The importance of having a home

I have recently realized that it’s been over a year since I opened my Second Life account…it didn’t seem that long, and then it hit me: my classroom! Those are my first memories of “living” in SL. I don’t remember exactly how it happened (it is probably connected to EVO2009) but thanks to Kip Yellowjacket, I have a place to truly “landmark” home in Second Life. I haven’t used it much (2009 was a bit hectic for me, moving back home to Argentina and all) but anytime I go into SL, I know I have my own space, a place where I can have guests, meet with people and hang out as long as I please without feeling out of place. I also enjoy talking to my neighbours, who are also language teachers.

This year I’ve promised myself to become more involved in the Second Life English Community, to try to give back and collaborate with other SL teachers. As part of that, I’m going to try to visit at least one place in SL that could be used in language teaching every month (more if possible) and then blog about it in SLE’s Ning. I’ve already blogged about two of them: Better World Island and The Holocaust Museum. We’ll see how things went by the end of 2010.

Realizing that I feel a special connection to Second Life because I have my own classroom which I consider my home was quite a revelation to me, and it made me think: Where is your “home” in SL? Have you checked in your options? Do you use the command “teleport home”? I know I do when I start getting confused or I feel the place I’ve teleported to is a bit “freaky”. Have you chosen a place to teleport that you feel a connection with or you just teleport to different places every time? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this…