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U.S. English Foundation Research ESTONIA
Language Research6. Language in everyday life: The use of language in everyday life, e.g. education, broadcasting, and other EDUCATION Up until 1940, the educational needs of minority groups were fully taken into account and the majority of children received tutoring in their native language. Estonian was a compulsory subject, taught as the first foreign language. The situation changed after the Soviet occupation when Russian language served as an instrument for the communist ideology. Russian children received education in Russian-language schools orientated to monolingualism. Estonian children were educated in Estonian. Those two languages were the only languages of education. For children from other minority groups an assimilation program was introduced. After independence the situation of the Russian-speaking community changed radically. Russian lost its previous importance and the community had difficulty accepting and adapting. It was necessary to implement several changes in the school system at Russian schools. The introduction of an Estonian curriculum, to replace the Russian textbooks with Estonian ones and the training of teachers was necessary. Estonia has also adopted legislation requiring all secondary schools to teach primarily in Estonian by the year 2000 (the deadline has been postponed until 2007). The Education Act was amended in November 1997 to establish a new "state language teacher" post. These posts are to be filled by highly qualified teachers experienced in teaching Estonian as a second language. In June 1998 the first 18 teachers out of a total of 50 were appointed. Progress should continue in this area. Native-language education is possible at the Swedish Secondary School in Pürksi and at the Jewish Secondary School in Tallinn as well as at numerous Sunday Schools. The Noarootsi Swedish and Russian Private Grammar Schools in Tallinn are being re-established. In 1995 there were 126 Russian-language government-financed schools documented in Estonia, the majority of which are now closed. In 1998 Russian was widely used in the courts and at the administrative level in those areas where Russian speakers represented a majority of the local population. However, non-citizens were still subject to some restrictions such as the right to sit on the boards of state-owned companies, to belong to a political party and to be employed in certain areas of public administration. Updated (July 2002) MEDIA There are no restrictions on Russian language print media or radio broadcasting. Today there are two Russian-language national dailies ("Estonia" and "Molodjozh Estonii") and two local newspapers ("Narvskaja Gazeta" and "Sillamjaeski Vestnik"); five Russian language newspapers are published weekly (four national and one local, in Narva). Additionally, two regular small newspapers are published in the cities of Pärnu and Sillamäe. Estonian State Radio airs a channel broadcasting in Russian, Belarussian, and Ukrainian (Radio 4), and there are three private radio stations broadcasting in the Russian language. Source: Minority Protection in Estonia, Open Society Institute 2001, http://www.eumap.org/reports/content/10/233/minority_estonia.pdf, EUMAP (The EU Accession Monitoring Program Report on Minority Protection), http://www.eumap.org/reports/content/10 Updated (August 2002) EDUCATION As of September 1, 2002 public secondary schools in Estonia will grant ethnic minorities the possibility to study some subjects in their mother tongue. According to a government decision, special groups will be formed for school children, whose language is neither Estonian nor Russian. Mailis Rand, the Estonian Minister of Education, said that a minority language group would be formed if at least 10 applications were presented by the children's parents. She promised these groups to have at least 2 hours per week in their mother tongue. According to Ms. Rand, an analysis of school registers shows that Ukrainian, Romany, Latvian, Spanish and Finnish language groups could be opened. At present, the majority of these children study in the Russian language schools in Tallinn and Northeast Estonia (Narva, Sillamae). Due to some juridical details, the first minority language groups will be formed in Estonian language schools. Ms. Rand said that the Ministry of Education is working on the amendments to the Law on Secondary Schools, which will allow the introduction of education in minority languages also in Russian language schools. The creation of minority language groups is one of the first concrete steps towards the principles outlined in the State Program of Integration (2000-2007). According to the Estonian Department of Statistics, there are more than 120 ethnic groups living in Estonia but only 15 of them exceed 1,000 people. Approximately one third of the total population (1,5 million) are Russians, Ukrainians and Belorussians, who use Russian in everyday communication. Source: Eurolang, www.eurolang.net, Tallinn, August 