Having worked at an Estonian school before, Ms Pipar sees lots of good characteristics in the Russian students. «They are very open, meaning they dare tell the teacher if there is something they do not like, and even more so when they like something,» she said.

Contempt a rarity

Some schools are totally otherwise. Says a teacher of 20 years in another Russian school in Tallinn, teaching Estonian at grades 7th and 10th: «I’d not say there’s much wrong with their Estonian – they do speak it. But they live in a different world altogether.»

These kids do not know there’s such a thing as Estonian language culture and media. «In basic school, all they studied was the language. As far as the 10th graders are concerned, Estonian media is limited to Linnaleht [the freely distributed reading – edit].»

The teacher said that for years there was the talk about transferring gymnasium to 60 percent Estonian, while insufficient amount of extra classes was provided at basic schools. In her estimation, the textbooks for Russian schools are not the best at all. «They are using textbooks with Estonian kroon [not the euro – edit] still in it,» said the teacher.

All told, the teacher thinks that all kindergartens should be switched to Estonian. «The kids might get pre-school education in Estonian and that would be boost enough for school,» she said.

Though at times the Russian students tend to look down at the need for Estonian, the teacher says this does not last.

«I did have these two pupils in my class who said why study a dying language, but by the end of gymnasium the attitude changed and one of them continued in University of Tartu,» she said.

Nature is tough nut

An Estonian teacher at a Russian school in Tartu teaches Estonian to 1st, 3rd and 4th grades, and nature to 1st grade.

«The first officially Estonian language based nature class I taught in Estonian only, but after that I started to translate the slides into Russian, though I don’t speak Russian too well myself,» she said.

While having Estonian classes in Estonia only is prudent, she thinks nature in Estonian at primary level is too much. «They did not understand a thing, see. I begun to interpret everything, toiled like crazy in front of the class, and after every nature class if was totally exhausted,» she said.

Though officially a large percentage of study in that Tartu Russian school is in Estonian, reality is otherwise.

«In many a class, they start with a written problem in Estonian, as the workbook is in Estonian, but after that they switch to Russian,» said the teacher. «It can’t be that they write in Estonian and speak in Russian – in that case, better both write and speak in Russian.»

The teacher says we must honour the Right for Russians to study in Russian in the Russian schools and master their mother tongue. It’s another matter is parents opt to have the kids in language immersion.

She added that the working atmosphere is excellent at the school and politics create no friction whatsoever between colleagues of different nationalities. «I have friends among teachers and students alike and in no way do I feel excluded,» she said.