Narva and Järvamaa students begin Estonian language buddy course

High school students from Narva and Järvamaa have started an elective course pairing learners of Estonian as a second language with native Estonian speakers, ERR reported. The course opened in Paide on Monday.

Students chosen by lottery will speak with their partners in Estonian at least once a week. They will also take part in a closing seminar in Narva in March. The course is being held for high school students for the first time.

Three schools from each region are taking part, with five students from each school. Every group has a teacher mentor. Students said they would stay in touch on social media, and could also arrange meetings or video calls.

Narva student Jekaterina Bašinskaja said she wanted to learn Estonian because she lives in Estonia. Koeru Secondary School student Valeriia Melnychenko, who is from Ukraine and speaks Russian as her first language, said students could mix Estonian and Russian when communicating.

The elective course was launched by Järva Municipality. Its education and youth work specialist, Piret Sapp, said the initiative would be considered a success if students from Järva and Narva continued communicating. She said she hoped it could expand over five years so every high school student in Ida-Viru County could have a language buddy elsewhere in Estonia.