Yesterday the culture steppers took a trip to the Estonian Theatre and Music Museum! We saw the award winning exhibition 'Songs and Stories', which was a journey through Estonian music, folk stories and theatre. I definitely recommend this exhibition if you are in Tallinn! One Estonian story from the exhibition that caught my attention was called 'The Werewolf'. It was about a mysterious young girl called Tiina who was adopted by a farming family and fell in love with her step-brother Margus. Unfortunately, his other step-sister Mari also has her eye on him, and starts a rumour that Tiina is a werewolf! She ends up running into the forest and living there for a while, and Mari gets to marry the (presumably very handsome) step-brother. The story doesn't really have a happy ending, Margus ends up injuring Tiina, thinking she is a wolf, and she dies in his arms. The exhibition outlined the historical context of the time, highlighting that in the early nineteenth century, many Estonians were living in rural settings like this story took place in. In rural society, strangers tended not to be trusted, and this story can give some insight into the way of life of Estonians in the past. Museums are a great space for informal and non-formal adult learning, and a particular favourite of mine. I appreciate the chance that museums give me to go at my own pace, and to learn through different media; text, images, objects etc. Having the chance to touch and interact with things is really great too, and this exhibition certainly provided that! I also liked that the museum provided chalk boards so that visitors could add responses, which is one way to facilitate some exchange of dialogue in such a space. It was good to see culture step participants and their families interacting with his exhibition! Last week I started my Estonian language classes, which I'm hoping to give the Estonian Institute some feedback on. It has been challenging but interesting so far! Estonian is easier in some ways than other languages I've studied, it's not tonal like Vietnamese, and I can read it unlike my ability with Japanese Kanji. But in some ways the grammar is very difficult for me, I've never encountered a language with so many cases before! It's good to be at least able to say some small things in Estonian now, and it makes me feel more confident doing simple things like going to the supermarket. I will write more about my classes next time. Over the last two weeks for my placement I have completed about 3 hours of work at home, 2 hours on a trip, and 3 hours in Estonian classes.
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LaurenI am an IMAESC student, English teacher and adult education researcher from the UK. Categories
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