Is It Magic?

You will be surprised that when you scan an image with your mobile phone, it shows you another world on your mobile screen, like magic. This is known as ‘Augmented Reality‘.

As I wrote in my previous post, I would like to share my reflection of Paul Driver’s workshop on February 13th, 2016 again. In the workshop, he shared us how we, as ELT teachers, can integrate augmented reality into ELT. He created a poster, ‘The SUSPECT‘, for listening activity for his B2-level class, and once you scanned the poster with your mobile phone, you can hear audio story material. (Please click the link to see his Listening Post material, ‘The SUSPECT‘.) In order to see augmented reality on your mobile screen, you need to download an app, Aurasma (It is free!) to your device.

After downloading Aurasma to my mobile phone, I tried to make a test image, which was not difficult and much simpler than I expected. At the same time, I considered how I can apply augmented reality to Japanese ELT context, particularly a secondary school classroom. Since most Japanese secondary schools ban their students from using mobile devices in class, it could be difficult to integrate it to in-class. However, if it is exploited beyond the class as instruction or a pre-task, it would be beneficial for both teachers and students. This could expand the possibility of English activities out-of-class and encourage Japanese secondary students in learning the language autonomously.

Like I considered augmented reality adaptation to Japanese ELT, I also have considered the adaptation of activity, ‘Brighton Online Museum‘ (Please see the previous post) to Okinawan context (where is the most southern part of Japan and my hometown). Let’s call it, ‘Okinawan Hidden Gems‘.

• Target: senior secondary school students
• Objectives: To learn how to introduce hidden places in their city and make an English online map for foreign tourists.
• Rules: Students make a group and find hidden cultural places, restaurants and stores. They need to describe the places, such as how to go and what to do there, in order to give helpful information for foreign visitors in Okinawa. They are required to record their interaction within a group in English as they are making the map.  After that, they put information in English on the Google map or make their own English online map.

By implementing the activity, Okinawan secondary students may foster competence of introducing their own culture and town to foreign tourists. I personally believe that fostering the competence in Okinawan secondary students is necessary and important. Since the number of foreign tourists in Okinawa has reached the highest in 2014 according to the Okinawan government. As the foreign visitors have increased, they have emphasised the cultivation of human resources capable of using English or other foreign languages to guide the tourists visiting the city and introduce Okinawan culture to them.

In Okinawa, the sightseeing business is one of the biggest income. Therefore, Okinawan secondary school students need to be aware of the needs through English language learning so that they would have various job opportunities in the future. In order to do so, we, as teachers in Okinawa, need to develop or adapt materials to match local needs.

Tomlison (2012) mentions materials adaptation, which is the choice of localising materials as a part of materials development. Based on it, the activity could be localised to Japanese, in particular, Okinawan context so that English learning in the context could be meaningful for students when they become a part of society.

Manami

References

http://digitaldebris.info/digital-debris/

http://www.pref.okinawa.jp/site/bunka-sports/kankoseisaku/kikaku/statistics/tourists/documents/h26gaikyou2.pdf