Estonian language camps
Print page
Language camps, and equally popular home-stay studies, have been organised within Estonia under the aegis of MISA and its predecessor, the Integration Foundation, for more than 10 years. Camps for students coming to Estonia from other countries have also been organised for more than 7 years.
 
The language camps for students from outside of Estonia have been arranged for children who have roots in the country but who live elsewhere. For example, 66 children from 13 different countries – including Sweden, the United States, Canada, Latvia, Ireland and various parts of Russia – spent part of the Estonian summer here in 2009.
 
Summer language camps were held for children from all over the country in 2009, in Narva, Jõhvi, Kohtla-Järve, Valga, Tallinn, Räpina and Tartu.
 
Regardless of whether the students are from a city as big as Hamburg, a village as remote as Upper-Suetek or as Estonian a town as Kohtla-Järve, the idea behind the language camps remains more or less the same: for the kids taking part to practise their Estonian, learn more of and about the language, and learn more about each other and where they come from. They should be proud of their origins whether they have Estonian roots but are growing up elsewhere, or have roots in another country but are being raised in Estonia. Roots and origins are very important, as they help children identify and orient themselves, and each other – taking other people’s backgrounds into account and respecting them, and learning new languages.

The children who attend the camps and the tutors and other staff who work at them all communicate with one another in Estonian. There is a wide range of activities to help them develop their language skills further, allowing anyone whose native language is not Estonian to practise the language. In addition to language skills, the time spent together at the camp gives the children the chance to talk to and get to know kids from other national backgrounds. The camps are attended not only be children whose native language or home language is a language other than Estonian, but also Estonian-speaking kids and teenagers. In the context of these camps the Estonian-speaking kids are known as ‘support students’: they play a key role in assisting children of the same age who are attending the camp. Their main task is to help and talk to the students they are supporting. This way language learning takes place using the peer method. Thanks to modern technology, the children who attend the camps often end up staying in contact with one another via the Internet, giving them even more chance to learn about one another’s cultures and further practise their Estonian.
 
The Integration and Migration Foundation supports the financing of the organisation of language camps and home-stay studies through project competitions which are open to non-profit organisations operating in the public interest. The camps are generally organised by non-profit organisations, schools and local governments.
 
Extra-curricular language studies in camps and through home-stays with Estonian families for children living in Estonia are funded by the Ministry of Culture. Estonian language camps for ethnic Estonians living in other countries are financed by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education and Research.
 
 
For further information please contact:
 
Estonian language camps for ethnic Estonians living in other countries:
Marina Fanfora
Multicultural Education Unit, Coordinator
Phone 659 9068
E-mail marina.fanfora@meis.ee.

Estonian language camps for non-Estonian children living in Estonia:
Marina Fanfora
Multicultural Education Unit, Coordinator
Phone 659 9068