ESU Estonia members meet Michael Polt, the U.S. Ambassador to Estonia

On Wednesday, March 21 ESU Estonia members had an American evening at the National Library. We met Mr. Polt, the US Ambassador, William O’Connor and Tiiu Vitsut, both from Public Affairs department. We enjoyed a fantastic round-table talk in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere as well as American chocolate cookies, made by Billy’s wife for us, and a glass of wine.


Mr. Polt introduced himself, his close friend and colleague Mr.O’Donnell, who he had brought to the meeting. Then the Ambassador asked each person to introduce themselves too and talked briefly to everyone. The main topic of the event was the English language: why it had became ‘Lingua franka’ for the whole world, what are the benefits and disadvantages of that for native speakers, what difficulties foreigners experience communicating with people of various countries with lots of accents and how they can benefit from that, etc… Everyone had a chance to talk or ask a question. So, that was a real English-speaking evening we all enjoyed. But it was not the only good thing about it. Before Mr. Polt left, he had invited every ESU Estonia member present at the event to the Independence Day reception held at his residence every year on July 4th. As well some support and help from the Embassy was promised and the idea of having such kind of events in the future was proposed by Tiiu Vitsut.

Then William O’Connor went on talking about himself and his work, why he had got interested in Estonia and learning Estonian, his impressions about the country and people, etc. The time flew very quickly because it was of a real interest and use for everyone. We had a nice opportunity to get to know more about each other. That’s the aim of the English-Speaking Union all over the world.

National Public Speaking Competition 2012

photos by
Paloma Fagil Fernández

Farewell party for HM Ambassador Peter Carter, January 23

written by Kathrin Frei

Yesterday we were invited to visit Poska House to say “Goodbye” to our esteemed friend HM British Ambassador Mr. Peter Carter, who unfortunately had to leave Estonia. He had participated in many events with our members and we all had learned a lot from him. We will miss him because he has a cheerful personality, but we hope he will come back to see us again in the future.
The event started off with an interesting speech about The Night Of Robert Burns, which is celebrated on the 25th of January. Philip Marsdale told us about some Scottish traditions such as dancing the night away and eating the haggis of course!
Later, Peter was asked some questions by his guests. While answering them, he said many great things about Estonia and he could not think of any negative points. Peter also mentioned that Estonia is an unique country in his opinion. After all the questions had been asked and all the answers had been given, I read a song by Robert Burns called “A Man’s A Man For A’That.” I was quite nervous while reading it out loud in front of everyone. Then we went to the main table, which was really nicely decorated and where all sorts of food had been served. All of the guests walked around and talked to each other. It was really interesting to meet new people and get to know them.
All in all, I think Peter will remember this evening and so will we. All of us will miss you, Peter!

Norwegian Evening

On December 8 the ESU Estonia members met Per-Otto Breivik, a Norwegian businessman, the managing director and CEO of the Permarine AS. We had a lovely talk on different topics in a friendly atmosphere in front of the fireplace. We enjoyed our conversation a lot, as well as a glass of wine, some fruit and gingerbread biscuits. The ESU Estonia would like to thank Mr.Breivik for hosting a pre-Christmas event and meeting.

KGB Museum

On November 30 the ESU Estonia members visited the Sokos Viru Hotel and the KGB Museum. We met at the Bogart Bar for a glass of wine, some snacks and a talk. The manager, Mr. Jarvi told us a little bit about the history of the hotel, which is still the biggest hotel in Estonia, and showed us two renovated hotel rooms with a fantastic view on the Old Town.The excursion to the Museum started on the ground floor, where we were given tickets with two vouchers on some drinks in any hotel bar and cafe. The guide told young people and reminded the older ones what life was like in Estonia more than thirty years ago. We saw quite many artifacts of those days in the Museum. We enjoyed not only a lively excursion but a wonderful view from the 23rd floor on our beautiful city.

The Speaker of the Estonian Parliament Mrs Ene Ergma met the ESU of Estonia members at the Parliament

November 22

written by Paloma Fagil Fernández

On November 21, the members of the ESU of Estonia had the honour to attend an event at the Estonian Parliament. In the beginning, a tour guide showed us a model of the building and took us to some different rooms like the one where the members of the Parliament meet. In the meantime, the guide provided us some complete information as to the building and its history. To conclude, the guests met the speaker Ene Ergma, who basically told all of us about several Estonian monetary, educational and political maters. The people there could also ask her many questions. The visit was very interesting so we hope we will have another chance to make a similar one in the future.

Seminar: The National Public Speaking Competition 2012

On Friday, November 11, the first seminar for the teachers in this season was held at Sakala Eragymnasium. It was a successful event in a beautiful building. We thank the school and Headmistress Jekaterina Gridneva for hosting the seminar. About 60 people came from Tartu, Tallinn, Kohtla-Järve, Viimsi and Tallinn. Most of them were teachers and some of them brought their students to listen to Mr. Carter, who has been supporting the Competition since we started it in 2009. He helped all our winners with his professional advice to prepare their speeches for the International Public Speaking Competition and delivered some seminars for the teachers in the past two years. This Friday, HM Ambassador Peter Carter gave a fantastic 2-hours talk to the audience with examples of good and bad speeches, tests, discussions and answered lots of questions. He explained how to prepare an impromptu speech as well and how to deal with questions that follow the speech. We watched a few videos of the International finalists’ speeches to see how they delivered them and what was good about their speeches.
We are very greatful to Mr. Carter for his kind support of the Competition and the ESU Estonia as well.
Zinaida Jevgrafova
ESU Estonia, Chairman
Copmpetition Convenor