Week 2 - Yulia (photoblog)

Hi everyone! First of all, sorry for publishing it so late. I saved it as a draft a few weeks ago and totally forgot about it.

I found this site called Russian Red Square. It made me feel a bit nostalgic and homesick, although I must say I'm not a huge fan of Moscow. The city itself is actually beautiful and there's heaps of things to do. I've got no idea what the main purpose of this site is - maybe introducing Russian learners to the Russian culture and places that they might want to visit? If it is, then I suppose it's a good idea to utilise SL, cause obviously not everyone can afford overseas trips and it can be quite difficult to get into Russia, too.

When I started learning foreign languages, I remember having that desire to visit USA, Spain and other countries where people speak English and Spanish. Then, after being exposed to French and Canadian cultures, having visited France I wanted to start learning French. So in my mind, these sites could be quite useful in terms of motivating people to take up some language courses or maintaining it by introducing people to cultural stuff.

Red Square - Mausoleum

Don't know if any of you are familiar with the city, but this little building in the front is very popular - it's called Mausoleum. During the Soviet times, the access to it was very limited for us, the USSR citizens. However, foreign tourists were allowed. I think it's actually bizarre and I still don't know why the government would restrict access to Mausoleum for its own citizens? It is part of OUR history!

Inside the Mausoleum, Lenin's body

Anyways, I was actually lucky to have been able to get inside. In summer 1989, just before the collapse of USSR my family and I went on a holiday to the Black Sea coast. We stayed in Moscow for a few days and my Dad took me for a walk in the city centre. I was only 5 years old and now that I've found this site I'm actually happy that those memories are still alive. Being ethnic Koreans was to our benefit that day. The guards couldn't tell whether we were foreign tourists or not. So we were very lucky! The way Mausoleum looks inside in SL is a bit different. Lenin's coffin is normally surrounded with hundreds of fresh red roses. It would have been more spectacular if those who built this site thought of making it look more real. For example, they could use illumination and make Lenin's body shine. I still remember that it almost looked like his body (face and hands) was made of gold. It might seem a bit creepy, but the idea behind such decorations is to impress people (especially those who are not very familiar with our history) and simply to pay tribute to him. He was one of the key political figures in the  20th century and there's no doubt about that.

Some posters/banners

There are a few posters that explain how to navigate in SL and what functions are available. I don't see any grammar, spelling or punctuation mistakes, so can't really tell if they were created by the language learners. 

St Basil Cathedral (on the left) and Kremlin palace (on the right)

St Basil Cathedral is one of the iconic buildings in Moscow, which was built in the 16th century during Ivan The Terrible rule... If my memory doesn't fail me :) In 1990 UNESCO recognised it as a place of special cultural and physical significance.

For educational purposes, I think such sites could be quite useful. Firstly, people have a chance to visit places that can't afford to visit in their real lives and also they could be a starting point for developing an interest in the L2/TL language, culture and history, especially when L2/TL is Russian. Secondly, from the teaching perspective, I believe it creates additional opportunities for the TL practice. For example, if there were special guided tours, it could motivate learners to practice listening comprehension and speaking. And finally, due to the nature of the topic (cultural and historical sites), the learners will be able to pick up relevant vocabulary. 

I don't know if SL is the best MUVE in terms of its functionality to build such sites and communicative features. So if other platforms are just as good, then obviously it should be acknowledged that these are the benefits of language learning via MUVEs in general.