The fist week

I’ve learned a lot during the first week of course 8. I liked especially when we practiced using the short polite filler words and being an active listener. Using those filler words in Finland is uncommon, so at first it felt a little strange when I used them. Eventually I realized the words gave the speaker a courage to say more and it felt polite. It was nice to notice that when I said something, my pair used those phrases instead of staring at me and not saying anything. It really made me feel that my pair is interested in the things I say.

I also learned to talk about school system in English. We did the listening comprehension task about American college system and it taught me some new things. It was discovered that the private schools aren’t always the best ones, and some state schools can actually be even better quality.

On Friday it was fun that Miina gave us a presentation about her exchange year in Croatia. I learned a lot about the topic, e.g. that being exchange student doesn’t mean you have to study English all the time, but you’ve actually a chance to get to go to other countries and see different and beautiful places, too.