Estonian Magic

by Olha Viun (Ukraine)

Making a local connection Estonia

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The sunlit bookshelf looks enticing: hundreds of stories intersect with each other; they immerse you in the infinite journey of ardent love, constant suspense or even breath-taking mystery. Fingering over my personal life editions, I made up my mind on opening “Estonia”, a self-discovering story I experienced as a teacher of English a year ago. Stepping onto the wet Tallinn pavement, a rainbow after the rain opened up before the eyes of a young English teacher from Ukraine. “Good sign,” I said to myself. Winding streets enriched with medieval churches granted me the feeling of comfort. The air of ancientry and smell of fried caramel nuts and herring left the mark on my heart forever. A couple of minutes later, I started to focus — “you are in the capital of Estonia to teach English to young souls who entrust in you their hearts and minds.” Eight days of pedagogical experience flew at the speed of light, and my Estonian students taught me one sacred teaching word even without realizing it. In the same way I was doing crosswords with my students, this word was literally discovered letter by letter, day by day. Eventually, it ingrained in my memory forever: devotion. First impressions matter, and, as a teacher, this impression is often irreversible. Having seen youthful faces, I instantly understood: the only way to prove my devotion to teaching is to be intellectually dexterous. “You speak Russian as we do, don’t you?” students’ lips spread in snide grins. My voice trembled a little, “No, unfortunately, I know only Ukrainian and English,” the white lie coming from me sounded persuasive. Were I to say I knew Russian, children would start using it during lessons which would be unprofessional and ineffective in my goal to expose them to English. Therefore, on spot dexterity, or ‘D’ for short became my first magic letter. On the second day, I had to pull myself together because destiny prepared more challenges for me. “That’s b-o-r-i-n-g,” was my student’s reaction to the language activity I created. In such moments a teacher’s head is overfilled with thoughts. “Am I humdrum or my activity? Or both?’ I wondered looking at my disinterested student. I quickly came up with one idea: the only way to light up indifferent minds is to unexpectedly shift gears. “Do you love Marvel Universe, Denis?” a truly relevant question to a person wearing a Marvel t-shirt. Again, there I figured out that English was sometimes about impromptu acting. “Sure thing! I can tell you about Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, and others! Do you… Do you wanna find out about them?” he gave me look that was full of hope, curiosity and was childishly naïve. “Of course, I do! I`ve been dreaming of meeting a Marvel expert to open this super-heroical world to me,” I exclaimed. After saying this, we spent hours and hours discussing films and characters. The meeting with Denis opened the whole new world. A little child taught me that there are not good or bad teachers; however, only those who inspire, motivate and act surprisingly are rewarded with the most sincere, warm and wholehearted attitudes. Thanks to his behavior, I turned on all enthusiasm and engagement I had to make him happier. Voila, the letter ‘E’ was opened! Teaching abroad is about inspiration, optimism, values, and talents, and I, a nineteen-year-old student, apparently, had these gifts. “D”, “E” and “V” ‘O’ ‘T’ ‘I’ ‘O’, ‘N’. The hardest part was to create and integrate into the whole: Devotion! That was the word describing everything I achieved: first impression, student`s willingness to cope with tough tasks and their beaming eyes during our lessons. “Sky is the limit only for those who are afraid of outer space,” an instant thought ran through my head. Sitting in the plane back to Ukraine, I looked out from the window: a rainbow illuminates the way to thousands of those who are in need of light. I found mine – little creatures who made a difference in the life of a young teacher from Ukraine – my students.