Latviešu valodas kā svešvalodas apguve Āzijā

The Latvian language as a foreign language (LATS) is learned both in Latvia and abroad. It can be done in higher education institutions, as well as in different courses and self-directed learning. Outside Latvia, there are many countries and higher education institutions where it is possible to acquire LATS. In some higher education institutions, the Latvian language has been taught since the beginning of the 20th century. The oldest LATS teaching traditions are in North America, Germany, Sweden, Lithuania and Australia. In some universities, such as Stockholm University, Masaryk University, Saint Petersburg State University, etc., academically strong study programs in Baltic Studies were established. Over time, study programs have been closed for various reasons, at most leaving the Latvian language as an optional course. At some universities, the Latvian language course has been discontinued. Although in some higher education institutions outside Latvia LATS could be acquired starting from the beginning of the 20th century, the most significant interest in the Latvian language was after the restoration of independence of the Republic of Latvia. Then many higher education institutions in Europe established Latvian language and culture study programs. This interest was related to the geopolitical situation. People tried to get to know the post-Soviet countries through the language. When Latvia joined the European Union, interest in the Latvian language decreased in Europe. Nowadays, interest in the Latvian language has increased in Asia, especially in China. In Asia, it is possible to acquire the Latvian language in China and Japan. There are established different Latvian language bachelor programs in universities of China while in Japan the Latvian language is taught for somebody interested in Latvian culture and traditions more than in the Latvian language.

Lecturers’ Role in Design and Implementation of E-Learning Processes

The potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is playing increasing role in various pedagogical contexts. The necessity to integrate technologies in learning enhances educators’ digital competences is constantly highlighted in education policy documents European Union and national strategic documents and recommendations. Following the advance of digital technologies, the State Border Guard College of Latvia is constantly looking after innovations in ICT and education contexts. Since 2011 Specialized English language e-learning course for border guards is being implemented, other professional e-learning courses are being systematically introduced, currently 8 specialised qualification courses are available, on average 300 border guards graduate e-learning courses annually. Having in mind the continuous advancement of ICT in education contexts as well as the strategic approach of the State Border Guard College to continue the development of e-learning systems author of this article intends to describe the system of e-learning used in border guards’ training, explore and summarize the theory and best practices on using ICT in pedagogical context, educators’ roles in development and implementation of e-learning courses.

Pre-Service Teachers’ Competences in Applying Knowledge of Mathematics and Language in Mathematical Fiction

The article explores possibilities of integrating mathematics and language learning. The language of mathematics differs remarkably from everyday speech, which may cause some difficulties not only for primary students, but also for pre-service teachers. One of the methods to resolve this issue is integrating mathematics and language learning. This method also develops university students’ skills to apply didactic and subject knowledge. The article examines skills of pre-service teachers that are revealed in their fictional stories on a chosen mathematical subject. The analysis of mathematical fiction demonstrates that subject integration emphasizes students’ abilities to distinguish essential aspects of the chosen mathematical phenomenon, as well as how students are able to apply and explain concepts, and to adjust to age-specific target audience.

Jaunu burtu veidošana ar diakritiskajām zīmēm latviešu valodas kā svešvalodas apguvēju tekstos

A Latvian learner corpus “LaVA” is being built in the Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Latvia. The corpus includes texts written by beginner learners in the first two semesters of learning Latvian as a foreign language. The texts are written by hand and digitized afterwards in order to reduce the issues that could be caused by the necessity to learn not only writing itself but also using a foreign keyboard. One of the features that cannot be digitized is the new letters created by adding diacritical marks which are not used that way in the standard Latvian alphabet. Since one of the essential steps in learning to write in a language is learning the letters and diacritical marks of that language, this study aims to find instances of such newly made letters and to discuss the basic quantitative measures in order to define hypotheses and areas of interest for further research of such usage. Altogether 322 texts were searched, and 175 examples were found. The amount of examples found in 2nd semester texts was less than half the amount of examples found in the 1st semester texts, but the percentage of texts containing examples was higher than expected – more than 33 % in the 1st semester and almost 20 % in the 2nd semester. It leads to a conclusion that this is quite a common occurrence but also prone to reduction in the second semester. The corpus does not provide any data on later semesters so it cannot be predicted when such instances should become a rare, individual feature rather than a common one. The average amount of examples in a text is not high, though. Counting only the texts where at least one example was found, the average amount of examples per text is 2.136 in the 1st semester and 1.690 in the 2nd semester. Considering that the absolute lowest possible value here is 1, it should not be considered as a high value. Therefore, using diacritical marks to make new letters, while a common feature of the Latvian interlanguage, could be characterized as casual rather than systemic. However, that does not exclude the possibility of certain patterns in usage. The currently collected data already shows that there are some words – such as garšo, viņš, ļoti, četri – where examples were found in more than one author’s text. Examples of using unsuitable diacritical marks are also sometimes found next to letters for which said diacritical marks would be suitable. This should be explored more thoroughly using qualitative methods. The size of the corpus keeps growing; the expected size upon completion is 1000 texts. When it is reached, it would be useful to repeat the study and check whether the larger amount of data still confirms the same assumptions. The larger sample size would also allow for more detailed quantitative analysis discussing each letter, diacritical mark, placement of the diacritical mark, and metadata collected for the corpus, such as gender, native language and other spoken languages by the authors of the texts.

