| CLIL - Content and Language Integrated Learning |
CLIL in Estonia
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CLIL - Content and Language Integrated Learning |
CLIL Fusion 2008
A personal perspective on the CLIL conference in Tallinn, Estonia October 24th and 25th, 2008... more here
CLIL Materials Development Workshop in Estonia, 02-03.10.06.
The last of a series of Baltic CLIL events took place in Estonia. Kaarin Truus (kaarin.truus@britishcouncil.ee) organised the meeting for the British Council as part of an ongoing project for developing Content and Language Integrated Learning in Estonia... more here.
Content and Language Integrated Learning in Estonia – a project launch.
The British Council in Estonia (www.britishcouncil.org/estonia) launched a new project, April 18th 2006, with a focus content and language integrated learning at their offices in the heart of the old town of Tallinn... more here.
CONTENT AND LANGUAGE TEACHING IN ESTONIA
In Estonia there is a long-term tradition of language profiled schools which comprise about 10% of the total. At primary level they teach some language-related subjects, like Country Study, Literature, etc, in a foreign language. 90% of such schools teach English as the first foreign language, but there are also some schools which teach German, French or Swedish. At secondary level they offer a wider variety of subjects including also Business and Economics, Translation Practice, History, British and American Studies, Creative Writing, etc.
The best-known among such schools is Tallinn English College, which started teaching different subjects in English already in 1960. Presently their curriculum includes 9 compulsory subjects in English: Geography, Cultural Study, British Studies, American Studies, British Society, American Society, Economics, Creative Writing, Society and Literature. All the above-mentioned subjects are taught by teachers of English. The school would like to offer an option to obtain secondary education in English, but the biggest problem is lack of qualified teachers. Most English teachers do not feel competent enough to teach mathematics, physics or chemistry at secondary level, and the language proficiency of content-experts is generally insufficient.
At university level there are some courses which are taught in English, but they are mostly either meant for exchange students or given by foreign lecturers. There is, however one university in Estonia, Concordia International University, where the language of instruction is English. At Tallinn Technical University an attempt was made to teach a group of future environmental engineers mostly in English (at least 50%), but due to various reasons it was not very successful. The biggest problem was the inadequate language proficiency of both students and lecturers.
In the future more and more courses will be taught in English, but presently there are no courses which would prepare for teaching in a foreign language. The lecturers are supposed to be ready to start lecturing in English without any special preparation.
Monica Sepp
English/Swedish Teacher
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