Summer Schools – Centre for Latvian Studies of Daugavpils University - NEWS

“10 Days in Paradise”. Summer school 2023 feedbacked with compliments.

Mon, 31 Jul 2023 09:00:00 +0000

International Latvian language and culture summer school “Latvia’s Cultural Canon” organized by Daugavpils University Centre for Latvian Studies ended on 17 July, 2023.

10 students from foreign higher education institutions of Mexico, Uzbekistan, Poland, People’s Republic of China, Azerbaijan, Croatia, United States of America and Indonesia took part in the programme.

The main topic of the summer school was Latvia’s Cultural Canon. As part of the programme, school participants gained knowledge of the history and structure of the creation of Latvian cultural canon; by taking part in the field studies, study trips and excursions, they got to know “Literature”, “Architecture and design”, “Landscapes”, “Music” and “Traditional culture” sections of the cultural canon; meanwhile on seminars participants created a competence to describe canonical cultural values in other countries and cultures.

The summer school started on 7 July and its first part was held in Riga. The opening event of the programme was held in the Friends’ Room of National Library of Latvia. Participants also visited exhibition “Wear Latvia. Latvian National Costume in the World”. Students were brought to XXVII Nationwide Song and XVII Dance Celebration Grand Finale Concert and other festival events as well as to traditional craft art exhibition “We”. In a walking excursion through Riga, summer school participants got to know the places, events and people constituting the Latvia’s Cultural Canon, while in a study trip to Jurmala, students viewed Rainis and Aspazija summer house, Dzintari Concert Hall and seacoast landscape.

The programme carried on in Daugavpils University with Latvian language learning and continuing research on the values of Latvia’s Cultural Canon. In the module “Latvian language as a foreign language”, students developed speaking, reading, writing and listening skills, which were also applied during practice sessions, discussions, tours and field studies.

Students got familiar with Latvia’s traditional culture values by visiting “House of Traditions” in Daugavpils, taking part in bread making workshop in Aglona Bread Museum, participating in Latvian Folk dance and trying on national costumes of different regions of Latvia. Section “Landscapes” of Latvia’s Cultural Canons was introduced to participants by going to Čertoks Lake, Dinaburg Castle Trail, Daugavpils Fortress and Vasarģelišķi View Tower.

The participants of the summer school presented cultural canon value of their own countries and debated in the benefits of the process of cultural canonization. Special attention was paid to intercultural communication issues in the seminar “International Cultural Canon”.

Continuing to study the experience of preserving, researching, describing, promoting and developing the canonical culture values in the historico-cultural and socioeconomic context, the last part of the programme was spent in Rainis’ House in Berķenele. There, students were presented with stories of Rainis’ childhood, engaged in thematic excursions, workshops and special multi-sensory meditation.

In the end of Latvia’s Cultural Canon module, participants presented the impressions gained in the programme and their vision of further application of results after return in their home country. On the other hand, the Latvian Language Learning Module was finished with a language test.

Summer school participants gave positive feedback on the methodology used in the acquisition of the programme, i.e., CLIL approach in learning Latvian language and introduction to the values of Latvia’s cultural canon by visiting the objects on site.

Here is the some of the feedback provided by summer school participants:

Dadajon Oripov, Uzbekistan: “10 days in paradise. Everything was perfect. I would have never expected such kind of hospitality.” He mentions that throughout the summer school duration he felt like home and was in joyous mood and will never forget the time in Latvia. “Professor Maija Burima cared about us like mother,” Dadajon expresses sincere gratitude to summer school team.

Yize Huang, People’s Republic of China: “Everything went smoothly, all guides, instructors were super experienced, the design of the travel route also very thoughtful, thank you all.”

Magdalena Marija Meašić, Croatia: “I would just like to express my deep gratitude for allowing me to participate on this summer school. Thank you to all the organisers and coordinators, you were wonderful and made the whole process very easy and smooth for all of us participants. After this summer school I feel very inspired and eager to start my research on Latvia's music more in depth.”

Maciej Baczyński, Poland, wrote feedback in Latvian: “Paldies par visu! Tā bija ļoti interesanta pieredze. Programma bija interesanta, bet ļoti spraiga.” (“Thanks for everything. It was very interesting experience. Programme was interesting, though intense.”)

Jeremia Irianto Panjaitan, Indonesia, noted his appreciation for preparation before field trips. He told about his experience in Aglona Bread museum: “Once the host suddenly asked my feeling about the food, I spontaneously responded to her by saying “Man garšo...” She looked very happy and appreciated it.”

Ulises Marian, United States of America: “Thanks for everything. Thanks for the hospitality and the unforgettable experiences!”

The project is financially supported by State Education Development Agency of the Republic of Latvia (SEDA) by granting ten scholarships to students and academic staff of foreign higher education institutions. The financial support to summer school “Latvia’s Cultural Canon” was allocated in SEDA summer school project contest.

PHOTO GALLERY (summerschool.mozello.lv)

VIDEOS

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, Evita Badina, Žans Badins Diāna Skuķe, Ilmārs Mežaraups.

This project is financially supported by the State Education Development Agency of the Republic of Latvia.