„Latviešu valoda zobārstniecības studentiem” – pirmā latviešu valodas kā svešvalodas mācību grāmata zobārstniecības studentiem

Latvian as a foreign language is being learned both inside and outside Latvia. It is done in higher education institutions as well as various group language classes and individual lessons. The goals of learners range from professional and research-driven needs to personal interests. A significant part of Latvian language learners in Latvia are international students who study in higher education institutions in Latvia. Those are not exclusively exchange students. There is a considerable number of international students who study full-time academic programs in universities of Latvia. The first adult-oriented textbook of Latvian as a foreign language came out in 1960s. Since then, quite a lot of various learning materials have been created with 11 intermediary languages. However, the contents of almost all textbooks are targeted to people who have either a general or philological interest in Latvian, because in the higher education institutions outside Latvia, Latvian is often learned for research purposes as a part of philology studies. The authors of the present paper – Inga Kaija and Inga Laizāne – teach Latvian to international students who study dentistry at Riga Stradiņš University in Latvia. These students have a specific goal when learning Latvian, namely, they have to be able to communicate to their patients in Latvian, which is using the language in a professional environment. The pre-existing textbooks are not suitable for reaching this goal in a relatively short time. Thus, a new textbook had to be created to support the learners’ needs. The textbook “Latvian for dentistry students” has been created to support acquisition of the basics of Latvian with the purpose of enabling a conversation between a dentist and a patient. The needs of the language learners have been acknowledged by employing the communicative approach but also including explanations on grammatical topics. A grammar overview is included in the end of the book. It could be useful for any adult learner of Latvian as a foreign language as well as teachers. Its target user is the practically, rather than academically inclined learner. This kind of grammar overview has not been included in any textbooks of Latvian before.

Lietpratības pieeja un caurviju prasmju īstenošana pirmsskolas pedagoģiskajā procesā: pedagoģiskā pieredze metodiskā materiāla „Mans kalendārs” izmantošanā

Education is experiencing a major paradigm shift over the last 100 years, shifting from fact memorizing to learning practical application of this knowledge of facts, which means that in modern education the skills are at the forefront. The purpose of education is to prepare students for practical life or to promote their competence. A competent person is not only someone who knows perfectly how to use his knowledge, but who can take responsibility for his actions, can be creative, critical to thinking and analysing. Paradoxically, it is a relatively new paradigm in education – to move from memorizing information to critical evaluation, analysis and building new knowledge. Moreover, increasingly important form of cognition are becoming mutual cooperation and communication, in order to be able to implement it, increasingly important are becoming the transversal areas of study fields found in practical knowledge activities, respectively, they affect the content, format, methods used and other aspects of pedagogy (Iekalšanas laikmeta beigas 2015). National Center for Education highlights the importance of human skills, the ability to focus on and take independent decisions, attitude and a system of values based on personal characteristics, and is a motivating factor for action. In addition to basic skills in key areas of human activity, the application of skills and knowledge under different conditions, or interdisciplinary skills, is important in order to be able to focus. The implementation of innovative approaches depends on the professionalism of educators, determined by the identity of the teacher, which in turn includes the attitudes of the teacher to his work, to students, their parents and colleagues, to the development of education and society in general. Historical circumstances, politico-social orientation, the social political context, the education system adopted in the country sets out certain requirements for the professionalism and competence of the teacher (Lamote, Engels 2010). It is therefore legitimate that, when a teaching approach is changed, different teaching methods and didactic materials are applied, as well as new techniques for the use of materials already known. The calendar, as a time-gauge, has long been used as a method for working with the entire group in pre-school. However, the approach proposed in the article is fundamentally different from that generally accepted, since each child in the preschool group has his own personal calendar made by his parents. This material provides an excellent opportunity for each child to work independently with small details, to exercise fingers, to think, to make mistakes, to compare, to make decisions, to correct mistakes, to perceive signs aggregated, which is clearly an incentive for the development of speech and reading skills. In pre-school working with the “My Calendar” methodical material, the teacher is given the opportunity to use a practice-tested and implemented method of promoting children’s skills in all areas of learning, along with the development of transversal skills defined in the learning content. Therefore, the idea of integrating the specific interactive methodological material “My Calendar” into the pre-primary environment is proposed, where, by highlighting trends in new learning content, the development of transversal skills for pre-school children is targeted, and on the basis of methods tested in practice, the work of the teachers who will implement it is facilitated. This method highlights the freedom of each teacher to modify and adapt the methodological material to their intention, environment, capabilities, and to complement it creatively and improve it by maintaining the succession of tasks in line with child development.

