Over the past nine months, 26 teachers from Narva, Kohtla-Järve and Tallinn put in more than 1,000 hours in order to be able to manage in an Estonian-language learning environment. They studied on weekends and school breaks, from morning to evening, and the results are positive.

"Now they defended their final portfolios in Estonian, and they're writing in Estonian," highlighted course coordinator Anna Golubeva. "While our objective wasn't for them to go take the C1 [language proficiency] exam, many already signed up for the exam and are awaiting their results."

"Since everything was conducted in Estonian, that also pushed us," admitted kindergarten teacher Jelena Konovalova. "We have to understand, we have to speak and we have to develop our language of communication. But this is very important right now."

"It was really hard at first, I even cried at times, but when I realized that things were getting better, I found a good groove and started enjoying it," said assistant teacher Anastassia Sitnik.

"What they needed most was encouragement to speak in Estonian," noted language instructor Silvi Seesmaa. "I am convinced that half of them are capable of teaching their subjects in Estonian. But I'll stress once again that it's crucial they get language practice somewhere."

In a situation where teachers need hundreds more Estonian-speaking teachers, 26 course graduates is just a drop in the bucket.

"If our building were at least twice its size, if we had more human resources, we'd be more than happy to offer greater numbers of teachers this retraining opportunity," Golubeva stressed.

The next Ministry of Education and Research-funded group of teachers will begin the same retraining course at Narva College at the end of August.

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