Tiiu Kivistik

Background

About Tiiu Kivistik

Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t - you are right.” — Henry FordOrdinary has never been enough for me. I have taken up challenges that would intimidate many: studying abroad (twice), teaching high school classes at merely 22 years with no formal preparation, teaching myself to code in Python with no background in computer science. None of that was easy. But it taught me to believe in my ability to push through hardships.My often bold choices in life have resulted in combining two careers that I am passionate about. During the daytime I help Estonian language thrive in the digital era. My current focus is harnessing the magic of language technology to make language learning accessible, easy and entertaining for everybody. In the evenings, I transform into a folk dance teacher. I do have more energy than a normal person Public speaking, social skills, teaching, leading & inspiring - I teach because I love inspiring! Since 2015 I have taught hundreds of children and adults to dance and changed their lives forever. I also often give workshops on language Project management - I have led smaller scale language tech developments in Institute of the Estonian Language. Since spring 2023 I am managing development of language tech tools for language learning in an European Social Fund project. As board member of Tallinn Folk Dance Teachers association, I have lead several projects since 2019. Working as dance teacher means organizing all aspects of a dance company from finances to IT - I use Python almost daily with focus on its NLP and machine learning libraries. I have decent knowledge of HTML, CSS, Javascript, Django, working with databases and API. I have collected and built text corpora for specific needs of researchers and built components for various projects. I am constantly improving my Creativity - code, paintings, choreography. My strength lies in seeing the bigger Time management - a must, to be successful in multiple fields. When I commute or work out, I like to listen to investment podcasts.Future?Data, AI and language technology - the more I dive into them, the more fascinated I am! I believe this trio is something that will change the world as we know it and I sure want to participate! In Institute of the Estonian Language I work towards creating a new era of language teaching where language technology is harnessed to support the traditional teaching methods and individual needs of each learner.Contact me if you want to shape the future together!