Vecāku līdzdalība pirmsskolas vecuma bērnu vārdu krājuma paplašināšanā

Parental involvement in the development of the vocabulary of preschool children will improve not only their success at school, but also their cognitive and emotional development. Children start to learn language from the moment they are born and this process depends on the continued involvement of the parents. The aim of the article is to define the extent of parental knowledge and opinions regarding the development of the vocabulary and the methods that could be used to improve it. The article is based on the results of a previous study that is a part of a national research programme (“Latviešu valoda”) which focuses on the development of Latvian language in preschool children. The study used parental surveys in order to gather their opinion on the importance of their involvement in the development of preschool children’s vocabulary. The data gathered from these surveys was analysed to present statistically significant results. The information gathered from the surveys could be used to analyse if there are any issues in the parental knowledge about vocabulary development and used by teachers and education specialists to support parents in a more informed way. One of the observed effects of the surveys was an increased parental attention to the speech and vocabulary of their children which was required in order to answer the questions. Similarly, the parents noticed that some activities and processes that are related to the language development did not previously receive as much of their attention as they thought they should give. Conversations, reading and singing were considered to be the most important tools of speech and language development by the surveyed parents. Alarmingly, approximately half of the parents considered the requirements for vocabulary development to be lower than what is currently considered to be standard with a large proportion of the parents significantly underestimating these requirements. Therefore, the authors believe that parents often fail to recognise issues with their child’s vocabulary, as they lack the knowledge to properly assess the development of speech and vocabulary. The results of the study suggest that the problem of parental implication in preschool children’s vocabulary should be analysed further and extended to consider the family’s socioeconomic context.

Zu einigen problematischen Fragen der Fachsprachenvermittlung am Beispiel des Deutschunterrichts bei Juristen

This article deals with the subject of language teaching using the example of German lessons for lawyers. As part of the “Justice for Development” project, free language teaching was offered to judges, prosecutors, lawyers, police and other Latvian legal system employees in 2018. The language selection was limited to 3 foreign languages: English, German and French. Because it was teaching of the professional language (language for special purposes), no beginner groups were formed, and no beginner lessons offered. The participants should at least have knowledge of German at level A 2 with the prospect of offering the opportunity to further develop their knowledge at other levels. Before the beginning of the project, the needs assessment was also carried out internally and the teachers were presented the results of this analysis in a summarized form, where they could see the main topics and wishes of the participants. The following thematic groups were predominant: Civil Law, Commercial Law and Criminal Law. Most of the group members were judges. The main aims of the participants: to learn German were to be able to attend German conferences and to communicate privately, and to read legal documents. During the teaching process arose several problems, which were discussed in more detail in the article, which were the lack of appropriate teaching and learning materials, different fields of interest of the participants and also little experience in the legal field of the teacher. Working with original documents is still difficult in A2 level German classes. Existing textbooks specializing in legal language are difficult to access, limited number, published 10–20 years ago, are morally obsolete, and contain institutional and phenomenon designations that no longer exist. Materials published in Germany or on the Internet can present the German legal system, but in Latvia the judicial system differs. These materials can only be used in contrast. It is also advisable to use feature films about German judges and attorneys, where you can also learn the necessary legal vocabulary when relaxing. Co-operation between the lecturer and the group members is also highly recommended, as their rich legal experience enables them to improve the quality of German language lessons. The learning process should also emphasize the importance of autonomous learning and the differentiation/ individualization of teaching and learning.

Pareizrakstības kļūdas krievu valodā kā svešvalodā pamatskolā

The purpose of the paper is to determine the most typical and frequently used orthograms to pay attention to, when teaching Russian as a foreign language in a primary school. Our practical experience of teaching and our observation of the process of learning Russian as a foreign language allows us to state and suggest that schools lack systematic and focused teaching of Russian orthography. Pupils make a lot of mistakes because they do not understand the reason why such mistakes occur, they lack orthographic vigilance, i.e., the ability and skills to determine an orthographically “dangerous place”. Most teachers do not include practices and spelling skills of forming orthographic literacy into the context of their class activities and do not know practices of working on orthograms of different types and origin. It is considered that pupils learn Russian orthography through listening comprehension and through books and, thus, remember and memorize the spelling of different words well enough. It is believed that the pupil’s first step in the creation of a system of exercises to form orthographic literacy is the development of a classification of orthograms that are topical and frequent in teaching Russian as a foreign language in a primary school (forms 6–9). Similar research was conducted several decades ago, therefore, it is now necessary to develop and determine the methodology as well as technology for conducting an experiment and revealing the currently most typical orthographic and spelling mistakes. The classification of orthograms has been made with account of a comparative analysis of phonetic, orthographic and graphic systems of the Russian and Latvian languages. For the Latvian audience, it is expedient to single out phonetic and non-phonetic orthograms. Phonetic orthograms are those caused by underdeveloped phonemic awareness, interference of Latvian pronunciation and incorrect articulation of Russian sounds (seven types have been singled out). Non-phonetic orthograms (morphologic and traditional) are true orthograms and their spelling causes difficulties for both Latvian and Russian pupils. To determine the frequency and quality of mistakes in the Russian language, we have performed a diagnostic assessment. The data of our practical research can be used in forecasting mistakes of pupils who study Russian as a foreign language, creating a system of monitoring skills and abilities in writing, developing tests and exercises to contribute to the improvement of orthographic literacy of pupils.