5, 2002, by Alexander Shegedin Updated (March 2003) ELECTORAL ADVERTISING PROVOKES OUTCRY IN ESTONIA On March 2, 2003 parliamentary elections took place in Estonia. Despite all warnings from the Estonian Language Commission, electoral advertising posters in Russian appeared in Ida-Virumaa, the northeast Estonian region bordering with Russia. According to the Law on Language, all street advertising must be in Estonian only or with a translation into other languages including Russian. The Language Commission appealed to the Mayor of Kohtla-Jarve (a town in Ida-Virumaa) either to remove all Russian language posters or to provide them with an Estonian translation. Source: Eurolang News, Tallinn, February 28, 2003, by Alexander Shegedin, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4120 Updated (September 2003) LENIENT LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS FOR PRISON WARDENS ENCOURAGE MINORITIES In Estonia all public servants, whose mother tongue is not Estonian, must pass the Estonian language test. Language requirements for them differ according to the position they occupy. The government decided to soften the requirements for wardens responsible for patrolling the outside borders of prison zones. In the past they had to master the Estonian language at the so-called middle level. Because of these rather demanding requirements, the Estonian prison system was permanently suffering from shortage of workers, which affected all nine prisons in the country. Recently the Minister of Justice, Ken-Marti Vaher, declared at a cabinet meeting that the main tasks of wardens (visual control and stop of attacks) do not require fluency in Estonian. The Ministry hopes that softening of the language requirements to an elementary level will keep the current wardens on their posts and stimulate applications from new workers. The prison system needs 311 people to cover the outside warden posts. At the moment only 285 positions are occupied. Out of those; however, approximately 200 do not meet the requirement of "middle level" knowledge of the Estonian language. Source: Eurolang News, Tallinn, August 26, 2003, by Alexander Shegedin, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4372 Updated (December 2003) LANGUAGE INITIATIVES IN NARVA In the city of Narva, near the border with Russia, one cannot live without understanding the Russian language. In this city Russian is widely used in shops, in state institutions and on the streets. It is common that even a local security guard does not speak Estonian at all. People who passed the Estonian language course complain that they cannot practice the language. Out of 70,000 inhabitants in Narva, only 4.2 percent are Estonians. After 1944, Narva was bombed almost to ashes and the majority of people who had lived there permanently for a long time left the city. Narva was then repopulated with a young factory workforce from Russia. Recently, on their own initiative, the Russian members of the Estonian government coalition party Res Publica who work in the Narva region established a club called Lets talk Estonian. The aim of the club is to politically activate its members and to popularize the Estonian language. The official language of the club is Estonian. The Estonian Prime Minister and the head of Res Publica, Juhan Parts welcomed this initiative. According to him, the more people feel responsible for Estonia's well-being, the better. Learning the Estonian language in Narva helps to make the city more European. In Tallinn, the same club has operated for a long time, but its members speak also Russian there. Source: Eurolang News, Tallinn, November 26, 2003, by Toivo Tänavsuu, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4516 Updated (January 2004) THE ESTONIAN MINISTER OF CULTURE RAISED DOUBTS ABOUT THE PLANNED SWITCH OF RUSSIAN-MEDIUM SCHOOLS TO ESTONIAN The Minister of Culture, Toivo Maimets, after his recent meeting with the Russian Minister of Education, Vladimir Filippov, spoke about the 2007 switch of Russian-medium schools to Estonian as the language of instruction. The Estonian Minister agreed that it is advantageous for Russian speakers to have a good command of Estonian. University education is in Estonian only so Russians not speaking the language have no chance to access it. Also, being a citizen of Estonia, a person has to be able to deal with the state on his or her own, without using a translator. On the other hand, according to him, the Estonian state has done very little so far to resolve this complex problem. He doubted whether the switch of all Russian schools could be achieved by 2007. Currently there are some teachers who teach the Estonian language in Russian schools and do not have a sufficient command of Estonian. A special commission has been formed in the Ministry of Education to deal with this issue. Source: Eurolang News, Tallinn, January 7, 2004, by Aleksandr Shegedin, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4561 Updated (March 2004) BROADCASTING The state-owned television broadcaster has transmitted