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This is an article about utilizing Second Life to teach ESL. From language courses I have had, I know it makes a big difference for learners to be able to learn language in the context in which it is normally spoken. I can see how Second Life could have some applications to demonstrate to learners language spoken in context. "Second Life English" has an island devoted to teaching English. You may want to check it out.

elearningproject - using virtual worlds (Reaction Grid and Second Life) to teach English Language skills through adventure based learning. A 10 mission adventure where students must work together to escape Devil Island.

Virtual Storytelling Project - 125 Grade 8 students in 5 Regina Public schools were involved in an inquiry learning project integrating English Language Arts, Social Studies and Arts Ed Drama curriculums, as well as cutting edge technology through the use of Teen Second Life and the iLife suite of applications.

List of Second Life tips and tools - updated URLs in English and French

This is a virtual representation of red square. It includes realistic architecture and information. Interestingly, all of the content is available in English or Russian

Since our group is presenting on a piece of literature, I thought this was nice to see SLURL in action representing Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. " You can go through Capt. Nemo's sub! I can see an endless use of SL to replicate settings from books, that could really add to reading comprehension.

The Literature Alive! group creates immersive and interactive literary locations in SL. The maze-like dungeon of this address, for example, has the visitor explore archetypal literary themes. I think upper middle schoolers and high school students would enjoy this adventure. The note cards and objects contain instructions, quizzes and information. Passage through the mazes requires answering quiz questions. Comparisons to modern literature and movies keeps the content relevant. You can also discover links to additional websites about the topic and teaching literature. Here is a link to the Literature Alive blog: http://literaturealive.blogspot.com/ and wiki: http://literaturealive.wikispaces.com/

I rather like the idea of learning about other places and other cultures using Second Life. This location gives a lot of facts, though much is in German. It has some parts of the geography that are reminiscent of Switzerland, and there are plenty of informational posters in English.

What originally piqued my interest in this site was the "Training for Traffic" that I read on the SL Work Success Stories site (http://work.secondlife.com/en-US/successstories/case/tuvnord/). No small wonder that that topic caught my eye, what with my 15 year old constantly begging me to let her drive. TUV NORD created several traffic situations that they turned into interactive driving tasks. I vaguely remember being in driver's ed and watching a movie in a "simulator" when I was 15. Once I found out that I could spin the steering wheel in any direction and it made no difference, I went on to what was, at the time, my next priority: sleeping. Parenthood brings new perspectives; I shudder at the thought that my child might do the same during her own driver's training class. This sim sounds realistic enough to not only keep a kid awake at the wheel, but give them experience before they get behind the wheel of a deadly weapon. Unfortunately, the sim was not up and running when I visited. This island also has some other interesting items of educational value. You can learn how to use ground penetrating radar (GPR) to find tree roots and underground electrical lines that you might not want to cut through. There is also a huge interactive fuel cell that you can fly through to investigate the inner workings of the thing, which would be useful in a discussion of chemistry, even at the grade levels that I teach (4th & 5th). The only drawback is that most of the notecards you get are in German. Most of the signs do have a translation tool, though (click on the British flag for English). SLURL: http://work.secondlife.com/en-US/successstories/case/tuvnord/