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Social learning

Quick Overview: social learning

One of the best ways –if not the best way- to learn a second language is ‘being totally immersed in the language one is learning’. Living for a while in the country of the language to be learned, would provide such ‘immersion’. But, apart from the costs, it will be impossible or difficult for most of us to spend a longer time in another country.

I think that we can, however, more or less imitate a situation of this total immersion, this ‘living in another country’. We can achieve this by using the web intelligently.
Like I described in the other sections we can immerse ourselves in the target language by using webradio, web-tv or real tv, finding and using podcasts in our target language, and, we can also make a good use of the web by choosing a good Language Community.

 

What exactly is a Language Community?

Imagine you are a Brazilian girl wanting to learn or improve your English. At the other side of the Ocean, but, connected to the world by internet, there is an English boy wanting to learn Portuguese. The web can connect you.
There are many-all slightly different- websites which are aimed at connecting people from all over the world specifically to exchange languages on any level. They all do it differently but they all share the general concept of connecting persons wanting to learn a second language.
Of course it all boils down to good communication and finding a good partner and the right Language Community.
Language Communities generally use at least chat and email-exchange. Some use Skype and video-communication. (By the way you can use Skype both for telephone and video communicating as well) There are Communities which offer learning tools like flash-cards and other learning materials as an extra (for instance LiveMocha)

Examples

Below some well known examples of Language Communities. Find out yourself which one suits your wishes the best: this is very personal.
Almost all Communities are free or, partly free and for all of them you have to register yourself. Check out whether they use flashcards and if they share them or not. (If you use a flashcard application at home, find out if the files are interchangeable with those of the language community)

SharedTalk (from Rosetta Stone)
Wordchamp Language Learning Network
italki Language Exchange Network
LiveMocha
Mixxer Language Exchange.org (uses Skype)
TandemCity online exchange community
MyLanguage Exchange
xLingo Language Exchange Community
Polyglot Free Language Exchange Community
LinkQ-Learning Languages simply
English verde amarello (for Brazilians)

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Working Online

Thanks to new possibilities like Google Wave we are able to work together, collaboratively on a document. We can share material with as many persons as we want: be it two persons -like a teacher with his student -or even a group of ten, twenty...even more!
Working collaboratively on documents, while talking, chatting with each other is, and lots of other extra options are now all fully operational and there are many programs on the web to fill your specific needs.
Personally I like Google Sites, together with Google Talk, but there's much more.
Just try them out to see if they're offering what you really need.
The amount of collaborating programs and -mainly- online services is growing daily. It's almost impossible to keep track: just type 'collaborating programs' in your Google searchbox and start experimenting.

waves

Google Waves

GOOGLE WAVES:
...where email, docsharing, blogging, skyping and im - with lots of other technologies- come together

See it as a new model for communication and collaboration on the web.

Resume of various despcriptions given by Google:
"....The 'Wave' itself is equal parts conversation and document.
A group of people can communicate and work together, transmitted live, on rich media like text, photos, videos, maps, and more. It's a real-time interaction. People can comment 'real time' and intervene at any moment anywhere in the process.
As such a 'Wave' is a democratically, shared experience, document with all the extra technologies already available on the web like:

  • spellchecking
  • multilingual support
  • advanced language technologies
  • audio, video (playback)
  • voIP like Skype and others
  • etc...

HOW IT WORKS
Here's how it works: In Google Wave you create a wave and add people to it. Everyone on your wave can use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. They can insert a reply or edit the wave directly. It's concurrent rich-text editing, where you see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave. That means Google Wave is just as well suited for quick messages as for persistent content — it allows for both collaboration and communication. You can also use "playback" to rewind the wave and see how it evolved...."

 
zoho logoZoho Office Suite Productivity and collaboration apps. Business apps.
Also available on mobile devices

Wikipedia:

The Zoho Office Suite is a Web- based online office suite containing word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, note-taking, wikis, CRM, project management, invoicing and other applications developed by AdventNet Inc., an Indian-based company. It was launched in 2005 with a web-based word processor. Additional products, such as spreadsheets and presentations were incorporated later into Zoho.Although some applications, such as Zoho CRM and Zoho Projects, require a fee to be used, Zoho maintains that it has a commitment to "maintaining a free tier of entry-level applications with free registration."

 
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Online Office app's/services

Basically these services allow you to work on your document, online or offline with a Office- like program. You can upload and store your documents online. This way you will be able to work on it from any computer anywhere. You can share your documents easily with other persons, or allow them to work on it online or offline.
 
thinkfreeonline ThinkFreeOnline

description of Thinkfree:

ThinkFree Online is a Microsoft Office compatible office suite launched within your web browser or desktop client. Documents, spreadsheets and presentations can be created online, or uploaded from your desktop. It's a perfect solution for people who commute or travel and for people who use shared computers for their work. Whether you are at home, work, school, visiting a client, or traveling abroad ThinkFree Online's free office suite gives you access to the files and applications you need when you need them.

 
google docsGoogle Docs

Wikipedia:

Google Docs is a free, Web-based word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, and form application offered by Google. It allows users to create and edit documents online while collaborating in real-time with other users. Google Docs combines the features of two services, Writely and Spreadsheets, which were merged into a single product on October 10, 2006. A third product for presentations, incorporating technology designed by Tonic Systems, was released on September 17, 2007.

office live logoMicrosoft
Office Live workspace

Wikipedia:

Office Live Workspace is a Microsoft Office Live-branded online storage and collaboration service for Microsoft Office documents and most other common file types. The documents are stored on remote servers and can be made available to those who have access to the documents. The service also features shared calendars and task lists.

With Office Live Workspace, Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint can directly access, edit and store files onto a remote access. Outlook can also synchronize Calendars, Tasks and Contacts with their Office Live Workspace counterpart. The service also has a web-based front-end, for managing the workspace and files in them from within a browser. The browser-based interface is able to render the Microsoft Office files and PDF files in the browser itself as well as browse and edit lists, notes and calendar items.

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Document Sharing/Publishing Websites

scribdScribd Document sharing- and social publishing site
I have to mention Scribd here at this page. It's not an Online Office app, like the ones above, but, it's -like described below- a document sharing website, where you can upload and share your documents.
The iPaper reader is a fine tool to read all kinds of documents in various formats.
It's a wonderful place to find lots of (English learning) material!

Scribd is a document-sharing website which allows users to post documents of various formats, and embed them into a web page using its iPaper format. Scribd currently has more than 50 million monthly users and more than 50,000 documents are uploaded daily.

iPaper is a rich document format similar to PDF built for the web, which allows users to embed documents into a web page. iPaper was built with Adobe Flash, allowing it to be viewed the same across different operating systems (Windows, Mac OS, and Linux) without conversion, as long as the reader has Flash installed. All major document types can be formatted into iPaper including Word docs, PowerPoint presentations, PDFs, OpenOffice documents, and PostScript files.

All iPaper documents are hosted on Scribd. Scribd allows published documents to either be private or open to the larger Scribd community. The iPaper document viewer is also embeddable in any website or blog, making it simple to embed documents in their original "printed" layout regardless of file format.

The Best place to find regularly updated information about anything related learning -including the collaboration tools I mentioned above is the following amazingly productive and well informed website of Larry Ferlazzo. If you want "the best and the latest" go there! Or, go straight to his 'Best of' series.
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