Estonian Team
Follow-up Activity:
In May I had time to test two games with my students, but I am sure that in the future I will use more non-formal learning games the trainers of the "Digital Entrepreneurship Through Empathy" project introduced to us. First, I organised the game "Take a step forward" for the students of the 7-8th grades who attend my business class at Avatud Kool (avatudkool.ee). I adopted the roles so that Estonian teenagers could connect to them. Before the game, several students asked me to explain their role as they needed to determine refugee status or medical insurance.
The idea of the game "Take a step forward" was 1) to show the students that people with similar opportunities can react differently to life challenges, and 2) to demonstrate how different the needs and possibilities of different social groups are. The most interesting part of the game was where students shared their thoughts and emotions about the game. For instance, one guy was "a single unemployed father" and the other was "a single unemployed mother". The last one felt that "he" had more opportunities than "an unemployed father". One student who had the role of a refugee did not make any steps as he assumed that he could not even use the Internet while being in a refugee centre in Estonia. When I asked students who were the people who made more steps than others, they assumed that they were educated Estonian citizens.
The young people enjoyed the game, but in the beginning, it was a challenge for them not to communicate with each other and not to comment on what was happening. I discovered that in this age youngsters in Estonia should learn more about the rights and the possibilities of refugees, unemployed people, or other vulnerable groups. Students' experience in this field is rather based on American movies or news headlines. According to the Estonian curriculum civil society issues are researched and discussed in high school. One more conclusion I made is that young people see the direct connection between the level of education and a person's success. In our game, the most steps made a guy who played the role of a fresh graduate of the university who was looking for his first job in a profession. I told the students my personal story that unfortunately it can be quite a tough experience when you have a degree and speak three languages, but you do not have professional experience and enough social capital. As a result, it becomes a real challenge to find a proper job after you graduate from the university.
In addition to this 45-minute game, I implemented one energizer in a class where I teach Russian language to 7-12-year-old Estoanian-speakers. We played a game with the numbers when everybody stayed in a circle and should say 1-2-3-4 in groups of 1-2-3-4 persons. It was challenging, but we managed to make several circles without mistakes.
I did not have an assistant in my classes and had to focus on the games, thus I did not take many pictures. The best proof of the follow-up activity is a record in the school e-journal - this file with the student's names on it is not for public dissemination.
Links to the posts on social media:
- Interview Website: https://www.nyh.ee/2024/05/21/digital-enterpreneurship-hrough-empathy-training-course-interview-with-sofia-olesja-and-martin/
- Instagram Post: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7PcwheOxAo/?img_index=1
- Stories and Highlights: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17993421833465297/
Participants' Impressions from the Project:
What was the main topic of the project?
- Sofia Pavljukevits – Digital Entrepreneurship.
- Olesja Rotar – Informal learning, social entrepreneurship, digital vs traditional businesses, team building, digital tools.
- Martin Laksberg – digital entrepreneurship.
What were the biggest learning moments of the event for you?
- Sofia Pavljukevits – Brand identity and communication skills. Entrepreneurship for people with disabilities.
- Olesja Rotar – To work in one team with people of different ages and cultures. To play new learning games.
- Martin Laksberg – I enjoyed learning through discussions and debates and I am inclined to believe, that this was the biggest learning moment for me in this project.
Do you have any plans to continue being active in the field? If yes, in which way?
- Sofia Pavljukevits – I'm planning to take more Erasmus+ projects on this topic.
- Olesja Rotar – I will certainly implement some games we learned at the school where I work as a teacher.
- Martin Laksberg – Yes, I believe my future is closely connected with entrepreneurship because I am studying at university in this field and I want to set up my own business.
Would you recommend this experience to your friends? If yes, why? If not, why not?
- Sofia Pavljukevits – I would recommend this to my friends because it's a good way to broaden your knowledge and get to know new people.
- Olesja Rotar – This was my first Erasmus+ training and I kept my expectations low to avoid being disappointed. The project and the participants exceeded my expectations: the program was intensive and interesting, and people were open-minded and intelligent. I would recommend my friends and colleagues to participate in this kind of project.
- Martin Laksberg – Yes, I already recommended it to my friends. It was an interesting and important experience.