I have survived my first appearance in front of a class full of students. More than that, my first appearance hasn’t scared them all off! Most of them were there for the second round. My conclusions from this initial experience are twofold: 1) when teaching, you learn the most yourself and 2) never wear a black shirt when using chalk on a blackboard.
Also, I can add another feature of a small European country to the list – it sees its language being replaced by English. Even though the course is officially for Bachelor programme students, there are some Masters students from abroad. Since the official language of the Masters education is English, the course (including my part) is being given in English. While this definitely improves the English of the local students, the level of knowledge of their native language suffers. It’s not that they can’t get along in a supermarket or anything. But writing a technical report in their own language instead of in English is something modern students in a SEC just don’t do. So when they get their first job after university with a local firm, they have to learn writing in their own language!
This week as I came to my work, I was welcomed by this student version of lego.
Small European Country 
I think it very positive that they are learning English so well, but agree that it is unfortunate how their native tongue suffers.
What do you think about a universal language; like what if all the world’s languages melted together to create one uniform tongue?
I believe the main purpose of language is communication, other languages are fun and important to learn but I see a future world that communicates more efficiently by adopting one uniform language.
A universal language is a great idea, and I think English is the universal language of this moment. However, the subtleties of a local language are adapted to the local situation and are being lost in translation. Fur example, think of the numerous Inuit words for snow. In my opinion, language is a part of one’s identity and a means of expressing this identity, as part of a group. While numerous languages are disappearing, in every new subculture a new language spontaneously emerges, signalling a need for an “internal” means of communication. So, immigrants and their children often “create” a new language by incorporating words from the language of their new surroundings into their original language.