As part of its commitment to supporting development in Latgale, the Embassy ran a project in 2005-2006 to give minority schoolchildren in Daugavpils the chance to learn the state language in an informal setting, through physical education classes taught in Latvian. Its particular successes have been improved inter-ethnic communication, confidence building and increased social skills for all project participants. The project was implemented by Riga Teacher Training and Education Management University (RPIVA) and led by Associate Professor Tamara Skolnikova.

New content for physical education classes

The physical education classes focussed on aerobics and basketball; floor-ball was added on as a new discipline.  Students of RPIVA were invited to run the classes under the leadership of associate professor Tamara Skolnikova. In 2005, ten future teachers from RPIVA went to Daugavpils regularly for two months, working as instructors in Secondary School 10 in Daugavpils. The work was kept up at regular classes by the school’s physical education teachers, who also gained new knowledge about sports methodology.

Expanding the project

In 2006 the Society Integration Fund (SIF) supported expansion of the project to five more schools in Daugavpils. Students of RPIVA with support from schoolchildren and teachers from Daugavpils Secondary School 10 continued to implement the project. School students from senior classes tried the role of teachers’ assistants, testing their skills as physical education teachers; the teachers applied the newly acquired methods in their work.

In summer of 2006 the British Embassy supported a summer school for physical education teachers from other Latgale minority schools, rolling out the experience outside Daugavpils. At a seminar in Daugavpils 21 teachers from 13 Latgale minority schools discussed the role of sports in integration and the newest methods for teaching physical education. The summer school was led by teachers and students of RPIVA. 50 schoolchildren from Daugavpils also took part in the summer school activities, improving both their sports and language skills.

The summer school included lectures on communication and social education in multicultural environment, on integration and minorities in Latvia, on project writing and applying for financing and on aspects of teaching physical education. RPIVA staff and students also gave practical classes on aerobics, floor-ball and basketball, focussing on the specific features of these disciplines and their teaching in school.

Meeting The Queen

The project’s lessons and successes were repeated in a similar seminar for minority schools’ physical education teachers in Riga. During the State Visit of Queen Elizabeth II on 18 October 2006 the schoolchildren and students from the project team participated in the performance Kopā/Together with an aerobics display.