Coffee Talk with TESOL Experts: Virtual Reality and Language Teaching: How, What, Why? Robyn Brinks Lockwood & Sara Davila

March 25, 2021 | 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Speaker(s): Sara Davila, Robyn Brinks Lockwood

This was an amazing talk about using virtual reality (VR). The presenters shared their experience with VR and the possibilities it has for students and teachers. They showed some examples for teaching English using Immerse VR which include posting tasks for English language learners with focus on communicative language learning. In the example VR, the students work in pairs to complete an assignment while interacting in a synchronous classroom. 

Unfortunately, this website is not free and students would need a headset for it. However, the presenters do share some free VR websites and activities for English language teachers. One of the free VR websites they mentioned was 360° videos on YouTube. The presenters gave an example of a 360° Cockpit view video on You Tube with a research task for their English language learners about planes. 

All in all, this was a great introduction to Immerse which takes the students to a whole experience of language learning but for teachers with limited resources and funding, 360° videos on YouTube seems like a great alternative for a first encounter with VR in teaching English.