news and other programs in Russian, and furthermore it has also formally adopted a plan to increase significantly its Russian-language output. One state-owned radio station broadcasts predominantly in Russian and it aims to facilitate the integration of the Russian speaking population into the Estonian society. It provides information about all aspects of life in the country in the Russian language (and to a minor extent also in the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages). Public service broadcasters are required to promote the Estonian national language and culture and to satisfy the information needs of all sections of the population, including minorities. TELEVISION BROADCASTING The state-owned ETV and two private broadcasters (Kanal 2 and TV3 Viasat) make up the national audiovisual broadcasting market. One local television broadcasting license has been granted so far. The ETV broadcasts a number of programs and news in Russian. The programs in this language make up 55 hours of station's weekly output. Concerning the 2003/2005 development plan, the amount of programs in the Russian language should increase from 55 hours per week to 96 hours per week by 2005. ETV aims to attract more Russian viewers and plans to develop bilingual interactive programs, including children's programs. The privately owned Kanal 2 broadcasts a popular morning program in Russian on Saturdays and currently also a program called "Russians in Estonia". Some programs of Kanal 2 have Russian subtitles. TV3, for its part, does not produce any programs in Russian, nor it does use Russian subtitles. Occasionally, some films or documentaries from Russia are rebroadcast. By November 30, 2002, 70 cable television broadcasting licenses had been granted. Some cable televisions broadcast almost entirely in Russian but a few transmit also programs in the Ukrainian or Georgian language. RADIO BROADCASTING The state-owned Estonian Radio (ER) has four radio channels covering almost the whole country. ER's station Raadio 4 broadcasts predominantly in Russian, whereas the other three stations broadcast in Estonian. Since 1993, Raadio 4 has been transmitted all over the country for 18 hours a day and, in Tallinn, for 24 hours a day. Raadio 4 broadcasts news and also musical, literary, popular science and educational programs; political analysis; information about job vacancies and legal advices. The main aim of Raadio 4 is to integrate the Russian-speaking population into the Estonian society by providing information on the country's history, culture, society and political affairs. While the main broadcasting language is Russian, Raadio 4 also broadcasts 1.3 hours a week in Ukrainian and one hour a week in Belarusian. Source: Minority-language Related Broadcasting and Legislation in the OSCE, Program in Comparative Media Law and Policy (PCMLP), Center for Socio-Legal Studies, Wolfson College, Oxford University & Institute for Information Law (IViR) (http://www.ivir.nl/index-english.html), Universiteit van Amsterdam (Study commissioned by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities), April 2003, edited by T. McGonagle (IViR), B. Davis Noll & M. Price (PCMLP), http://www.ivir.nl/publications/mcgonagle/Minority-language%20broadcasting.pdf Updated (August 2004) ESTONIA'S SECOND STATE REPORT ON NATIONAL MINORITIES: RICH IN DETAILS BUT POOR IN COMMITMENTS In July 2004, according to its obligations to the Council of Europe, Estonia presented its second report on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM), which came into force in Estonia in 19981. It is important to clarify that Estonia ratified the FCNM together with a special declaration according to which, this country does not recognize Estonian non-citizens as a national minority. Only citizens of Estonia can be treated as such; however, the majority of Estonian Russians have had no Estonian citizenship so far. This attitude was already criticized by the CC of the Council of Europe during the discussions on the first report. In its second report, which is considered to be more detailed and well elaborated, the Estonian government claims that the declaration only has a "historical-political" sense and non-citizens can be treated as national minorities in practice. According to an expert of the Tallinn Legal Information Center for Human Rights, the report reflects unsatisfactorily the political participation of non-Estonians, who are strongly under-represented in state structures. The problem of Russian-language broadcasting on Estonian TV is also ignored: it is currently limited to 10 percent of programming. However, there are also some new and more positive trends described in the second report. The Government recognizes that the current Law on Street Signage does not correspond with international standards. The Estonian Language Law stipulates that street advertising must be in Estonian only but the report claims that the Language Inspectorate in fact uses a broad interpretation of this law and does not prohibit signs in the languages of national minorities. In addition, the report states that place-names in the languages of national minorities can be used on a local level (as the second name), if the majority of the population of this region were non-Estonians in 19392. The Government supposedly informed local governments of the historic Russian regions near Chudskoje Lake about this possibility, but they have not used it so far. Source: Eurolang News, Tallinn, August 16, 2004, by Alexander Shegedin, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4738 1 In the same year Estonia prepared its first report, which was presented to the Consulting Committee (CC) of the Council of Europe in 1999. 