Winners of 2013 integration-related development and media awards announced
Online history course supports Estonian language studies at B1 & B2 level
Training on integrated learning supports vocational teachers in transition to Estonian studies
New stage of vocational school teacher placement programme begins
Narva Vocational Education Centre students attend language practice in Võru and Saare counties
Integration Foundation promotes unified field of information through culture and sports
Winners of 2013 integration-related development and media awards announced
The Ministry of Culture, in association with the Integration and Migration Foundation, awarded four development and three media prizes to a total value of €7000 to recipients in the White Hall at the Estonia Theatre on 11 June.
The evaluation committee – which comprised representatives of the Ministry of Culture, the Integration and Migration Foundation, the Innove Foundation and the “Let’s Do It!” Foundation – awarded the development prizes to Ruthenia – the Association of Russian Cultural Societies for its showcasing of the cultural heritage of the Estonian Orthodox faith, Ida-Viru County Integration Centre for its promotion of the cultural traditions of national minorities, the Estonian-Russian Chamber of Culture for its organisation of national culture festivals and Tallinn Secondary School for Adults for opening an integration class. The media awards were presented to Balti Video OÜ, the culture magazine Plug and journalist Roman Vikulov. All seven recipients also received letters of thanks for their efforts. A total of 21 nominations were received for the awards.
This year’s award-winners stood out for the high quality of their activities and for the large numbers of participants they attracted: the projects run by the organisations that received the development prizes involved between 300 and 5000 people, while the media activities encompassed as many as 150,000.
The development and media awards, which were issued as grants until 2013, are public prizes that are designed to recognise advancements in the field of integration and reporting on the integration process in the media.
The development prizes have been awarded since 1999, while the media prizes were first presented in 2009. The development and media awards are financed from the state budget via the Ministry of Culture.
For further information please contact: Martin Eber, Coordinator, Civic Education and Migration Unit/ Telephone: +372 659 9067 / E-mail: martin.eber@meis.ee
Online history course supports Estonian language studies at B1 & B2 level
Kultuuriklikk /Culture Click/, an online course showcasing Estonian history and culture that is being developed with the support of the Integration and Migration Foundation, will foster Estonian language studies at the B1 and B2 levels. The course is designed for non-Estonian-speaking residents of Estonia and foreigners who are interested in the country’s culture and promotes the learning of Estonian within the context of cultural history.
The animated course is interactive in nature, comprising 24 study videos which reflect historical and contemporary themes affecting Estonia. Kultuuriklikk leads users through key events in Estonia’s cultural history, from the arrival of the first people in the area through to the peasant uprisings and from the emergence of Estonian-language culture to the Singing Revolution and the country’s accession to the European Union.
The first five chapters of the course are ready for use, examining such topics as the first people to settle on the lands that would come to be called Estonia, archaeological finds, the introduction of Christianity, the lives of citizens of a Hanseatic town, the legends of Tallinn and the everyday lives of Estonian peasants. The course – which comes complete with glossaries and interactive exercises – is available here and is free of charge to all.
The course is being produced with the support of the European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals, the Ministry of Culture and the Integration and Migration Foundation.
For further information please contact: Kristi Anniste, Coordinator, Civic Education and Migration Unit/ Telephone: +372 659 9062 / E-mail: kristi.anniste@meis.ee
Training on integrated learning supports vocational teachers in transition to Estonian studies
With the support of the Integration and Migration Foundation, the Individual School Development Centre launched in-service training courses in June for the implementation of integrated subject and language (ISL) teaching methodology to support teachers from vocational education institutions in the transition to Estonian-language studies.
The target group of the courses is primarily teachers from vocational education institutions with Russian-language groups who, among other things, plan and implement cooperation among teachers for the better teaching of language, learning and professional skills to students.
The courses will last 80 hours, being completed by participants over 10 days of study. The programme includes observed lessons and analysis within the group of the principles of the implementation of ISL teaching seen in action. As part of the course, each participating teacher will produce a worksheet for vocational students. The courses will be held in Tallinn and Narva and continue until mid-November this year.
“Teachers who take part in in-service training learn how to better plan the teaching process, which places equal importance on the subject, the language and learning skills,” explained Liilika Raudhein, a coordinator with the Lifelong Learning Unit of the Integration and Migration Foundation. “As a result of the course the teachers will be able to draw up tasks which enable students whose mother tongue is different from the teaching language to better grasp the subject they’re being taught.”
The courses are being organised as part of the ‘In-service training for vocational school teachers’ project of the ‘Language Studies Development 2011-2013’ programme financed from the European Social Fund.
For further information please contact: Liilika Raudhein, Coordinator, Lifelong Learning Unit / Telephone: +372 659 9841 / E-mail: liilika.raudhein@meis.ee
New stage of vocational school teacher placement programme begins
The next stage of the vocational school teacher placement programme being coordinated by the Integration and Migration Foundation has commenced. This stage will enable the teachers to foster their professional knowledge and Estonian language skills in a school with a different language of instruction. The aim of the programme is to support teachers from vocational schools in the transition to Estonian-language studies in vocational secondary education.
