Cooperation and Collaboration in Second Language Education:
The Estonian Language Training Project (ELTP)
by Paula L. Kristmanson, Project Officer for ELTP
Recently, the Second Language Education Centre (SLEC) at the University of New Brunswick completed a 3-year cooperative project with the country of Estonia. This project focused on providing a variety of professional development opportunities for teachers of Estonian as a second language (SL). In the past, SLEC had dealt mainly with providing methodological training for teachers of French as a SL. This fact did not stop us from believing that we were indeed capable of delivering effective training SL methodology regardless of the target language. The idea that approaches to teaching SL are in fact universal was one of the philosophies guiding this unique collaborative educational venture with Estonia.
The National Core French Study (NCFS)* was the focal document for designing professional development workshops and seminars for teachers of Estonian as a SL. The first major project activity consisted of a 2-week summer workshop for educators at the post-secondary level who were involved in training teachers of Estonian as a SL. Bringing these educators on board from the beginning was important to the success of the project because of their position of influence in the field of SL. Also, in order for the project to be truly cooperative and collaborative, we based these workshops on the needs of teachers of Estonian as a SL. The most pressing need was the development of relevant and effective materials for the teaching of Estonian as a SL. This first summer session did, in fact, prove to be an effective starting point for the entire project. These educators were given a crash course in communicative/ experiential SL teaching methodology and multidimensional curriculum design and many of them began to immediately implement these ideas into their own teaching. After the second summer institute, many of these same participants began to deliver their own professional development sessions to classroom teachers as well as to design new courses for student teachers.
Although we had not included a third summer institute in our initial project work plan, the Estonians took the initiative to plan such a session in the summer of 1997. Led exclusively by Estonian educators and attended by teachers of Estonian as a SL from schools all over Estonia, this third institute demonstrated the cooperative and collaborative nature of the project. As well, this initiative showed the transferability of effective SL teaching strategies.
Another objective of these summer institutes, and of the project in general, was to create a network of teachers who would share ideas and issues regarding the teaching of Estonian as a SL. This objective was also realized in the formal creation of the Association for Teachers of Estonian as a SL. Informally, many of the educators who worked together during those summers continued to work together in order to deliver professional development sessions and to continue discussions about curriculum planning and design. This network extends beyond Estonias borders; through electronic communications we are able to maintain our professional relationship with our Estonian colleagues in the field of SL education.
In addition to these summer institutes, many other activities were part of this successful international project. For example, Educators from Estonia spent one academic year at the University of New Brunswick while Canadian teachers and professors traveled to Estonia to provide a wide variety of workshops, courses, seminars and presentations. All of these activities brought SL educators from the two countries together in a collaborative atmosphere which promoted sharing and discussion. This project showed us the vast potential for international cooperation in the field of language learning.