2 This right is used by the Swedish minority in the Estonian islands. Updated (November 2004) THE FIRST "LANGUAGE NEST" IN VÕROMAA Võromaa, the county in southeastern Estonia, has the first own pre-school. The project, supported by the Haani-Ruusmãe primary school, was launched because Estonian is becoming increasingly dominant in this area and the Võros are worried about the survival of their language. Since parents only rarely speak Võro with their children, this way they will secure the Võro-speaking environment for them. The organizers hope that this initiative in Haani will not be the only one and more children in a pre-school age will be able to learn about their language and land. The study of the Võro language is organized and supported by the Võro Institute (www.wi.ee), which helped to start Võro language classes in twenty-six schools. Source: Eurolang News, Sulev Iva, Võro, November, 25, 2004, www.eurolang.net Updated (December 2004) ESTONIAN LANGUAGE INSPECTORATE INCREASES ACTIVITY Over the last two months the Estonian Language Inspectorate (ELI) has run a number of campaigns to check on a public and private sector workers' command of Estonian. In October 2004, the inspectors reported on fifty-five Russian-speaking workers, both in public and private enterprises, whose Estonian language skills were insufficient for their jobs. In November the Inspectorate carried out similar campaign, where especially policemen's language skills were criticized. However, the most recent initiative of ELI was connected with the place-names in Tallinn1. ELI demanded to replace immediately all bilingual (Estonian-Russian) signs in the city with the Estonian ones. Source: Eurolang News, by Alexander Shegedin, in Tallinn, November 29, 2004, http://www.eurolang.net/ 1 Russian-speakers constitute almost fifty percent of Tallinn's population and one third of the total population of Estonia. Updated (January 2005) ESTONIA CLOSES A RUSSIAN LANGUAGE TV CHANNEL "Orsent", one of the oldest local Russian TV-cable channels broadcasting in Estonia1, was shut down just before New Year's Eve. The reason for this step was an accusation of the Estonian Language Inspectorate that "Orsent", while operating, had regularly violated the Language Law. According to the Inspectorate, their demand to provide all programs with the subtitles in the Estonian language was ignored by the channel. However, the General Director of "Orsent", Victor Titov, claimed in an interview for the Estonian newspaper, "Paevaleht", that all films and shows broadcast by the channel were supplied with translations into the Estonian language, apart from live programs. He believes that the closure has rather political than legislative background2, though Peeter Sookruus, the Head of the Media Department at the Ministry of Culture denied such a theory. Source: Eurolang News, by Alexander Shegedin, Tallinn, January 14, 2005, http://www.eurolang.net/ 1 since 1992 2 "Orsent" broadcast several films about the neo-Nazi movement in Estonia and the demolition of Soviet war memorials. Updated (April 2006) RUSSIAN MEDIA IN TALLINN WARNED OVER SPELLING The Estonian Language Inspectorate has sent a written warning to Russian-medium city newspaper "Kristiine" because they spelt Tallinn with only one "n". Russian linguists point out that according to the Russian grammar rules it is incorrect to write name of the Estonian capital with two n's. However, Language Inspectorate adviser Hele Parn says that they must follow Estonian language law, which includes rules for spelling Estonian place-names in Russian. In addition, the rules state that Tallinn must be spelled with two n's. Similarly, in autumn 2004 the Language Inspectorate found that many editions of Russian-medium newspapers and internet-sites had followed the rules issued in Russia in 1995 where official names of countries and cities are in Russian, including Tallinn with only one 'n'. According to the Director of the Inspectorate, the opinion of Russian scientists has a right to exist but Estonia has her own regulations to be followed. Source: Eurolang News, April 5, 2006 by Alexandr Shegedin http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2582&Itemid=1&lang=en Updated (August 2006) THE 2007 REFORM – MOVING TOWARDS BILINGUAL TEACHING At present, the readiness of the Russian-language schools to organize Estonian-language subject teaching, including