6 Episodes: “Trainer Spotlight” Educational Talk Show Opening Season

In 2025, we decided at Tallinn Folk High School that our trainers deserved their own YouTube show.

Trainer Spotlight, or Koolitaja kolmapäev ("Trainer Wednesday"), is a long-form educational talk show series we've been producing since June 2025. Each episode introduces one of our trainers through conversation, practical challenges and behind-the-scenes moments connected to their field of teaching.

How We Got Here

Video had actually been part of the marketing plan from the beginning. Video had actually been part of the marketing plan from the beginning. Already at my job interview in early 2024, I proposed creating original video content for the school, and soon started producing shorter videos around individual courses and trainers.

I've joked that wherever I work, I need to keep doing photo and video projects, even when they're not directly in my job description. It's good for marketing content, but it also gives me a reason to keep all those Canon and Panasonic batteries I've accumulated over the years charged and alive. Camera batteries don't particularly enjoy spending years forgotten in a drawer.

By 2025, Kaidi Udris had joined Tallinn Folk High School and quickly brought plenty of ideas and enthusiasm of her own. Somewhere in that mix, the idea emerged to take our course videos further and create a regular long-form online show. Kaidi was a natural fit for hosting. She had plenty of performing experience and, despite having barely finished her trial period at the school, happily agreed to give it a try.

An internship programme I had established with Tallinn Polytechnic School Visual Media students also brought additional help into our everyday marketing work and gave us more room to experiment.

Making the Show

Nobody does anything great alone, and this series has always been a team effort. Kaidi hosts and coordinates the guests, I take care of the technical production, and our interns help us keep the cameras, sound, lighting and everything else running. Ideas and content develop together along the way, followed by editing, publishing and promotion after filming.

Our intern Robin filming details of a jeans patchwork quilt for episode 4.

We once tried making an entire episode without interns and gained a new appreciation for just how much work they do.

The episodes combine interviews, documentary-style filming and practical experiments – from tango dancing and public speaking exercises to patchwork and beginner guitar lessons. Instead of just talking about what our trainers teach, we wanted to show who they are, how they work and what we might learn from them.

Across the series, one recurring theme has emerged naturally: Tallinn Folk High School as a place where people continue to grow, experiment and rediscover curiosity regardless of age or background.

Another fun part of the project has been designing a different thumbnail for each episode and choosing a quote from each guest to use as the video title.

Episode 1: Tango Teacher Maria Zujeva

A video that almost never started…

The first episode of Trainer Spotlight took an unexpected turn when the originally planned guest had to cancel at the last moment. Fortunately, tango teacher Maria Zujeva stepped in with only a few hours' notice. "Tango is improvisation," Maria joked during filming – and the episode itself quickly became proof of that idea.

That's also the attitude I've tried to keep while filming and editing the series. Not everything has to be perfect. Most importantly, it has to get done.

Episode 2: Workplace Happiness Researcher Tiina Saar-Veelmaa

Who knew workplace happiness wasn't just a good idea, but an entire research subject?

The second episode of Trainer Spotlight featured workplace happiness researcher and trainer Tiina Saar-Veelmaa. Together with Kaidi, she talked about lifelong learning, creativity and how we deal with a world that keeps changing.

One memorable comparison was learning as nutrition. Tiina described lifelong learning healthy as the "broccoli and lentils" for the brain, while always sticking to what you already know can become the equivalent of "fries and sausages".

Another idea I particularly liked was learning as a way of training spontaneity. Tiina talked about living in a VUCA world – one defined by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. If we don't keep training our creativity and spontaneity, we won't be very well prepared for whatever comes next.

Kaidi also tried an exercise where she found items representing her dream job and imagined how having it would feel.

Episode 3: Public Speaking Teacher Mihkel Kangur

Mihkel Kangur is one of the trainers whose course I had actually attended myself, back in 2024.

The third episode of Trainer Spotlight featured Mihkel, a public speaking teacher. Together with host Kaidi, Mihkel talked about self-development, communication and lifelong learning. One of the main questions was why self-development courses tend to attract more women than men, and what might encourage more men to give them a try.

There was also plenty of practical stuff. Kaidi tried different theatre and public speaking exercises with Mihkel, covering confidence, performance and how we communicate with other people. The episode also introduced a new assistant host: a sock puppet bear, who joined them for part of the conversation.

Episode 4: Patchwork Teacher Marja Matiisen

I was born in 1991. A year later, Marja Matiisen started teaching patchwork at Tallinn Folk High School.

The fourth episode of Trainer Spotlight featured patchwork artist and longtime craft teacher Marja Matiisen, who has been teaching at Tallinn Folk High School since 1992. Filmed partly inside one of her patchwork classes, the episode explored creativity, recycling and the idea that even forgotten or discarded materials can be transformed into something meaningful.

Throughout the conversation, Marja shared stories from decades of teaching and reflected on the joy of seeing former students continue creating years later. Her passion for reusing materials has become so strong over time that she joked about even wanting to recycle airborne denim dust from her workshop. That’s dedication!

During the episode, Marja also showed us the certificate she had received for being named Tallinn Folk High School's Teacher of the Year 2025.

Episode 5: Guitar Teacher Tiit Kõrvits

After this episode, I could say that my guitar had been played by a celebrity. Tiit Kõrvits tuned it for Kaidi before giving her first guitar lesson on camera.

The fifth episode of Trainer Spotlight featured guitarist and music teacher Tiit Kõrvits, who has been teaching guitar for more than two decades and at Tallinn Folk High School since 2015. Tiit talked about learning and practising music, including how difficult things become easier when you break them into smaller parts and then put everything back together. Practical advice for many situations in life!

In the second half of the episode, Kaidi finally picked up a guitar for her first lesson and, step by step, learned to play a simple melody.

Episode 6: Christmas Special

The sixth episode was where I created a rolling news ticker for the first time in Adobe Premiere. It was a small thing, but I was quite proud of myself when I figured out how to make it work.

The final episode of the first season of Trainer Spotlight was our Christmas special. Mõmmi Karu, the sock puppet bear from Episode 3, returned to help Kaidi look for last-minute Christmas gift ideas among Tallinn Folk High School's upcoming courses for 2026.

For the second half, Kaidi went out onto the streets of Tallinn to ask people what they had learned during the past year. By a crazy coincidence, the very first person she randomly stopped was one of my own students from Polytechnic School. Of course.

The Production Team

The series is filmed and edited by the Tallinn Folk High School marketing and communications team in collaboration with visual media interns from Tallinn Polytechnic School.

Kaidi Udris – Host
Erlich Lõwi – Camera Operator, Technical Editor
Robin Õuemets, Birgit Hanniste – Camera Operators (2025–2026)
Martin Vimberg – Production Assistant / Camera Operator (2025)
all the colleagues and guests who have supported the series by taking part, helping along the way or simply saying something kind about what we're doing.