They will be sad when I will leave.

    Last week we launched the exhition about our pictures and art in our organisation. We had the surprise to have some TV reporter from Estonia national channel coming to shoot something to make a short news report about our event. so if you want to watch it, just click on the link below. It should open in another window. Tell me it is not playing in your country. 

News Report on ETV1, Wednesday Sept 12th, 2012.

all right reserved.

Dalida travelling to Estonia

     As I was visiting a different area in Tallinn, usually not well known by tourists, the port and Kalamaja or Fish House, I stumble upon a second hand shop with lots of vinyl discs. Among other things, this french singer from the 1970's, Dalida. Yes, you read it right. I found a vynil disc of Dalida, one of the most famous French singers in a small country like Estonia. It was indeed a bit unrealistic to see it but I enjoy this view.

I’m not biting.

Well, not at the moment.

I went this week to meet the French teachers and their pupils in the local highschools. I found it strange that none of the three teachers are French : two Estonians and one Greek. I was told they haven’t been learning French for too much, usually for several months at most. I didn’t prepare much for them as I didn’t want to scare them away from learning my beautiful language. I just went for some tongue twisters. Those little things are nasty for us, native people.

When I arrived in their classes, they were surprised to see me next to their teachers. I presented myself without revealing too much about me as they wouldn’t have asked me anything after. They were so shy to talk in French, so I said I wasn’t biting, they could talk. I’m actually proud of them as I know French is not an easy language. I was asked the usual questions about my hobbies outside my work, what I like to listen as french music. I also asked in return what they would advise me about Estonian musicians they listen. And of course, I couldn’t avoid answering the classical questions « do you have a girlfriend ? » and « do you like Estonian girls ? ». The former was asked by a7th grader girl ; they were gigling in the back of the classroom so I assume they were going for this question. Quand j’ai répondu non, elles avaient l’air soulagées. Katre the teacher told me they like me a lot. I don’t want to now what they had in mind exactly. The 2^nd question was asked when I went to meet the 10th grades kids. The guy who asked me that question was a bit embarrassed to do so. Talking about this class, when they entered the room, I was wondering how many litres of soup they had each day to be sot all and so thin. I’m not particularly tall nor small but at just 16, they were already taller than me.

There was one class I came back since I was told by the teacher they would bake something for their last french class before the holiday. She didn’t know herself what they would do. I was surprised they did everything without the supervision of an adult. They even almost clean everything before leaving the kitchen. They had baked : waffles, some light vanillia flavoured biscuits, chocolate truffles, chocolate cupcakes, oats cookies and some kind of salty canapés with fish and eggs. The three boys of this class made the latter which coincidentally was the only I repeat because I like it and also because i twas the only I could repeat !! After the degustation, we played as the day before some tongue twisters but not only in French also in Estonian. They wanted to get revenge. After we played a snake and ladder game where the actions were replace by some simple exercises in French like counting from 1 to 10 or answering simple questions. To make it mor fun for me, I decided to do it in Estonian. I was lucky it wasn’t very hard. The kids were looking at me to see if I could pronounced correctly numbers or if I knew the corresponding words. I have to say I was very proud of myself during this game !!

The international French speaking days (1): first thoughts.

One of the projects I will be working during those months here will be the organisation of a day dedicated to my country or to be more precise to the French speaking countries. I thought at first I would do something around my national day which is on July 14^th but summer is a very busy season in Pärnu. So we decided to focus on the International French language day which is on March 20^th. My tutor wants me to organise this to make people discover my country and the regions that shared/are sharing common history with us.

As the previous volunteer were also from France, it make easier for me to think and organise that day. I can use some of the materials they created for the event, use the feedback to change some of my ideas. Something that has always success is the cooking classes or lunch. Even though we’re not from the same culture, sharing food make contact easier and better. So far I thought about an exhibition on the different French speaking countries, a small presentation about France and its tradition or some cooking classes to prepare our lunch, meal we will share like a buffet. In the afternoon, I think to do some activities when people can participate, when they can be pro-active and not just watchers.

Along with this day, I will help the French teachers with their French cultural week. I have plenty of games to do like tongue twisters but very difficult ones are more fun, games around vocabulary (hangman is always a winner), maybe some cooking classes when we will do pancakes. My only limit is the participation of pupils and their will to make those events a success.