language immersion, is uneven. Only twenty-seven schools have joined the language immersion programme or should have done so in 2005/2006 school year. This method means that at least 50% of teaching is to be carried out in Estonian. Based on the educational statistics and recent studies, 83 percent of Russian-medium schools and departments have already applied bilingual teaching in order to improve the proficiency in Estonian of the pupils studying at these schools. From academic year 2007/2008, schools providing education in a language other than Estonian should be transmuted to Estonian-medium education of at least 60 percent of the total teaching volume. The choice of subjects taught in the Estonian language and the division of lessons in a specific stage of study is to be determined by the school curriculum approved by school principal. To achieve the goal, the state and local governments are responsible for creating the conditions for this transition. Furthermore, to achieve education in Estonian of a certain quality, it is important to have qualified teachers with high degree of proficiency in the language and knowledge about methods of the teaching subjects in a foreign language. Therefore, teachers' preparation has been and is one of the major priorities of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research. Source: Estonian Ministry of Education and Research, http://vana.hm.ee/uus/hm/client/index.php?135262301351242050 THE IMMERSION CENTER AND LANGUAGE IMMERSION PROGRAMS The Estonian Context Approximately one third of the population of Estonia is of non-Estonian origin, the majority of whom does not speak Estonian and are not fully integrated into the mainstream of Estonian political, social and cultural life. The integration of minorities is a major priority of the Estonian Government. In this regard, fluency in the national language is considered a prerequisite for the political, economic, social and cultural integration of non-Estonians living in the country. With the re-establishment of independence in 1991, Estonian became the official language of the country and the curriculum of Russian-language schools was harmonized with that of Estonian-language schools. In accordance with the Basic Schools and Upper Secondary Schools Act, Estonian is the language of instruction1 at the upper secondary school level. Therefore, Russian-language upper secondary schools must begin the transition to Estonian-language instruction during the academic year 2007/08 the latest. In grades one to nine, any language may be used for instruction. Russian-speaking parents are worried that standard second language classes may not give their children a sufficient command of the Estonian language to be competitive in the job market or to continue studies in institutions of higher learning. Consequently, these parents are increasingly seeking opportunities to help their children become bilingual, but are also concerned that their children maintain their cultural identity. As a result, many parents prefer to have part of the curriculum taught in Estonian and part in Russian. The Immersion Center The Immersion Center was created based on a directive of the Minister of Education and Research. It officially opened its doors on 2 October 2000. The Immersion Center provides leadership in the development of immersion programs, and supports their implementation and expansion based on Estonia’s education, integration and language policy. Its ultimate purpose is to support the Estonian government in meeting one of its key long-term objectives - the social, political and economic integration of minorities, whilst helping to support the retention of first language knowledge, thereby helping give children the skills needed to be successful in both Estonian and Russian-language environments. More specifically, the mandate of the Immersion Center is to facilitate the establishment and further development of voluntary Estonian-language immersion programs, primarily in Russian-language schools. The Immersion Program in Schools In the spring of 1998, at the suggestion of the Canadian Embassy Office in Tallinn, an 11-member Steering Committee consisting of major Estonian and international partners was established to investigate different models of second language pedagogy. In this context, the Committee sought to ascertain whether immersion would be an appropriate language teaching strategy for Estonia. A major consultative process was launched which culminated in a forum of Estonian and international experts that explored the application of immersion theory and practice in the Estonian context. The wide range of stakeholders attending the forum produced a proposal to establish immersion programming in partnership with international partners. Consequently, an Estonian-Canadian project started in December 1999 to support the establishment of the Immersion Center and to prepare for program delivery. Finland and many other local and international partners supported the initiative. Schools were invited to apply to host the