Daugavpils University has implemented the International Summer School “Phenomenology of the Border Area: Eastern Latvia”
On August 20, 2022, the international Latvian language and culture summer school “Phenomenology of the Border Area: Eastern Latvia” implemented by the Centre for Latvian Studies (LSC) of Daugavpils University (DU) was closed.
For ten days ten foreign scholarships holders from Ukraine, Mexico, Italy, South Korea, China, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Turkey, on-site and remotely took part in two summer school programme modules: “Latvian language as foreign language acquisition for A1 level” and “Border area phenomenology”.
In the module “Latvian language as foreign language acquisition for Level A1”, the participants of the summer school acquired the basic skills of speaking, reading, listening and writing in Latvian language at the A1 knowledge level, focusing on the use of Latvian language in daily and professional communication situations. Contemporary electronic resources and diverse learning materials were used for the acquisition of Latvian language. At the end of the course, the participants took a test on the compliance of their language skills with A1 knowledge level.
In the “Border area phenomenology” module, students attended a large number of Latvian border cultural and historical, creative industry and natural landscape objects, farms, presenting and analysing their specificities, development potential, social and economic aspects from the perspective of border area location.
Participants in discussions and practical tasks shared their vision of the challenges, opportunities and problems of border regions, analysed Daugavpils, Latgale region and Eastern Latvian society, culture and history, comparing Latvian and European border areas with examples of their home country.
The excursion along the city of Daugavpils with Retro tram, driving past the most important cultural history objects of the city, marked the most important facts about the multi-etnic and religious diversity inherent in the city. After excursion in hybrid format, the impressions were described and analysed by working in creative groups. A practical example of border crossing in Europe for summer school participants, representing non-European countries, was a trip to the Lithuanian border with Zarasai City festival.
An analysis of the local cultural history and economic life was carried in the Daugavpils fortress and the Daugavpils Shoot Factory Museum. By visiting Pauls Sukatnieks's home and garden in Dviete parish, Aivars Ušpelis pottery workshop in Malta parish and Ūdrīši parish farm “Kurmīši”, the characteristics of local economic development and the potential of gastrotourism were considered. The natural resources relevant to the development of the border were analysed by watching a film about the Nature Park “Dviete Floodplain”.
Summer school members were impressed by looking at Christ King Hill, making their own piece of bread in the Aglona Bread Museum, and enjoying one of the most vivid landscapes of Latvian nature in the mystical atmosphere of Chertoks Lake.
On the other hand, participants in a remote format were offered to watch films produced by the camp's organizers on the Aglona Bread museum, Basillica and Livani arts and crafts centre.
One of the highlight events of each summer school organised by LSC is the masterclass of Latvian folk dance and ethnographic dances in Latvian national costumes. Each participant was offerd to try on a Latvian national costume of historical region, feeling briefly the role of Latvian resident.
The participants of the “National Day” presented the most beautiful places of their home country, the most characteristic meals and cultural historical heritage. The participants with pride and joy provided vivid presentations, highlighting the importance of international relations and border aspects in national cultures.
An e-study environment Moodle was created to support the students who participated in the school in a remote format. It made available original videos for the subjects visited by the participants of the school.
The summer school graduation took place on 20 August. The school organisers and participants looked at time spent in Latvia. Mind maps on the impressions were made and conclusions on the specificities, benefits and challenges of border areas were set up. The participants emphasized the unifying and separating aspects of border areas in migration, trade, security, language policy, human rights and cultural exchange.
This year's graduate survey was carried out to provide feedback to help improve the summer school programme. The participants of the summer school evaluated the methods and solutions used by the organisers in the implementation of the learning process in both Latvian language learning and the border phenomenology study module.
At the end of the summer school, the participants were issued certificates for acquisition of the “Latvian language and border area phenomenology” programme in ammount of 6 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) and the correspondence of the acquired Latvian language skills with Level A1.
The funding needed for the implementation of the summer school was received by participating in the State Education Development Agency competition.
The summer school is implemented by the Centre for Latvian Studies of Daugavpils University Faculty of Humanities.
Summer School Team: Dr philol., Prof. Maija Burima (Head of the Summer School), Sergejs Poļanskis, Diāna Skuķe, Ilmārs Mežaraups.
This project is financially supported by the State Education Development Agency of the Republic of Latvia.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Dr. philol., Prof. Maija Burima
DU Faculty of Humanities
Head of Centre for Latvian Studies
Email: summerschool@du.lv