IB

Project to learn language through basketball

13.01.2020

Students from Tallinn University taught our IB students Estonian through playing basketball. Their coach Mikk Toomel, who leads the project, wrote about it.

Since the start of this school year, a number of Audentes IB students, led by Erik Vunsh, have gathered every Saturday to play basketball together. Our student company and entrepreneurship teacher Rodrigo Preciado Azcuna has also joined them. So far, the communication had only been in English, but Mikk came up with the idea to teach the group some Estonian through playing basketball.

In cooperation with Tallinn University’s project LIFE (Learning in an Interdisciplinary Focused Environment is a study course at Tallinn University focused on project-and problem-based learning, where students collaborate with academics and partners from outside the university to carry out projects with interdisciplinary problems) students, 4 academic basketball language lessons were organized. 28 most common basketball related Estonian words and phrases were divided for the lessons and were taught using the Total Physical Response method, which means that the language is learned through action.

The feedback from our IB students was very positive, in addition to learning Estonian they enjoyed the process and had a good time. Likewise, project LIFE students were satisfied with the group’s effort and progress. LIFE students made a 6-minute long mini-movie of the process, which was directed by Uljana Brezgina a student of audiovisual media at the Baltic Film and Media School.

As there is still room for few players, people at AIS, who are interested in playing basketball on Saturdays at 4.15 pm, contact Erik or come to Kopli Spordihoone (address Erika 5).