program, based on advertised criteria established in conjunction with the Ministry of Education and Research. A selection committee representing numerous stakeholders, including members of the Russian-speaking community, analyzed each applicant school’s proposal based on the criteria. Subsequently, four schools were selected and in September of 2000, they introduced Estonian-language immersion in grade one to 134 students in a total of five classes. Today, 17 kindergartens and 31 schools are participating in the immersion program. There are currently three possible points of entry into the program – for early immersion the last two years of kindergarten or grade one, and for late immersion - grade six. Participation is strictly voluntary. Student selection is based primarily on a “first come first served” basis. In the early immersion program, 100 percent of instruction takes place in Estonian until the second semester of grade two when Russian language arts are introduced into the curriculum. Instruction through the medium of Russian is steadily increased from grade to grade. By grade six, it constitutes 44 percent of the program. At that point, 12 percent of instructional time is devoted to a third language. In the late immersion program, the grade six as a year of entry is viewed as a period of transition, during which only 33 percent of instruction is delivered through the medium of Estonian. In grades seven and eight, 76 percent of instruction is delivered in Estonian. The remaining 24 percent consists of third language and Russian-language studies. In grade nine, the share of instruction through the medium of Estonian will drop to 60 percent of the curriculum. Estonia’s immersion program is "additive" in nature, which means that its goal is to add another set of linguistic skills to the student’s knowledge base, rather than to replace one language with another or to replace subject area studies with more language classes. Estonian immersion programs aim to provide students in participating schools with:
In conclusion, it is worth saying that graduates participating in the immersion program are able to integrate successfully into Estonian society while maintaining their cultural identity. Source: Language Immersion Center: Five Years of Accomplishment, 2005 Annual Report, http://www.kke.ee/
Updated (July 2007) THE ROLE OF THE LANGUAGE INSPECTORATE IN THE SOCIETY Since 1990, Estonia has had a variety of agencies implementing language laws in the country. Since 1998, there is only one agency of this kind, called the Language Inspectorate. The Language Inspectorate is a governmental institution under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education. One of the primary functions of the Language Inspectorate is to monitor and ensure that all persons in employment have the required language certificates and linguistic proficiency required by law to be employed in the position that they hold. To this end, the Inspectorate carries out both announced and unannounced monitoring, including visits to work places. The Language Inspectorate has 15 full–time inspectors and makes approximately 1,000 visits a year. One of the most targeted groups by the Language Inspectorate are teachers of the Russian-medium schools whose level of the state language proficiency is examined. In general, most of them fail to meet the officially established requirements. If the Language Inspectorate finds individuals in breach of the Law on Language, the authority may issue warnings or written orders against them as well as impose fines. Therefore, many people are afraid of losing their job if the Inspectorate finds their command of Estonian insufficient. This problem is particularly pertinent in Ida-Virumaa (a town with Russian–speaking majority) where employed Russian speakers have passed the Estonian language exam but they rarely use it in their everyday life. Thus, their spoken Estonian is often less proficient than their Estonian language certificate indicates. In practice, there is both a perceived and a real risk that their lack of proficiency in spoken Estonian may lead the Language Inspectorate to take action against them and possibly their employers. Information available to Amnesty International from discussions with persons belonging to the Russian–speaking linguistic minority and domestic NGOs suggests that the Inspectorate in recent years has taken an increasingly lenient and pragmatic approach towards the implementation of the Law on Language. However, this approach is not based in law, and has not decreased the fear that many have of the Language Inspectorate. Source: Linguistic Minorities in Estonia: Discrimination Must End, December 7, 2006, Amnesty International – Online documentation archive, http://web.amnesty.org/library/eng-2u6/reports Updated (January 2008) THE STATUS OF THE VÕRO LANGUAGE IN EDUCATION The Võro language is a language belonging to the Baltic-Finnic branch of the Finno-Ugric languages. It is a descendant of the old South Estonian tribal language and is the least influenced by