Tartto 9.4. – 12.4.2025
Erasmus+ Job Shadowing Trip
Tartu Adult Gymnasium
We visited Tartu Adult High School for the first time in the spring of 2024 with the high school and TUVA's native language and Finnish teachers, and we promised, at that time, to come again and introduce Eira and Eira's TUVA education to our Tartu colleagues.
From our visit in spring 2024
in front of the Tartu Adult Gymnasium
The trip to Tartu was possible by boat and bus, where we collected Erasmus ecopoints.
On the evening of our arrival, we got down to business, i.e. following the teaching in the economics class at the adult comprehensive school and then the optional film course at the upper secondary school.
During the economics class, we studied the Estonian state budget, and in the film course, we watched the film Tõde ja Öigus, which is based on the novel by the famous Estonian author A. H. Tammsaari – all in Estonian.
In economics, we learned that many things about Estonian and Finnish legislation and administration work were similar, but, for example, the retirement age is determined in different ways. We had to put all our language skills to the test when we tried to explain to the teacher why we have different retirement ages.
A great economics teacher with a great group
It was easy to travel to school by local bus.
On the second day, we were able to observe the day teaching of upper secondary school trigonometry, literature, Estonian as a second language and Russian.
Between classes, we reflected on our observations with the principal and also had the opportunity to discuss with the study advisor his duties, which in our opinion resembled the work of a group leader and curator, in addition to the work of a student advisor.
The topic of trigonometry class was the right-angle triangle.
Mathematical Problems (in Estonian)
In the classroom, attention was paid to the calmness of the teaching situations. Students did not have laptops, and phones were forbidden (including us!). Studying took place through textbooks, handouts and discussions. The literature course used a separate textbook on Baroque and Romanticism. The teachers impressed with their skills in using the smart board. Every class had a similar smart board, the use of which the school's IT manager had provided training for the entire teaching staff.
Next week, students graduating from upper secondary school were about to take the state exams, or final exams equivalent to the high school entrance exam, which in Estonia are paper-based. In the Estonian as a Second Language class, we were able to observe the preparation for both the written and oral parts of the final exam. We learned that in order to graduate from upper secondary school, each student does extensive written work on a topic of their choice in addition to the final exams – although the use of artificial intelligence has brought its own challenges to its assessment in recent years.
Introducing Eira…
…and TUVA
On Friday, we presented our school and our TUVA training during the school's seminar day. We received a lot of good questions and it was nice to be able to discuss common topics with the entire teaching staff. We also got to watch the presentation of Tartu's Noortegarantii support system, or local outreach youth work, for adult upper secondary school teachers.
Teachers had to come to school on Friday morning to listen to us
On Saturday we headed to the Botanical Garden of the University of Tartu. The weather was not in our favour, but in the lovely garden a few flowers were trying to emerge from under the freshly fallen snow. However, orchids and other wonderful tropical plants were blooming in the greenhouses. Based on a trigonometry lesson and a tip from the rector, we continued our journey across the Emajõe River to the university's fiery Delta building to admire the architecture and art inspired by mathematics.
floral beauty in the greenhouse
outside weather
The University of Tartu's Delta building houses, among others, the Institute of Information Systems Science, Economics and Mathematics.
We warmly welcomed the people of Tartu Adult High School to get to know Eira. We hope the cooperation will continue!
