Editorial
Three different contributors to this issue of ETp explore fantasy worlds in three very different ways. In our main feature, Amos Paran takes us, and his students, into the world of literature, considering how to tackle the teaching of lengthier pieces of literature, where students have to do extended reading and immerse themselves over considerable periods of time in the world of a novel or play.
Howard Vickers runs a language school based in the virtual world of Second Life. He explains how this virtual learning environment enables students (represented by avatars) to explore a threedimensional world built and furnished by its residents. Within this world, they can travel instantly to distant lands, talk to fellow travellers and inhabitants and practise their language skills in realistic reconstructions of famous places, airports, cafés and shops. In an interesting contribution to our It Works in Practice section, Nicola Meldrum outlines a project in which students create and draw their own islands. They then use these as a basis for a number of different activities.
The students’ enthusiastic participation is assured by the fact that they have designed the islands themselves and have a vested interest in what happens. Back in the real world, in the last of their series, Debbie Barton, Jennifer Burkart and Caireen Sever consider the issue of different cultures and the effect that crosscultural communication has on business English. I wonder if cross-cultural communication is an issue in virtual worlds, too.
Helena Gomm
Editor