Standard Estonian. Võro was once spoken further south and east of historical Võromaa in what is now Latvia and Russia. In addition to Võro, other contemporary variants of South Estonian include the Mulgi, Tartu and Seto dialects. At present, there are about 70,000 speakers of Voro inhabiting the south-eastern Estonia. Experts say the Voro language is seriously endangered by standard Estonian due to the lack of the government's legal commitment to protect the language. Today, the legal status of the Võro language is not specified in any document, except the Development Strategy of the Estonian language (2004 – 2010) in which Southern Estonian dialects are considered special regional forms of Estonian. In contrast, all these dialects are defined as languages in another State Program “South Estonian Language and Culture” which sets goals for their development. In regard to education, the National Curriculum does not specify a status of any other languages than Estonian (the state language) and foreign languages. The Law on Basic School and Gymnasium regulates the curriculum, governance, and administration of municipality and state schools (and also of private schools if the Act on private schools does not state differently). As the Võro language classes are not included in the National Curriculum, the interest in teaching and learning depends on each particular school and the municipality that owns the school. School administration may, however, initiate teaching Võro: a school can propose to a municipality to introduce the Võro language classes. The municipality council then makes a decision according to their priorities and budget constraints. However, in most cases, the Võro Institute is responsible for the entire project of teaching: for the grants, for the administration, and for monitoring the process. Still, some schools and municipalities have agreed to include the subject into the school curriculum as an elective subject. The teaching of Võro, in-service teacher training, the organization of extracurricular events, and the publication of teaching materials in Võro are all funded by the Program. Since it was founded, the Võro Institute has worked on the development of teaching materials and has gradually introduced the Võro language classes – first by contacting schools and training teachers interested in the subject. The Võro Institute – to some extent in collaboration with other organizations – and the experts it has contracted have developed and published a number of teaching materials; it has also developed the curriculum for the basic schools in the area. The curriculum for secondary schools – gymnasiums – is on its way. PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION There are up to 35 institutions of pre-school childcare (crèches and nursery school groups) in the Võro language area, all operating in Estonian only. However, some instructors with a help of parents try to stimulate their children to use their native language by organizing a few playgroup-like activities on an irregular basis. For instance, in 2004, the local men in Haanja formed a group of approximately ten pre-school children. Their aim was to teach them their mother tongue, and to value nature, local identity and customs. Generally, the Võro language is not used as a medium of instruction or taught as a subject in pre-schools, except in the initiatives in Võru, the county centre and in Haanja (Haani). PRIMARY EDUCATION The Võro language and related subjects (local (cultural) history, literature, and folk music) are taught in half the number of schools in the language area (20 out of 49). The Võro language is taught in all three basic school stages: in most cases as an extracurricular activity and as an optional subject in five schools. The curriculum covering the Võro language and culture is organised in three stages: ABC in Võro in Stage I (years 1-3), local (cultural) history in Võro in Stage II (years 4-6), and Võro language and literature in Stage III (years 7- 9). As the curriculum does not belong to the national curriculum, the Võro Institute – as Program contractor and grant holder – is responsible for it to some extent. In stage I, the focus is on the teaching of the language as a subject itself; it is also the language of instruction. During the following stages, the language keeps its importance as a subject. Those who have passed Stage I are expected to be able to understand local speech, read, and value it. Additional activities include playing song and dance games, singing folk songs, and learning poems in Võro. In Stage II and Stage III, after acquiring some communicative skills, children are encouraged to study local history and literature, but they also keep improving their language skills by meeting native speakers and people from local museums, by conducting regional studies and for instance, participating in poetry-reading contests. Nevertheless, several problems remain due to a lack of support. First, an opportunity to learn the Võro language and culture depends on the interest and