On May 6-10, "Learning, Teaching, Training" visit took place in Estonia within the framework of the international project Erasmus+ KA2 e-Read "Developing Reading Skills With and Through Digital Technologies". The visit was devoted to teaching reading with the help of digital tools. The project participants from Ukraine, Slovenia, and Latvia met in-person to learn from Estonian teachers of the educational institutions of Narva, Rakvere, and Tallinn about the ways they teach reading to the students of different age groups, and to share their own successful practices.

The visit was coordinated by the project manager Oleksandra Golovko, who has a considerable experience in teaching and project activities, inspires changes in digital educational activities, and willingly shares her knowledge and skills with the colleagues.

During the visit, the teachers of Narva College of the University of Tartu shared their experience and effective teaching methods. The participants were excited to visit the College library with its impressive collection of 50,000 books and an incredible panorama of the city. As one of the most beautiful locations in the city, the library inspires the students and teachers to delve into reading, to attend the meetings of the literary club and various creative events that take place there.

The partners also visited a state-of-the-art lyceum, which was built within the framework of the government program. All conditions have been created in the institution to make the educational process engaging, and students come to their lyceum classes with joy. The participants of the event also attended a practical lesson of the Estonian language for foreign students. Estonian colleagues demonstrated various forms and methods of work that ensure formation of language skills and competences, and highlighted that democracy in communication facilitates the educational process.

The visit to the Estonian Language House was also informative. The institution offers free Estonian language training and various cultural events, and plays a significant part in promotion and spread of the language and culture of the country.

As part of the experience exchange, the teams from Estonia, Slovenia and Ukraine demonstrated their methods of working with texts. In particular, Estonian colleagues take into account professional orientation and individual interests of the students during language teaching for foreigners. The partners from Slovenia demonstrated "Silencebooks" – the books without textual component, which give each person an opportunity to see and retell their story via the provided images. The Ukrainian team presented the experience of working with a text about the national symbols of their country, demonstrated several effective digital tools for creating reading exercise, and emphasized the importance of developing through reading not only reading skills, but also cultural competence.

So, during the study visit, the participants had the opportunity to learn about the history of the partner and its experience in teaching languages, the dominant approaches to teaching reading in the Estonia and how this tradition was formed; share experiences of applying digital tools to teach reading; observe the use of digital technologies in action for teaching reading in the project’s partner institutions; consider the relevant experiences that should be included in the content of one of the project outputs - the e-course “Reading Skills: B1” for 4 national languages of the partners.

All the participants would like to thank Estonian colleagues for the excellent organization of the visit, for its informative program that has enriched the teams from Estonia, Ukraine, Slovenia with new ideas, tools and practices.