On October 7-11, 2024, eRead project partners met on LTT visit in Riga (Latvia).

The LTT visit of the participants from four countries (Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine) was dedicated to the exchange of professional knowledge, experience and practical cases of popularization of national languages (Ukrainian, Estonian, Latvian, Slovenian), teaching the state language as a foreign/second language and teaching reading with the help of digital tools in educational institutions of various levels: kindergartens, schools, universities, educational centers for adults.

During the week, the LTT activities included visiting various educational locations and finding ways to solve the debatable issues. The participants visited the campus of the University of Latvia, the Latvian National Library, the Children's Reading Center of the National Library of Latvia, the Exupéry International School, the Latvian Language Agency, the Jurmala City School Council (Education Department of the City of Jurmala). The Latvian colleagues shared a lot of fascinating and valuable facts their about educational programs, scientific projects, student events. The LTT guests took part in a round table on issues of digital literacy and learning Latvian as a native and foreign language in educational institutions,

In all institutions they visited, the partners discussed the issues related to motivation to read as well as encouraging both young and older generations to engage in cognitive activities. The project participants exchanged ideas and consulted on how to make their courses on teaching reading and developing reading skills through digital technologies interesting and useful for future students.

The project manager Oleksandra Golovko outlined the current state of the project implementation and identified the priority areas of interaction between the project teams, in particular regarding the development and testing of a MOOC and a professional development course for teachers, as well as further improvement of the module for bachelors. She shared her own experience in creating e-courses for students and using digital tools in various teaching and project activities.

The representatives of the teams spoke about the regional events they had held within the project. An important task of the visit was to process the materials of the professional development course for teachers, developed by lecturers from the University of Latvia, as well as to work in teams on the Recommendations for developing a professional development course for teachers in their countries. The LTT visit to Latvia was rich, informative and fruitful. Enriched with vivid impressions and acquired knowledge, the participants will continue working on the project tasks after their return.

We are sincerely grateful to our Latvian colleagues for the excellent organization of the visit and the eventful program, which equipped all the teams with new ideas, digital tools and practical cases.