History

Lahti English Kindergarten (LEK) was established in 1970, by the Finnish American Association. Every year around sixty-five children learn English through schooling, playing, singing and doing arts and crafts. The association board for the LEK was founded in 1991 and it became independent from the Finnish American Association.

Lahti English Kindergarten has developed its methods of teaching throughout its history. In the 1970s and 80s the kindergarten used a combination of English and Finnish. Beginning in the early 1990s, LEK became one of the earliest schools to use early total language immersion. The early total language immersion method of teaching places the students in nearly a hundred percent educational experience in English. Early total language immersion has shown to not only provide an effective way of teaching another language to the child, but also strengthen the child’s general ability to learn.

LEK’s association purchased the current facilities in 2000. Since then, LEK has provided full-time comprehensive early childhood education and care. The association does not seek profit from its activities. The association creates a framework for operations by taking care of finances, administration and development of operations. The majority of the funding comes from student fees, for which families usually receive support for private care. All income is used to aid the kindergarten and it’s children. This may come in the form of purchasing of new materials, continuing staff development, facility improvements, funding of field trips, and providing cultural activities.