The first participant in the programme this year was Tallinn School of Transport teacher of logistics Inessa Klimanskaja, who spent 12 days in May gaining work and language-learning experience at Tartu Vocational Education Centre.
“The placement provided me with a lot of new experiences and really opened my eyes at the professional level,” Klimanskaja said. “I got to see from the inside how a vocational school with a different teaching language works, and I learnt about the working principles of their groups, the approaches they take and the methods they use. A really valuable part of the placement for me was giving a lesson in Estonian on warehouse work, guided by a colleague who teaches the same subject. I was also able to observe quite a few lessons myself.”
Klimanskaja added that the benefits of the placement continued outside of the classroom. “I also got to take part in a cooperation seminar in the field of logistics with local employers, which gave me lots of useful information about work placements and how they’re organised,” she said. “And in my free time I got to visit some historical sites and exciting sightseeing locations in Tartu, on Lake Võrtsjärv and around Lake Peipsi.”
Two more teachers attended placements in Tartu and Pärnu in June. The project will resume in autumn. A total of 10 applications were received from teachers working with vocational student groups in Russian. Before, during and after the placements they work with support teachers in both their own schools and the new schools they are placed in.
The placements are being supported through the ‘Language Studies Development 2011-2013’ programme of the European Social Fund.
For further information please contact: Liilika Raudhein, Coordinator, Lifelong Learning Unit / Telephone: +372 659 9841 / E-mail: liilika.raudhein@meis.ee
Narva Vocational Education Centre students attend language practice in Võru and Saare counties
First-year students from Narva Vocational Education Centre completed two weeks of language placements in June: 10 students studying to become chefs attended Kuressaare Regional Training Centre, while 10 studying mechatronics attended Võru County Vocational Education Centre in Väimela. The language practice is designed to improve the colloquial and professional Estonian skills of students with mother tongues other than Estonian so that they are better able to cope in everyday life and work-based situations. It also aims to broaden their horizons in regard to Estonia’s cultural space.
The two-week placements provided a packed programme: in addition to eight hours of studies every day, the attendees visited a number of places and took part in a variety of activities. The culinary students paid a visit to Kuressaare library and the city’s youth centre, saw for themselves how the city council operates and participated in a local orienteering competition under the aegis of teacher Julia Pill and group leader Olga Vereštšagina. The mechatronics students in Väimela were taken on a tour of Põlva and Võru counties by vocational teacher Aare Pedras, stopping off along the way to admire the machinery and vehicles exhibited at the Estonian Road Museum in Varbuse.
Director of Narva Vocational Education Centre Riina Veidenbaum says that attending the language practice has given the culinary and mechatronics students a great opportunity to improve their skills in Estonian and to find out more about the local culture of different parts of the country. “Experience from projects to date has shown that students who undertake additional language studies lose any reticence they have about speaking in Estonian,” she explained.
The feedback from the students has also been very good: they say their Estonian skills have improved markedly, they have gained new professional knowledge and their free time activities provided plenty of excitement.
The language practice is being implemented as part of the ‘Additional language studies of vocational education and adult secondary school students’ project of the ‘Language studies development 2011-2013’ programme of the European Social Fund.
For further information please contact: Tea Kotkas, Coordinator, Lifelong Learning Unit / Telephone: +372 659 9061 / E-mail: tea.kotkas@meis.ee
Integration Foundation promotes unified field of information through culture and sports
The Integration and Migration Foundation has granted a total of €94,165 to 10 projects for the promotion of a unified field of information through cultural and sporting activities.
The NPOs Sports Events Organisation Club, Estonian Freeride Guild, Elujooks /Run for Life/ and Sillamäe Football Club as well as Narva School no. 6 will be supporting the creation of a unified cultural space and integration though sports, while the Kultuurileht /Culture Newspaper/ and Valga Exposition of Patriotic Education foundations, the NPO New Russian Culture in Estonia, the In-service Training Centre for Musicians and the Art Museum of Estonia will be taking the same approach through culture.
“The Sports Events Organisation Club, for example, will be doing what they do to motivate people to play more sports and exercise more and to take part in events in their local areas so as to boost their communities, and their sense of community, and to give Estonian people more reason to visit Ida-Viru County,’’ explained Jana Tondi, director of the Multicultural Education Unit of the Integration and Migration Foundation.
“Projects that support culture enable us to offer youngsters from different backgrounds opportunities to get to know one another and to develop as people by doing things together,” Tondi said.
“With our support for the publication of the Russian-language version of the children’s magazine Täheke /Little Star/, for example, we’re also contributing to the reading culture of kids throughout the country, regardless of their mother tongue, offering them age-appropriate reading from much loved and up-and-coming children’s authors.”
The competition and its activities are being financed from the state budget via the Ministry of Culture.
For further information please contact: Jana Tondi, Coordinator, Multicultural Education Unit / Telephone: +372 659 9069 / E-mail: jana.tondi@meis.ee
