Inspired by ideas for using virtual reality in English language teaching, Lulwa Bordcosh, ELT academic director and trainer, discusses the linguistic and cultural learning opportunities that virtual reality can offer.
Yesterday I took my entire class to the DMV. Then we all piled up in my Mini Cooper and swung by the In-N-Out drive thru. After, we decided to cruise down Pacific Coast Highway and ended up taking the 405 North to the 5 to the 101. A pretty eventful day for those thirty students, but one that only took a class period and all while sitting at their desks. In a measly 50 minutes, they learned that you always need to make an appointment before you go to the DMV, an In-N-Out double-double is better with extra spread, and that in California the speed limit might say 65, but really, it’s 80.
This is the type of language immersion that virtual reality can provide. Students don’t learn English, they experience it, and with the technology that is at our disposal there is no need to confine our students to the four walls of the classroom. Nor should they have to wait until they leave our classrooms to practically apply what they have learned. Learning and application do not have to be sequentially exclusive and both can occur together and in real time.
Compare the two situations:
Textbook
Good morning class. Yesterday we learned vocabulary related to eating out. Open your books to page 49, Exercise 3. Mike and Cindy are at a restaurant, listen to the conversation and fill in the blanks below (insert boring audio c.d. with low-paid actors).
Virtual Reality
Good morning class. Yesterday we learned vocabulary related to eating out. Okay, now put on your goggles. I uploaded a video of my friends and I at a local restaurant last week. Sit next to me, read the menu, and feel free to order for yourself.
The nuances presented in the latter could never be relayed in the former. A student could never learn how a table splits a bill from a textbook. Or what a burger cooked “medium-well” looks like. Or that we put our menus down to indicate to the waitress that we are ready to order. Or a countless number of other things that are experienced, not learned.
So you might be wondering when will virtual reality be at your disposal and who will make it happen? Well, right now, and you will.
Creating your own virtual reality curriculum can be done in 4 easy steps:
Step 1: Buy a 360 degree camera
These cameras are surprising affordable ranging from $89 to $399 depending on the specifications. I would recommend the 360fly because it was extremely easy to use. I sprung for the 4K version, but the HD would work just fine.
Step 2: Download the app
Most 360 cameras come with an app that enables you to record, edit, save, and upload all of your footage from your phone. Your phone connects to the camera via Bluetooth and can be controlled from a good 50 feet away.
Step 3: Upload to YouTube
360 videos can be uploaded and processed on YouTube just like a normal video. YouTube will automatically detect that you are trying to upload a 360 video so there is no need to convert beforehand.
Step 4: Buy the cardboard
The ones featured in the video below are only $5.99 a pair. They are easy to use and compatible with any phone.
Done? Now, give your students a Google Cardboard and the YouTube link and voila, you have created your own VR lesson. Before you know it, one lesson will turn into two, and two into a course, and a course into an entire VR curriculum.
Doing so will enable your students to see English in motion, in real time and in everyday situations—the bank, the airport, the pharmacy, a Lakers game? Why not, the possibilities are endless. So, at the end of our little field trip, I asked the class, “Where would you guys like to go next?”
“Mars.” One day my friend, one day.
Watch Lulwa’s video to find out teacher and student views on using VR in the ELT classroom:
Catch up with Lulwa’s previous article exploring how “auto” tools on mobile devices can be useful for language learning: An argument for “auto” learning.