possibilities of each school. Moreover, it also depends on whether a particular group adviser, form adviser or teacher (most often a generalist) is willing and is able to teach Võro. In addition, there is also a lack of classes provided for the Voro language, one hour of studies per week only allows pupils to become slightly acquainted with the issue – it does not help them learn to speak the language fluently. Therefore, the situation favors pupils with some existing linguistic background of Võro and not those who start learning it at school. Finally, teachers in Stage I have divergent linguistic and methodological backgrounds, and existing in-service training for teachers offered by the Võro Institute cannot meet all the requirements set by bilingual teaching (close language, mixed forms, leveled use, handling code switching, etc.). SECONDARY EDUCATION Secondary education is offered in eleven gymnasiums and Secondary schools in the area. At the moment, the Võro language is not taught as a subject or used as a medium of instruction anywhere. HIGHER EDUCATION There are no universities in the area. However, the Võro language can be studied at the University of Tartu since 1996. First, the studying of the Võro language as a discipline/subject was under the title “The Võro dialect”; but from 2003 onwards, the discipline has been called “South Estonian I” for beginners and “South Estonian II” for advanced students and graduates. Current teachers are trained in the Võro Institute through different regular and irregular courses. This, of course, does not meet all the needs connected with the teaching of Võro. There is a permanent shortage of motivated and skilled teachers. The problem is usually faced by the Võro Institute looking actively for new skilled teachers (language skills), by using and strengthening personal contacts, by negotiating with potential teachers and motivating them by providing a small fee in addition to their salaries from the Program. Source: Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning, Regional Dossiers – The Võro Language in Education in Estonia compiled by Kadri Koreinik, 2007 http://www1.fa.knaw.nl/mercator/regionale_dossiers/PDFs/Vo%cc%83ro_in_Estonia_web3.pdf Updated (May 2008) A STUDY KIT FOR VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS WITH RUSSIAN AS THE LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION The Integration Foundation has published a study kit for vocational schools with Russian as the language of instruction, which was developed as part of the Foundation's “Development of Estonian-language teaching and study materials in vocational schools with languages of instruction other than Estonian” project (2005-2008). The aim of the project was to create the conditions for high-quality Estonian language studies and to develop the methodology of Estonian-language studies among Russian-speaking groups in vocational education institutions. The study kit comprises textbook, workbook, audio CD and teacher's book. The material in the textbook is youth-oriented and presented in an enjoyable way. It is meant to be used in vocational schools on compulsory courses of Estonian as a second language. The web version of the kit will be available to everyone from June to use and download from www.kutsekeel.ee. The Integration Foundation's information day, which will introduce the study kit to the public as well as other materials produced as part of the project, will be held in the National Library on 4 June. Source: Integration Foundation website, Integration News - May, http://www.meis.ee/eng/ MINISTER OF EDUCATION APPROVED A LANGUAGE STUDIES DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM Minister of Education and Research Tõnis Lukas has approved a language studies development program to be financed through the European Social Fund. The aim of the program is to guarantee all residents of Estonia, regardless of their native language, age or nationality, equal opportunities to learn Estonian and to be able to survive on the labor market. In contrast to previous programs, this time more emphasis is given on individual needs and opportunities. It means that a wide range of language learning formats in addition to ordinary language courses will be available (for instance, private classes with tutors if required). Apart from teaching, the program also supports language learning by other means: through studies of a specialist nature or via working with young people of different nationalities. Greater attention is therefore being paid to young people studying in vocational education institutions, who have received less attention in the past than those studying in general education schools and on adult language courses. The total budget for the project, which is being implemented by the Integration Foundation, is more than 60 million kroons, 51 million of which is being provided by the European Social Fund. Source: The Integration Foundation website, Integration News - May, http://www.meis.ee/eng/ |
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