Wow, this is shaping up to be the fall of conferences.

In addition to presenting at Arse Elektronika in San Francisco this September, I’ll be putting together a panel on using virtual worlds to teach second languages for the special education edition of State of Play. The event, which will take place this October in Chicago, is headed by Terra Nova’s own Dan Hunter, who asked me to put together the panel in response to my Forbes article on Second Life and ESL.

State of Play, which has held four other conferences to date, is run by New York Law School. While I don’t know much about law (speed limit, what’s that?), I do know a bunch about language–and having taught ESL myself this past year, I’m particularly excited to revisit the topic. At the moment, I’m contemplating panel participants, but whoever ends up joining the discussion, I know I’ll learn a lot about the way we can use virtual worlds for learning.

I’m also excited to get back to Chicago, where I spent time a few years ago, but didn’t even get to finish staring at the table weight exhibit at The Art Institute. It’s more interesting than you’d think. So many swirly colors…