Õppige!

Learn is an action verb in my Estonian class, and it can be given in the imperative -- Õppige! I suppose we more often use the phrase "Study!" - at least in American English. I have more traditionally thought of learning as a process rather than an action that I set out to do, but I think that perhaps this is a personal interpretation colored by my preferences as a learner and work as an educator.

Grammar translation is far from dead in the class I am taking here. We work through texts, translate them, learn (also a synonym for memorize?), and move on . . . all at a harrowing pace. I just finished making some flash cards to help me learn new vocabulary items so that I can begin to practice those pesky grammatical elements of the Estonian language. My stack of flashcards after only six classes is nearly two inches thick, particularly shocking as I am working with paper and not cardstock or index cards. Yikes!

Normally, I suppose that labelling a language class's methodological character as grammar-translation is a bit of an insult in the contemporary language teaching environment full of words like communicative, autonomous, learner-centered, and ecology. However, I don't necessarily intend it that way. Our instructor is energetic and seems to be experienced in teaching Estonian as a foreign language. She probably is better aware than I am about how to teach her multi-national and multilingual audience effectively. I suspect that other students in the class who have learned many languages in a similar manner before coming to Estonia are receptive; they may expect this format as they systematically plug in another new value for known expressions, grammar, and vocabulary items.

... but I struggle to be so mechanical about my language learning! My quirky and restless desire to actively communicate come to the surface during nearly every class period. I have not taught or learned in a class relying so heavily on a shared language (English, in this case) in some time. Language classes using more of the target language appeal to me a bit more, I guess, because the teacher and students are required to be more active in pairing images and actions to words rather than word-to-word correspondences. My brain craves these sorts of experiences with language and is accustomed to the challenge and stimulation of problem-solving. I miss the implicit humor in those activities. Of course, it is also possible that the pace of the class is quicker than what I am able to keep up with, and I assume that working with vocabulary without English would slow things down a bit as we would be obligated to spend more time on the introduction and practice stages of learning.

I don't mean this entry to be a learning tirade . . . rather it is meant as a reflection on my language learning experience here. I am giving the rhythm and format of our class another chance and attempting to keep up by forming my own associations with that thick pile of picture/color flash cards and other mnemonics.

That said, Meie õpetaja räägib: Õppida eesti keelt on raske. My teacher says: Learning/Studying/Memorizing Estonian is difficult. I will take her word for it and get back to work!