Integration and Migration Foundation Our People (MISA) is supporting nine organisations with more than € 108,000, in order to organise Estonian language instruction for 7-18-year-olds in Estonian families and project camps.

Within the framework of part one of the project competition titled “The Integration of Youth in the Informational and Cultural Space”, support has been provided to the 6th School in Narva, Estonian Sports Club Kalev, Semolen Training, Keila Rural Municipality, the nonprofit Süda Estonian Social Centre, the nonprofit Spend Free Time in Võrumaa, the Kohtla-Järve Ahtme Upper Secondary School, Tallinn Laagna Upper Secondary School and the nonprofit Estonian Union for Child Welfare.

The activities will be conducted until November 2012, and the organisations receiving the support are planning camps for 642 young people, including 303 who are citizens of third countries living in Estonia (EKRK) and young people with undetermined citizenship, while the same number are young people with Estonian citizenship; and an additional 36 EKRK young people will participate family study within the framework of the project support. The study of the Estonian language in Estonian families and camps is one of the most popular activities in the integration field since 1998 and in total MISA has supported the participation of approximately 18,500 young language learners and support students in camps and family study.

The results of a study commissioned by MISA in 2009 show that camps where young people learn Estonian primarily by communicating with their contemporaries and which are based on the young people’s common interests, such as sports camps, promote communications in Estonian between young people of various nationalities.

“The same study showed that young people that have participated in Estonian family life within the framework of family study often maintain their contacts with the Estonian family and being in a family is the most direct way for them to see, experience, understand and learn each others’ languages, culture and customs,” Lianne Ristikivi, MISA Culture and Youth Work Coordinator.

According to Ristikivi, the same study also showed that as a result of family study and camp study courage among the young people to use the Estonian language and, regardless of the their nationality, the young people’s mutual understanding and tolerance improved, as well as their understanding of the other nationality’s culture increased.

For more information, contact: Lianne Ristikivi, Culture and Youth Work Coordinator, phone 6 599 028, e-mail lianne.ristikivi@meis.ee