Although this meeting was much more social and activity-based, I still noticed clear learning outcomes, specially in communication. Spending three days with people from different countries forced us to switch constantly between English and Spanish, sometimes without even realising it. We both learned to be more flexible in conversations with bigger groups. We also taught each other and other people we met small cultural explanations about Spanish customs and traditions, or even the way we approach group games. At the same time, we learned a lot about Finnish culture, for example with the sauna-lake-sauna cycle. Explaining how we felt or what surprised us helped us practise expressing emotions and sensations in English.
This time we learned by participating through games, conversations, shared routines and even silence. Communication became more spontaneous and intuitive when we were surrounded by people from all over the world.
Sharing a room also changed the way we interacted, we talked late at night about the day, our impressions, and the funny situations we experienced. The days were full of activities and group interactions so we also tried to learn about everyone there.
This experience showed us that learning can happen in unexpected places, and that teaching is sometimes less about explaining and more about participating.
Al
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