15 Years of Spring Trips for Estonian Language Students from Vantaa

Author: Koidu Oja
Koidu Oja has worked as an Estonian language teacher in Finland for many years.

In the spring of 2010, the first trip of Estonian students from Vantaa to Tallinn took place. This so-called school trip was organised by one of Vantaa’s two teachers of Estonian language and culture, Koidu Oja. In the course of winter studies, it had become clear that the children who had moved from the peripheral regions of Estonia to Finland in the wake of the recession knew that their native Estonian home was in Valga, Pärnu, Värska, Eisma, Saverna, Mustla or Kirbla (the list is of course not exhaustive), but they did not know where the Freedom Square or the Town Hall was, where the most important Estonian lighthouses, churches, manors were located. 

Now 15 years later, in May 2025, we are still constantly face with the same state of affairs from years back. The children travel to their home in Estonia for the summer. It's great there, but for them to get to know Estonia in all its cultural and natural richness, we have arranged trips every spring, except for a few years during the pandemic.

While there were only two native Estonian speakers working as teachers in Vantaa in 2010, now six teachers of Estonian language and culture have been hired. Estonians who have moved to Finland make up one of the largest national minorities in the capital Helsinki’s metropolitan area.

According to the Finnish Constitution, Estonian children have the right to preserve and develop their cultural identity. The Finnish State thinks it is a good thing to know one’s native language, so learning the language of one’s new home country – Finnish – is based on a secure and healthy ground: those who know their own language and culture are prepared to notice and learn other languages and cultures as well.

In the spring of 2025, about 600 students studied Estonian 2 hours a week in Vantaa, Finland’s fourth largest city. Conscientious attendance at classes, reading books in Estonian and participating in the writing competition paved the way for students of this extra-curricular subject to attend the spring trip of Vantaa’s Estonian students. The trip was organised by all six teachers: Tiina Maripuu, Lee Laurimäe, Koidu Oja, Mari-Liis Reinap, Inna Pajos and Ekaterina Vist.

In 15 years, we have visited Hiiumaa, Saaremaa, Tartu and Viljandi counties, Pärnu and Viru counties. In addition to an edicational visit to a county, we have always visited a local school, attending classes in an Estonian school. All the new knowledge gained at the trip is embedded in memory with a quiz.

In addition to the parents of the pupils, the trips of Vantaa‘s Estonian pupils have been financed by the Institute of the Estonian Language, which coordinates the international education projects of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research.

This spring's trip took us to Rakvere and Lahemaa. On the first day we experienced a medieval adventure in Rakvere Castle, went to the torture chamber, tried to shoot with a bow, make gunpowder and lift cannonballs. 

We had a hearty meal at the castle with Mulgi puder and a delicious curd cake. We heard from Mari Toom, the Lahemaa guide, that the most famous Estonian in the world, Arvo Pärt, went to school in Rakvere. We saw the public upper secondary school and the Arvo Pärt Music Centre, currently under construction.

Then the road led to Sagadi Manor, where we travelled back to the era of Von Fock. We took a peek in both the men’s and women’s wing in the manor, admired wallpaper and furniture, and imagined what balls would have looked like. In the modern Sagadi Forest Museum, stuffed and interactive information stands introduced us to surprising animals, such as the tiny weasel that is only the size of a fist. Nature continued: Unexpectedly, a live fox had arrived to greet us at the boathouses of Altja. We were able to take pictures loads of pictures of it, with the sea in the background. We didn't stay to chat with the wily fox for too long, having learned about the risks from fairy tales. After a good night’s sleep at the Võsu Männisalu Holiday House, a local school was waiting for us. At Kolga school, we were able to take part in school lessons, stack legos in honour of the book year and have a school lunch. The students of the school acted as guides. The rassolnik and kama mousse prepared by the school chefs were absolutely delicious.

We shuddered in horror at Kolga Manor, because with her stories, our guide Ulvi kept conjuring blood-curdling visions of hellish night feasts and enticing red-headed maidens who appeared at the manor windows and the balcony of the ballroom. The Stenbocks, a Swedish family, founded Kolga Manor as their country estate. During the winter, family lived in the Old Town of Tallinn, in a house where the Government of the Republic of Estonia is currently operating.

Arriving in Viinistu, the children of Vantaa were told that they would also have the opportunity to do charity in their country of origin in the future: either create an art museum or build a church. Little Jaan was taken to Sweden in 1944 when he was just two years old. When he was fifty, he returned to his village in Viinistu, and the ideas and energy of one man gave a new lease of life to the whole village.

In Käsmu, we were greeted by none other than the legendary Aarne Vaik, the founder of the Käsmu Maritime Museum. With his cosy humour, Papa Vaik imparted wise words about life and the sea on the children.

We were tired, but we still had enough strength to play basketball or run to Võsu beach, where Georg Ots, who is famous in Finland for singing Saaremaa valss, accompanied his tiny teacher Lee on fishing trips.

The third day brought us back to the capital and Rocca al Mare, but not to the shopping centre, but to the Open Air Museum. At Kuie school, we got to know what it was like to write with calligraphy pens, what a cleanliness entailed and how the Lord’s Prayer was read at the beginning of the school day. Almost all of our Finnish-Estonian travellers thought that writing with a pen and ink is something that should be tried in Finnish schools.

In the Open Air Museum, we could also see the Soviet-era collective farm house. Older apartments still had outhouses and stoves, as well as galoshes by the door. When they went to school, the children wore a school uniform with a red scarf. There was a lot to discover. We had a meal in the Kolu tavern and peeked into the farmhouses with a cane roof.

At the end of the trip, we were a bit sorry to board the ship, knowing that we had not seen our relatives this time. But we still had to go back to Finland, because we still had the last few days of school in May and the certificate of Estonian language studies was waiting on the teacher's table.