Methods

If you live in Estonia for a short period or for longer, and have decided to learn this country’s language and culture, we offer you the possibility of doing it in our own friendly atmosphere and with affordable prices, in a convenient language class in the city centre, and with a help of contemporary language learning materials and techniques. Your language studies are supported by well-trained teachers who love their work and who have had experience in teaching Estonian as a second language since 1992.
Our goal is your successful conversation in Estonian language. So to achieve this the curriculum follows everyday conversational topics. Each topic is built up on dialogues. Grammar is taught inductively – the rules are generalised from practice and experience with the target language. In order to better meet your language needs, we carry out a needs assessment in which you can specify your preferred language areas. We also try to take into consideration each person’s individual learning styles.
We are guided by the belief: “Tell me, I will forget. Show me, I will remember. Let me show you, I will use.” To reflect this our classes are learner-centered, places where we emphasise communication and real-life situations. Every available new structure is practised in the class as long as it’s acquired. The key word in the language class is interaction. Activities involve the various range of communicative language learning techniques – pair work, group work, info-gap activities, simulations, role play, quizzes, etc. We aim at using Estonian as much as possible, but when a common language makes the meaning clear more easily, we use it. You will leave the class being able to use the new language in the Estonian community.
Estonian classes are limited to a maximum of eight learners. Of course, you can always opt for private lessons with just one or two learners.