School will teach languages in the Second Life saw VoIP

Company constructed a proper island and will offer lessons with interaction.
New tool of voice will make possible sound of high quality in the virtual world.

The learning of a new done language in imersiva way, in a realistic environment and with native professors soon will be available on-line, in the virtual world Second Life. In September, the school of LanguageLab languages starts to offer to lessons of virtual English and Spaniard, with costs similar to those of the real world. “We find that it is very better to teach thus of what in a physical space, therefore has what not to offer itself in web of what in a classroom”, said the founder of the company, David Kaskel.

The students and professors will go to currently say and to listen to ones to the others using a VoIP technology (voice on IP) in tests and that she must be launched in the Second Life in June. Currently, the users who want to say with others avatares must have a program as the Skype installed in its machines. Now, this capacity will be enclosed in the software of the Second Life. The system reaches a bigger variety of frequencies acoustics (of 50 the 14 a thousand hertz) that the normal telephony, and will go to benefit the learning of languages -- some consonants have an information acoustics that occurs in frequencies higher than those caught by a telephone.

Kassel is a veteran user in the Second Life, and its idea for the school appeared behind about one year and way. The LanguageLab, headquartered in London, will receive avatares from the students in its island in the virtual world, where an entire city was constructed. Avatares must meet with its professors for activities in at great length realistic hotels, bars, clubs, offices and store. The lessons will have about 50 minutes, some times during the week, and the students will have to socialize with its colleagues and will be able to enroll themselves in extra courses.


The voice in the Second Life also will be 3D, what it means that the sound of avatares that they are close will go to seem higher of what of that they are more distant. The system makes this when modifying in accordance with the sound of a particular user the position of its avatar. Also it has a way that it will allow to conferences and readings.

Claims

When the sound capacities had been announced in February, many users had complained. For they, to listen to the voices of the others avatares and to have that to speak it would break the potentiality of the world, taking them for not required aspects of the reality, with real characteristics as sex, identity and nationality. “To be forced to use the voice in a virtual world, something that is not of my choice, against my wishes, seems a final blow”, wrote the user Prokofy Neva.

To teach languages in the Second Life has an advantage on other methods based on web, of blogs and podcasts the text colloquies, that impressed professors of are: the virtual world brings a direction of place, bringing to the learning a sensation more human being, a better experience of socialization on-line.

The LanguageLab is not the first school in the virtual world: a variety of educators already offers diverse languages. But the company is the biggest private school of languages if on the basis of to venture and the first one to be constructed the sound capacities. Kassel, its founder, waits to offer lessons of other languages, and for this it intends to duplicate its initial space.


Source: G1


School will teach languages in the Second Life saw VoIP