Work hard: play a video game!

Who knew that you could consider playing a video game working and being productive? I certainly didn’t think that before last Monday! I found out then that I had less than a week to prepare a presentation on the new U.S. Department of State video game Trace Effects, to be presented to English teachers in Tartu. Tartu is two hours away from Tallinn. Road trip!

Greete Palksaar, head of the Tartu American Corner

Trace Effects is a new video game that invites users to play the role of Trace, a time traveler who makes his way through several museums and other places in the United States in an effort to get back home. Users have the chance to practice their English and also learn about current topics such as the environment, entrepreneurism and empowering women. I had a lot of fun learning to play the game and after several days of doing so I was ready to make my presentation in Tartu!

Talking about the English learning game Trace Effects

For those of you who don’t know, Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia and is often considered the intellectual capital of Estonia, housing Estonia’s oldest and largest university. We stopped first at the University of Tartu’s library where we visited our American Corner and Education USA Center there. We met with Greete Palksaar, head of the Corner. She showed us the corner, the new website, and all the different resources they have available for students and faculty. She also told us about the different types of outreach she does to help promote the American Corner as well as study in the United States. For example, she is having a pumpkin carving contest … entries are accepted up to October 31st!

Once we left the corner, we went to the Estonian Academic Teachers of English 22nd Annual Conference at Miina Härma High School where we would give our presentations to English teachers. While waiting to present, we were treated to the sweetest cake I have probably ever eaten. It literally tasted like pure sugar and was delicious!

The ride back to Tallinn

Finally we presented! The teachers really appreciated APAO Alison Davis’ intro which she did in Estonian. I feel like people respect you more for learning their native language and using it with them, and people are always so surprised! Alison talked about the American English website and the fun teaching and learning resources you can find there. And then it was my turn as I took the gathered teachers on a “tour” of the Trace Effects video game. I had a great time talking to the teachers and a lot of them are planning on telling their students about this fun new tool to practice their English.

On the drive back to Tallinn Cultural Assistant Tiiu Vitsut showed us the Snail building, this really unique suspension bridge, and Tartu’s Town Hall square. The sunset on the road back was beautiful, and the clouds that evening complemented it nicely. All-in-all, it was a productive and amazing road trip – and a great way to end the week!

Blog post by PAS Intern Ayesha Hamza.
Photos by PAS Cultural Assistant Tiiu Vitsut