I wasn’t the effortlessly cool teacher I imagined during my time in Estonia. I was the sweaty, mosquito bitten one yelling “English only!” during my lessons.
When I accepted a teaching position this summer, I was excited for the opportunity ahead. After teaching English in Prague for the last year, I thought I had the rhythm down: simple lessons, fun games and maybe an awkward silence.
I worked at a campsite about an hour west of Tartu, Estonia teaching students between the ages of 8-15. Most of them spoke Russian or Estonian at home and were learning English as their third language. I was responsible for planning and leading English lessons, creating a mix of language learning and fun. Each day, I designed lessons with games and projects to help the students immerse themselves as much as possible. Although the environment was quite casual, keeping their focus turned out to be harder than I expected.
I hoped to have an instant connection with the students. Instead, I hit language barriers and spent my breaks Googling “games for teenagers who don’t speak English.”
One day, a student in my B1 level lesson refused to participate. He slouched, crossed his arms, and said, “This is a stupid class.” Although I was slightly insulted, I mostly panicked as I tried to find an activity the grumpy ones would enjoy. I scrapped my original plan and tried a game called Secret Word, where students pick a random word and describe it without saying it directly. Thankfully, the student lit up and acted, guessed, and even laughed along with his classmates.
I noticed that Estonian and Russian students are often quieter at first. I honestly thought they hated me. But by the end of the camp, I would hear them talking to each other in English! Once I gained their trust and attention, their true selves came out.
Somehow, it worked out. I left Estonia with a deeper understanding of how to be a successful second language teacher and have extreme patience. In the end, those students might not remember every grammar rule I taught, but I’ll definitely remember them.
