Project idea and outline

Concept:
Interactive, immersive, language learning in a virtual world.

Details:
Our project would allow travelers to prepare by going through daily tasks and common places in virtual reality before facing the on-the-ground reality. For example we could have a virtual hotel that would allow users to practice requesting a room, ordering room service, arranging a wake-up call, and paying their tab complete with a virtual desk clerk and bellhop. Users can interact with unfamiliar items in the room by rolling over them to make the typed name appear along with a speaker icon that would allow them to hear the correct pronunciation. Similar virtual lessons can be done for subjects such as "eating out" "the family" "the workplace" "going shopping" and "buying a bus/train ticket."

Challenges:
We would need technical assistance with creating and programing the virtual locations. We would also have to work on building up a community of learners and contributors. We would need developers to create the virtual environment as well as speakers/teachers of various languages that would create the lessons within these environments. We believe it would be most useful if the same virtual environment could be accessed in multiple language depending on the user's needs.