JANUARY 2013

More than 5,200 people took part in the Citizen’s Day Quiz
The study of the effect of language learning development is now underway
New episodes of Köögikodanikud (Citizens of Kitchen) now broadcast on ETV
New website integratsioon.ee collecting ideas for the new integration strategy
The location of our office has changed!

More than 5,200 people took part in the Citizen’s Day Quiz

5,217 people took part in the Citizen’s Day e-Quiz, which was organised by the Integration and Migration Foundation Our People (MISA) for the tenth year.

“The e-quiz, which was previously only available to school students, was also open to all other enthusiasts for the first time, and they actively took advantage of the opportunity. 3,680 students took part in the quiz and 1,537 people participated in the later quiz open to everyone, with 1,206 people registering a result,” commented Toivo Sikk, co-ordinator of the Multicultural Education Unit of MISA.

“Its purpose is to improve Estonian residents’ knowledge of the constitutional institutions of the Republic of Estonia, human and civil rights, freedoms and duties. Hopefully, the Citizen’s Day Quiz was a useful and fun experience for the participants,” Sikk said.

The results of the students’ round indicated that 34.65 per cent of people who tested their knowledge came from schools with Russian as the language of instruction, and the language of instruction of 65.35 per cent of participants was Estonian. More than half of the participants came from schools in Harju county (56.01 per cent). Harju county was followed by Tartu county with 14.78 per cent.

The best result was achieved by Karl Kius Saar, a 10th grade student from Tallinna Reaalkool (Tallinn Secondary School of Science) and Kaur Aarne Saar, a 12th grade student from Hugo Treffner School. Ülenurme Secondary School, Commercial School of Tartu and Saku Secondary School also showed good results. The maximum score of the quiz was 72 points.

In the open e-quiz round, 28.77 per cent of participants had Russian as their first language and for 65.34 per cent of participants it was Estonian. The greatest portion of participants came from Harju county (40.63 per cent), Ida-Viru county (12.52 per cent) and Jõgeva county (11.19 per cent). Participants from Harju county had the highest score and the top score in the public round was 65.

You can view the results of the students’ round of the Citizen’s Day Quiz here. The report on the results of the public round can be found here.

The Citizen’s Day e-Quiz is funded by the Ministry of Education and Research within the framework of the Estonian Integration Strategy 2008-2013.

For additional information, please contact: Toivo Sikk, co-ordinator of the Multicultural Education Unit of MISA, phone: 659 980, e-mail: toivo.sikk@meis.ee.

The study of the effect of language learning development is now underway

In December, the pollster Saar Poll, commissioned by the Integration and Migration Foundation Our People (MISA), began studies on the effect of two programmes financed by the European Social Fund: Language Learning Development 2007-2010 and Language Learning Development 2011-2013.

The study has two purposes: to summarise the activities carried out in the course of the year and to give input to initiatives essential for the further development of language learning.

The general aim of the programmes is to ensure equal opportunities to aquire education and succeed in the labour market for all residents of Estonia regardless of their first language, age, nationality. The target group of the programmes are people with insufficient knowledge of Estonian, including vocational students, students, teachers, public sector employees and many others.

The study is carried out from December 2012 to April 2013.

For additional information, please contact: Maria Ratassepp, co-ordinator of the Lifelong Learning Unit; phone 659 9068; e-mail: maria.ratassepp@meis.ee.

New episodes of Köögikodanikud (Citizens of Kitchen) now broadcast on ETV

ETV’s presenter Priit Kuusk has once again collected a multitude of experiences and recipes from food specialists in order to bring them to viewers in the 16-episode series Köögikodanikud.

In the course of his fascinating journey introducing ethnic restaurants, which began last autumn, Priit Kuusk also took on several jobs in the kitchens. Returning this year, he admitted that Estonia is home to vast undiscovered exotica in tastes, smells, locations and, of course, people.

The first episode took them to Villa Thai on the edge of the Kadriorg area of Tallinn, where the kitchen adventure began in the Indian kitchen under the command of Nepalese gourmet gurus.

Food connoisseurs, who have made their homes in Estonia, share both their cuisine as well as philosophy with the viewers. The kitchen milieu is also the place where people who have come from abroad talk about adapting to Estonian life, learning the language, founding a family, looking for work.

At the end of each episode, one of the chefs uncoveres his or her favourite recipe and makes the dish in front of the camera. Video clips and texts with the recipes will be available online immediately after the episode is broadcast: retseptid.err.ee/köögikodanikud.

The second season of the series will air from 14 December on Fridays at 7:35; ETV2 will broadcast the programme with Russian subtitles on Wednesday evenings.

The programme is supported by the European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals (EIF) and by the Integration and Migration Foundation Our People (MISA).

The series is produced by Filmiklubi MP DOC.

The home page of the series: www.etv.ee/köögikodanikud. Also, have a peek at the trailer!

For additional information, please contact: Anneli Tõevere-Kaur, head of Media Relations, Estonian Public Broadcasting, phone 628 4511, e-mail anneli.toevere-kaur@err.ee

New website integratsioon.ee collecting ideas for the new integration strategy

On the initiative of the Ministry of Culture, a new website called www.integratsioon.ee is now online with the aim of involving enthusiasts in the process of working out the strategy Integrating Estonia 2020 and informing the public.

“The new website aims to report on the process of preparing the development plan Integrating Estonia 2020, so that both the media and ordinary citizens have an overview of all stages of preparation for the development agenda and planned activities. Also, all enthusiasts have the opportunity to submit their suggestions via the website,” said undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture, Anne-Ly Reimaa.

The website allows people to be informed about all aspects of preparation of the development agenda - for example, you receive an overview of who is involved in preparing the development agenda, and to what extent, and which subjects are discussed. The website, which is in Estonian, Russian and English, also includes study materials related to the field and policy papers.

According to Reimaa, the possibility of submitting suggestions is extremely important. “One of the keywords for the preparation of our development agenda is involvement. That is to say that we wish that people who feel connected to the subject but do not find any other way of communicating their valuable suggestions to the steering group would also have the opportunity to participate in the preparation of the development agenda.”

Suggestions can be made via a special form on the website.

Area-based discussions and working groups start this year and all up-to-date information related to the work process will also find its way to the website in the future. As of now, the website gives an overview of the stages of the preparation of the development agenda and timetable and it draws together studies related to the subject and all relevant news.

The proposal to prepare the Integrating Estonia 2020 development agenda was approved by the government in October. The agenda with the implementation plan is set to be completed by December of next year.

For additional information, please contact: Mari Klein, contact for Estonian-language media, e-mail mari.klein@integratsioon.ee; Natalja Kitam, contact for Russian-language media, e-mail natalja.kitam@integratsioon.ee

The location of our office has changed!

From 1 January 2013, the operations of Integration and Migration Foundation Our People are based at a new address at Lõõtsa 2a (8th floor), Ülemiste City business centre, 11415 Tallinn.

The new office location on the map can be viewed here!

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