A “Memory Palace” for English in Immersive Worlds

This presentation will describe an English language training initiative carried out in school year 2016-17 with Italian primary and secondary teachers in Edmondo, the educational Open Sim created byINDIRE. The syllabus and the activities were developed with the cooperation of a network ofinternational experts in the field of language learning and immersive teaching some of whom were partof EU funded project AVALON and CAMELOT. A particular approach adopted for the delivery of thelanguage course in Edmondo was 'the method of loci', a visualisation technique known to the ancientGreeks and Romans and used by memory contest champions. The mind walks through the rooms of abuilding, a palace or shops in a street and places objects along the way only to revisit these place, inorder to recall the relevant items and label them. Immersive English language teaching and learningexperts, involved in the teacher training initiative, have been using this technique to help attendeesmemorize vocabulary and phrases.Using the “method of loci” with a genius twist, the beginner level English course was implementedusing a 2D floor plan of a house. Each week, as the course progressed, one room after the othercame to life in full 3D serving as memory hooks for new vocabulary and ensuing conversations.Heike Philp of let’s talk online sprl, Brussels and Letizia Cignanotto of INDIRE, Italy will highlight someof the impressive results of using the “method of loci” in virtual worlds, also highlighting the impact onthe teachers as shown in some of their comments and remarks.