ESL China Cafe in Second Life

On Wednesday, February 6th, the China Cafe held its first annual Chinese New Years celebration.  The China Cafe was decorated in advance for this festive occasion.  A banquet table held various virtual treats, including dim sum, a fruit platter, and cake.  A welcome banner and flashing lights provided a decorative touch.  A fortune cookie dispenser added to the fun and a large Red Envelope offered token amounts of money to partygoers.  Small virtual rats darted around the floor reminding us that we were welcoming in the Year of the Rat.

The party opened with a short speech provided by head teacher GSM0002 Aabye who spoke to us from Shanghai about how the Chinese New Years is celebrated in China.  Later, we played a game of riddles.  Some shared their New Years resolutions.  An international host of celebrants came together for this joyous party!

Today, the China Cafe hosted a conversational English lecture delivered by SL resident, Matador.  He is a successful SL businessman who offered information about his experiences in working effectively in Second Life.  Lecture attendees shared information about building in SL.  They also exchanged tips for improving one’s avatar appearance and locations of quality free items.  The entire class was held in English to give non-native speakers the opportunity to practice English skills.

On November 11, 2007, the China Cafe in Second Life offered its first lecture entitled “What Is Chinese Tea?”.  Instruction was provided by GSM0002 Aabye, who is a teacher in Shanghai.  There were approximately 20 students in attendance, including a majority of Chinese persons.  The purpose of the China Cafe is to provide English language instruction for Chinese students while offering the international community information about Chinese culture.  Visit the Crane Hall Library on the second floor of the China Cafe for a transcript notecard of this lesson.  Join the China Cafe group in Second Life to receive information about upcoming events.  See additional Flickr photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/elainetulip.

Today, the China Cafe officially opened in the virtual reality environment “Second Life” (www.secondlife.com) on the Info International sim.  The purpose of this cafe is to provide English language instruction for Chinese persons.  It will also be a forum for Chinese speakers to mingle with native English speakers to practice conversational English.  This pagoda-shaped building features a garden with three types of tea, a classroom, a library, a meeting area, and a tai chi meditation rooftop area.  The China Cafe is managed by instructor gsm0002 Aabye who lives in Shanghai and Elaine Tulip who works for Chicago Public Schools Department of Libraries (Lisa Perez in real life – http://blogs.cuip.net/dlis).  Special thanks go to the Alliance Library System for donating use of the land, builder Gospel Voom, builder Kingbishop Ferraris, Puglet Dancer, Lorelei Junot, Abbey Zenith, and others for their work in helping to establish the cafe and garden.

The Opening Ceremony was a huge success, attended by approximately 50 avatars from around the world, including a number of Chinese citizens.   In addition to a welcome speech, guests witnessed a firecracker display, they toured the building, and participated in a tai chi meditation on the rooftop.  Next to the China Cafe is the new Japanese Garden, a quiet garden location to learn more about Japanese culture.

Join the China Cafe group in Second Life to receive announcements about upcoming events.
See more Flickr event photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/elainetulip.

China Café Welcome Speech 

Welcome to China Cafe, our newly open bilingual school in SL. Here you could learn Chinese, enjoy Chinese culture and make Chinese friends.  As you could see, our building has several floors with multi-functions:

Ground floor - Dragon Garden: a cafe for get-together and tea-drinking.1st floor -Deer Park: a classroom for around 20 people.

2nd floor – Crane Hall: a library and exhibition room.

3rd floor - Unicorn Palace: a small meeting roomRoof – Phoenix Landing: a platform for Tai Chi exercise and meditation.

In this cafe,various of activities will be designed for you, including programs, quizzes, discussion, games, competitions, expositions, etc. Many events will be held, especially during traditional festivals. We hope these preparations could raise your interest in exploring
China and her history & culture, which will be proven beneficial for your future. We also believe you could take a good advantage of them and obtain knowledge, friendship & pleasure  simutaneously. This China Cafe is ours, also yours. You are always welcome to join us and share your passion & wisdom with people in need. By the way, beside China Cafe, you will see a Japanese Garden. If you have time, pls visit it as well.  There are many other buildings in the island, pls take a tour around them. Finally, we would like to express our sincere thanks to Elaine Tulip as my partner with Chicago Public Schools Elaine Tulip. With her support, we make a dream come true. Our thanks will go for our builder Gospel Voom, whose excellent ability and efforts are impressive.  Also we thank Puglet Dancer, Lorelei Junot, Abbey Zenith, and the Alliance Library System, and  anyone else who helped.  Today we have prepared firecrackers, tea and food.  For tea, we have black tea, green tea and flower tea.  After that, we will guide you tour to each floor of the building. Thank all visitors for your kind attendance.Please enjoy your time.

China Café Welcome Agenda Notecard 

Welcome to the China Cafe & Japanese Garden Opening Ceremony

6 am SL:  Tea and mingle

6:15 am SL:  Welcome Speech

6:30 am SL:  Firecracker Ceremony

6:45 am SL: Tours of China Cafe and Japanese Garden 7:30 am SL:  Tai Chi meditation on rooftop

The China Cafe will provide various activities to learn Chinese and English, including programs, quizzes, discussions, games, competitions, and expositions.  It is also a school for Chinese persons to learn conversational English.

Join our group “China Cafe” to receive announcements.

See the China Cafe blog at http://chinacafe.cuipblogs.org

Visit the Japanese Garden for information about Japanese culture.