1. Very serious students see language learning as hard work. They don’t make jokes or laugh in the class.

2. Stubborn students are not open to new techniques or ideas. They want to learn exactly the same way they have learned languages their whole life.

3. Every word students aim to write down every new word in the notebook and even worse, to write a translation of every unknown word in the textbook. They don’t have time to pay attention to other things in class.

4. Detail-oriented students want to know the meaning of every word ending or grammar structure, derivation of all forms etc. Their favorite question is “why it is this way?”

5. Non-talking students talk very little. They use one-two word answers. They think the teacher has to pay them a euro for each word they utter.

6. Philosopher students try to form complex sentences and express sophisticated ideas and thoughts in class or in their essays. They try hard to speak (write) about white clouds floating across the blue sky to the edge of the world instead of simply saying “the sky is blue and the clouds are white”.

7. Impatient students get upset or bored easily, they just want to go on, learn more and more new words, not willing to review or practice.

8. Nervous students feel very nervous in class and desperately try to avoid making mistakes. They think the teacher is unfriendly and bothers them too much.

9. Relaxed students enjoy their studies, they laugh at themselves, they don’t take Estonian too seriously and they don’t stress if they don’t understand everything.

10. Diligent students come to class prepared, they like to write essays and learn dialogues and poems by heart.

11. Active students initiate conversations and bring up new topics. They share their news and bring interesting items or books to class to show the others.

12. Open students talk about how they feel and express their opinions. If they dislike something they say so rather than keeping their disappointment for the end of course evaluation instead.

Did you find yourself on the list? Do you think you are a good language student? Is there anything you would like to change in your thinking? If you are ready to revise and adjust your attitudes and views on language learning, you might find that studying Estonian is not as difficult as you thought.