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Programs supporting integration and language learning

For several years now, Estonian Open Air Museum has been offering different activities that support integration and language learning. We have composed special museum lessons that will help you to adapt to life in current day Estonia, give you more information on how people were living in the past and teach you some new words and expressions in Estonian. We wish you to have an easy and fun learning experience so in our classes you will be learning new things by participating in diverse activities. Our programs have been designed to accommodate different levels of language proficiency.

Additional information and bookings:
Einike Sooväli
einike.soovali@evm.ee
Phone: +372 5675 4309


How did Estonians live in the old days?


Nowadays we have a variety of machines that make our lives easier and more interesting. There is a device for almost everything. If you feel lonely or bored you can go to a theater or a cinema or alternatively find entertainment from your phone, TV or computer. If you wish, and have the means, you can travel from one end of the world to the other.

Compared to that, what was life like 150 years ago, when everything you needed had to be done by backbreaking and gruelling work? One family, that might have had as many as 20 members, had to live in a one room house which had no chimney and no comforts.

Food was scarce, there was never enough warm clothes for everybody and epidemics emptied whole villages. Even in those hard times there were bright moments: holidays were celebrated, wedding parties were arranged and village swings were the center of many social events.

In our museum lesson you will learn about life in an Estonian village and experience some aspects of it.

Duration of the class is 1,5 h
Class is available in Estonian, Russian and English

Price for students 5 €
Price for adults by agreement.


Estonian folk calendar holidays


Why should you definitely eat a pig’s trotters on one day, take a small straw man behind your neighbors’ door the another, and wear your coat backwards and visit other villagers on yet another? To know more about those peculiar habits one should look into Estonian folk calendar holidays.

In our museum lesson we will introduce the traditions of old Estonians. Those traditions were very important because they helped to ward off bad luck, attract abundance and offered a general entertainment. During this program you can be St. Martin’s beggar, play Christmas games, craft a spinning top and predict the future.

Duration of the class is 1,5 h
Class is available in Estonian, Russian and English

Price for students 5 €
Price for adults by agreement



Estonian fairy-tale world


There is no nation in the world that does not have its own fairy tales. Often it is not known where the fairy tales started, whether they have a grain of truth in them or if they are just products of someone’s imagination. What we do know however, is that reading fairy tales gives us information about people in the past, their heroes, demons, dreams and fears.

Estonian fairy tales tell us who are the “Old Devil”, his servant Kaval-Ants (Crafty Hans), Old Barny, The Dragon of the North (Põhjakonn) and a giant named Suur-Tõll. In the dwellings of the Estonian Open Air Museum we can see the everyday items and the environment that gave the story tellers their inspiration.

We invite everyone from different nationalities living in Estonia to come to our fairy tale journey through a real Estonian village. During this journey we will try to deceive the devil, find the pot of gold and understand the language of the animals.

Duration of the class is 1,5 h
Class is available in Estonian, Russian and English

Price for students 5 €
Price for adults by agreement

Northern Estonia
Islands
Western Estonia
Southern Estonia