Life long learning cases in Sadala villages, Estonia Eha Paas & Anu Viltrop April, 22-24, 2015 About Sadala … Sadala Village Society is founded on May 13, 2004, and includes Sadala small town and its surrounding villages: Ladi, Reastvere, Tähkvere, Tuimõisa, Ookatku and Kodismaa village. About Sadala … • The Community has 26 active people and is managed by seven board members. • The Community operates and manages in the Sadala Village house. • Torma municipality has given the village house to Society Under the contract of use. Goals With its activities Society: • promotes volunteer work • involves different generations • involves people with special needs • organizes a variety of events Goals Through the activities Sadala Village Society offers life long learning possibilities to local people. Activities in Sadala It is very common that village houses are main life long learning centers in Estonia. Sadala is no exception! Activities in Sadala • Hobby classes for children and adults (6 sining classes, drama clubs – each year one writer is selected for draama activities) • Language courses for different levels. Also, international projects are implemented to support language studies. Activities in Sadala • Different pilot projects are implemented. For example, people at Sadala studied langugage trough music. Different workshops were held, were people listened to the music in purpose to understand the lyrics. Activities in Sadala • Involving young people is considered very important at Sadala. • Therefore, they have special courses (developing computer games, cartoons etc). Lessons to Learn • Life long learning shoud be focused to the local people and their interests. • It is important to involve different age groups (there are pupils and pensioners involved with the same activities in Sadala) Lessons to Learn • Cooperation is extremely important in small places. It is better to have one strong village center than six small ones. • Winter is a good time for the classes, summer is a goof time for exchaning experience (festivals, study trips etc) .