world to learn anything productive. Lastly, I will say that instead of playing on the computer and spending time trying to find an alternative life, for whatever their reasons may be, adults (particularly the target audience in their mid 40's) should spend more time trying to figure out how to improve their real life instead of escaping reality and spending their valuable time sitting in front of a computer and wasting time and money that they could be using for their own benefit. I did not like Second Life at all, and I don't think I'll use it again. When I mentioned Second Life to someone, they didn't even know what Second Life was. They thought it was a religious cult or something...which isn't too far off. I didn't even know what it was either until this classroom. I thought it was some weird group when I first heard the name, sort of like the Heaven's Gate followers...I hate white tennis shoes.
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CUBA

This may seem a bit out of place, but it's something I thought I'd like to share on my blog. This is a video I always show to my classes on culture days. It always amazes me at first to hear how many students do not even know where Cuba is or why they can't go...most of the time when I ask what they know about Cuba, they say that they know Cuban cigars and rum, and Fidel Castro. Oh, Fidel...once again, he has succeeded in catching the world's eye by supposedly resigning from power this week...which means absolutely nothing as long as he's still breathing. Most of my students are intrigued when we talk about Cuba, because I usually bring in personal items, such as plane tickets and magazines and photographs, all faded with time, much like the country itself. I also take this opportunity to remind them of how lucky they all are, as am I, to have been born in this country, and that we should never take for granted the fact that we are Americans. I talk about this topic fully aware of the fact that politics is usually a subject that most people like to keep out of the classroom, and I think that a lot of our society's problems would be solved if people weren't so afraid to air their opinions once in a while. Almost all of my students have thanked me, not only for showing these videos on Cuba, but also for making them aware of the fact that being American is a privilege, and not a right. It was very satisfying for me both as a teacher and an American of Cuban descent to see that my words made my students appreciate their country. A lot of them are also surprised by the fact that teachers are arrested for teaching democratic ideas and for reading certain books to their students. Most of the things that happen in Cuba are not even fathomable to people who don't see past the beaches and palm trees. It just goes to show you that things are not what they seem, and that until things are exposed, the world will see Cuba the way Fidel sees fit, and unfortunately, so much time has gone by, that most of the people who were primarily affected by his ideals are now dead, in addition to the indifference many people have in regards to Cuba and its situation. I would like to be wrong, but the more time goes by and the more I see the way Castro skillfully plans his exit, and the more the world buys it, the more I believe what he said during the early days of the revolution, "History will absolve me."