In a language immersion program at least 50% of subjects are studied in the target language (in this case Estonian). The methodology permits children to gain proficiency in the Estonian language while also developing their mother tongue.

 

In the case of total early immersion, learning begins in kindergarten or the first grade, and all subjects are studied in Estonian. The teaching of Russian as mother tongue begins in the second half of grade two. From grade four, the proportion of subjects taught in Russian increases. In grade five, the proportion of subjects taught in Estonian falls to 50%. In grade 6, in addition to the study of a third language such as English, half of the subjects are in Russian, half in Estonian.

 

In the case of late immersion, grade six is the preparatory year where the volume of Estonian language classes and subjects taught in Estonian increase. In grades seven and eight, the proportion of classes taught in Estonian increases to 76% of the curriculum. The remaining 24% includes Russian as a mother tongue and a third language such as English.

 

Twenty-seven Russian-language schools and nine kindergartens across Estonia are involved in the language immersion programme. Seven schools were involved in the early language immersion programme (hereafter ELI) and twenty with the late language immersion programme (hereafter LLI). In the 2004/05 academic year, a total of 1,650 students studied in the language immersion programmes. Language immersion has been noticeably reflected in the media and thereby awareness of the public toward the programme has increased.

 

An extensive training programme, in which teachers, the management of schools and education officials will participate, will be carried out in 2004-2005 in order to implement bilingual teaching. The EU Phare programme will support the training programme.