Week 2 in Pitriworld!

Tonight students participated in a role play activity and learned a valuable lesson about “Lashon Hara”, translated from Hebrew means “the tongue of evil”(Personal Communication Gabe Machimimart, 11/23/10 4:56 pm PST). In this lesson Lashon Hara translated to gossip. Using Pitriworld's prototype "Roleplay" Template Module, each student was given a character card and short scenario about the situation. They were instructed to engage in instant messaging conversations both with the group and privately to try to find out what actually happened as they each played the part of their character. Afterwards students debated if gossip can be good or bad. Andrew Bethtorah noted that “gossip even if it’s a good thing is bad to do” (Personal Communication Andrew Bethtorah 11/23/10 4:58 pm PST). Geoffrey Bethtorah chimed in that “it can ruin people’s reputation”(Personal Communication Geoffrey Bethtorah 11/23/10 4:58 pm PST) and Jamie Bethtorah agreed that “no gossip is good because even if it is a good thing people turn it into a bad thing and rumors start that way”(Personal Communication Jamie Bethtorah 11/23/10 5:00 pm EST). The conversation continued on as parents ventured into the room to get their students and teens were disappointed that they had to leave. As they were signing off for the night they carried on the conversation down the hall way. I heard one teen, who was new to Pitriworld say, “Wow, playing this game made me see how rumors start and travel around, I think I better be more careful with what I do and what I say!” (Anonymous).

Lashon Hara is not a new teaching topic for me, but using Pitriworld as a platform to teach it is. The lesson was cleverly designed to give a voice to all the participants and encourage their interaction with each other which prompted a more in-depth discussion both in and out of world. Students were engaged through the entire lesson and excited to participate and learn. A lesson such as this one, was easy to put together and utilized simple word processing skills and cut and paste for the majority of the content. Additional touches added by the Pitriworld staff included customized name tags for each character and benches for the avatars to sit on.

For more information on Pitriworld visit: http://www.pitriworld.com/ or

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