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MORE DETAILS:

Dr. philol., prof. Maija Burima
Head of Center for Latvian Studies
Daugavpils University
E-pasts: summerschool@du.lv

International Latvian language and culture summer school 2023 opened

Tue, 11 Jul 2023 07:02:00 +0000

On 7 July 2023, the 7th Daugavpils University Centre for Latvian Studies International Latvian Language and Culture Summer was opened at the National Library of Latvia. The topic of this year's summer school is “Latvia's Cultural Canon.”

10 students from Mexico, Uzbekistan, Poland, China, Azerbaijan, Croatia, the U.S. and Indonesia participate in this year's programme.

In total, the organizing team of the Summer School received 100 applications from 20 countries around the world for this year's scholarship contest. 10 most motivated candidates were selected. They indicated current international experience, academic interest in interdisciplinary cultural research and language studies, as well as dedication to explore new countries and interest in Latvia in their letters of application.

The main theme of the culture module of the summer school is the Latvia's Culture Canon, and a unique programme was developed for exploration of elements of cultural canon as well as for visit of Song and Dance Celebration events. As part of the summer school, participants will not only gather experience of defining the cultural canon in Latvia, but will also develop the international experience of its interpretation.

On July 7, at the beginning of summer school activities, summer school participants attended exhibition “Wear Latvia. Latvian's National Costume in the World”, participated in the opening event of the summer school in the Friends Room of National Library of Latvia, where they were presented with the summer school programme and theoretical framework, as well as tought the most important courtesy and support phrases in Latvian.

The first part of the summer school took place in Riga City. The participants took a tour of the city, visiting the Riga Central Market, walking the streets of Old Town Riga and looking at the distinguished patterns of the architecture of the Art Nuoveau in Alberta Street. Summer school participants also went to Vērmanes Garden to feel the atmosphere of Song and Dance Celebration in markets and concerts.

In order to thoroughly familiarise themselves with the values included in the Latvia's Cultural Canon in the fields “Architecture and Themes”, “Literature” and “Landscapes”, summer school participants went on a trip to Jurmala, where they looked at the Dzintaru Concert Hall, Rainis and Aspasija summer house the seacost landscape.

In order to raise awareness of the values of Latvia's traditional culture, participants were offered a unique opportunity to visit the Nationwide Latvian Song and Dance Celebration Grand Finale concert “Upward Together” – the most anticipated Latvian cultural event of the last five years.

Together with acquisition of the Latvia's Culture Canon Module, the summer school participants acquire the “Latvian language as a foreign language” module, which is also applied during practice sessions, tours and field studies.

The development of the project is financially supported by the State Education Development Agency of the Republic of Latvia by providing 10 scholarships to students and academic staff of foreign higher education institutions. Funding was allocated to Centre for Latvian Studies for summer school project competition after taking part in State summer school project contest.

PHOTOGALLERY

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, Evita Badina, Žans Badins Diāna Skuķe, Ilmārs Mežaraups.

This project is financially supported by the State Education Development Agency of the Republic of Latvia.

Open Call for Scholarship Applications – Summer School 2023 "Latvia's Cultural Canon"

Wed, 01 Feb 2023 04:00:00 +0000

We are happy to welcome you to the 7th Latvian Language and Culture Summer School LATVIA’S CULTURAL CANON that will take place from 7 to 17 July, 2023.

Centre for Latvian Studies of Daugavpils University, which based on the competition has acquired the right to organize this school for the seventh year and is an experienced summer school implementer with a creative, professional and responsive team, welcomes Bachelor’s, Master’s, Doctoral students, academic and research staff of higher education institutions from 43 countries to apply for Latvia State scholarship.

This Summer School aims to raise awareness of the concept of cultural canon, its adaptation to the evaluation and classification of cultural phenomena. It focuses on Latvia’s cultural canon as a tool for institutionalising cultural values. The programme offers integrated learning of Latvian cultural canon values and Latvian language skills at A1 level.

The summer school offers:

To get acquainted with the international experience of the definition and interpretation of the cultural canon;
To describe the history, principles, structure of the creation of the Latvian cultural canon, analyse examples of each Latvian cultural canon industry;
To acquire Latvian skills at A1 level, to use Latvian language in communication during practice, tours and field studies.

Students completing the course will be issued a certificate of attendance (6 ECTS).

To apply for scholarship please fill in the online application form, add curriculum vitae and motivation letter where the reasons for choice of this Summer School and its programme are indicated (2000 – 3000 characters with spaces). The application is open by April 1, 2023!

Selection of candidates will be made by the organizers of the Summer school from Daugavpils University depending on motivation letters, in which the organizers will pay special attention to the reasons why the applicants have been attracted to the programme of our Summer School.

The final decision on granting scholarships will be made by the evaluation committee of the State Education Development Agency Republic of Latvia. Daugavpils University will inform all applicants on the results.

Scholarships will be granted to 10 students after having evaluated the application forms, motivation letters and curriculum vitae.

Students from the following countries only are eligible to apply: Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium (Federation Wallonia – Brussels), Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Norway, Peru, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The People’s Republic of China, The United States of America, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam.

Costs: Scholarship covers accommodation, catering, lectures, workshops, field studies, study tours, and all cultural activities. Scholarship does not cover travel, visa and insurance costs (participants have to cover travel expenses from the country of origin to the Summer School location themselves).

Contacts:

Prof. Maija Burima
Phone: +371 29789096, +371 22446509
E-mail: summerschool@du.lv
Summer school’s platform: http://summerschool.mozello.lv/

This project has been funded with support from State Education Development Agency of the Republic of Latvia