25/09/2024
In the past year Erla's teacher Helena Metslang has worked as a language expert at the Defence Forces project developing Estonian as the second language teaching. Our efforts have been noticed by the daily Postimees. Anthropologiist Helelyn Tammsaar from the Government Office innovation team:
Over the past year, I have been assisting in restructuring language instruction during military service. The background research for this project also revealed some interesting nuances. Conflicts between Estonian and Russian conscripts often arise, and it would be easy to assume that this is due to ethnic animosity.
However, during a discussion circle with Russian conscripts in Tapa, it became clear that the clashes often stem from a different issue – the Russian conscripts simply don’t understand the commands. They often don’t have the correct items with them during roll call, among other things. Since the whole group gets reprimanded by their superiors for these mistakes, resentment builds easily.
We are currently testing entirely new training materials, where the vocabulary and topics are based on materials from military service and voice recordings sent by active servicemen. While teachers previously taught spoken language using standard textbooks, the focus now is primarily on understanding spoken language and speaking. The textbook progressively covers vocabulary related to military topics – whether it’s forest camps, leave in town, or something else.
https://arvamus.postimees.ee/8101351/teaduspohine-kaitsevagi-kaks-eesti-naist-kujundavad-kaitumisteadustele-tuginedes-inimnaolisemat-ajateenistust.
