LATE is the professional association for English language teachers working in Latvia. Membership only costs 25 Euros per year; 20 Euros for renewing members; 10 Euros for students. LATE is open to all teachers. You can read more about LATE, what it does and how to join at the bottom of this page.
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HMC Projects is a charitable organisation which organises two scholarship programmes for very bright and able 16/17 year-olds in 14 countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Successful applicants are offered a 2 year scholarship at a top private boarding school in the UK. Please look at the information on our HMC page and share it with young talented learners who you think meet the requirements and would be interested in applying. The deadline for applications is the 4th December.
LATE is glad to announce that the postponed “Supporting Multilingual Classes” 16 hours TPD course will take place on 29-30th September 2020. Click here for the programme.
The participants will have the chance to meet and work together for two days at “Bellevue Park Hotel Riga” (at 1 Slokas Street, Riga) and the lecturers, Kristin Brogan (Ireland) and Merce Bernaus (Spain), will join us and lead the workshops through the Zoom platform.
The group is almost full, but as the dates have changed and some of the participants cannot attend the course there are a few vacancies. If you would like to participate in the course, please complete this Google Form as soon as possible (till the link is active) and we will get in touch with you.
In order to ensure the safety of every participant of the group, you will also be asked to confirm that you will act responsibly and comply with all the national safety regulations during the Covid-19 pandemic.
We are glad to announce that LATE in cooperation with Pearson is continuing the work on the project “Reading Circle”. The main aim of the project is to create a classroom culture that fosters motivation to read and promotes students’ reading skills.
This year there will be 2 groups: “Reading Circle 1 – 2020” - a new group for 6th formers; and “Reading Circle 2 – 2020” for 7th formers, where the work will be coordinated by the teachers who participated in the project last year.
The participation in the project can last for 3 years from 6th – 8th grade. The project is sponsored by Pearson and LATE, and is free of charge for the participants.
Deadline for the registration is 18th September – 1pm. If you teach 6th formers and would like to apply for this project, please complete the application form which includes a short letter of motivation.
Click here to download the latest Baltic-Nordic Region Newsletter No. 2 of the International Federation of Language Teacher Associations.
Due to the current continuing uncertainty LATE held a one-day online Conference on Friday 21st August.
More information about the Conference can be found on the Conference page.
Click here to download a free 'Rough and Ready Guide to Teaching English Online in a Time of Coronavirus'. The Guide looks at key terms and concepts, considers what kinds of things we can do online, and discusses three sample lessons based on Solutions Pre-Intermediate.
Click here to download the latest Baltic-Nordic Region Newsletter No. 1 (March 2020) of the International Federation of Language Teacher Associations.
During this troubled time the LATE Board would like to wish all our members and their families, and their students all the best, and, most importantly, the best of health.
Even though these are difficult times, the silver lining is the huge learning opportunity we have been presented with as we work to deliver lessons online. This perhaps daunting task is best approached with a positive mental attitude: It might be frustrating at times and we might make mistakes, but we will learn.
Our publisher partners are being very generous with electronic course materials, and are also organizing webinars on line learning, and we would like to thank them for this help.
LATE will continue planning for the Annual Conference in August, and we will continue to keep you informed of initiatives from publishers and our other partners.
Remember to stay safe!
The Supporting Multilingual Classrooms Project has been postponed, perhaps to September...
Unfortunately the Drama Express ’20 Festival has had to be cancelled.
LATE is proud to have participated in the organization of a workshop for foreign language teachers in cooperation with the European Centre for Modern Languages (Graz, Austria) on the 19-21st February at the University of Latvia Library (Kalpaka bulvāris 4, Riga, Latvia).
The workshop was entitled ‘Exploring ways to test mediation and pluricultural/plurilingual skills in the classroom’ and was conducted by two ECML experts – José Noijons (the Netherlands) and Gábor Szábo (University of Pécs, Hungary).
You can read more about the project here.
The Third January Training Day was held on the 3rd of January 2020 at Riga Secondary School No. 34.
We were delighted to have three speakers.
Tatjana Kunda (VISC) talked about how to prepare students for the written part of exams.
Thomas Springer (U.S. Attorney-At-Law, England & Wales Solicitor, Registered Legal Consultant, Russian Federation, Ventspils University) spoke about Challenges Encountered by Latvian Learners of English as a Second Language.
Robert Buckmaster spoke on Time and on using maps in teaching.
This was a free event for LATE Members.
You can find out more about this event on this page.
Pearson/LATE “Reading Circle” Project
Pearson Publishers and LATE are engaged in an exciting new project this year.
The Reading Circle project is meant for elementary students: Pearson Readers Level 2 (600 headwords).
Teachers from eight schools from all over Latvia are participating in the project. The project is sponsored by Pearson and LATE and is free of charge for the participants.
Each school receives a set of (15+1 books of one title) and will be able to read them for a month. The teacher in each school organizes the reading process. After a month the set of books is posted to the next school in the Reading Circle and so on.
You can read more about the Project here.
The LATE Liepaja Conference 2019 “Changes and Challenges: English Language Teaching and 21st Century Skills”was held on Wednesday, 23rd October 2019. You can find out more about it here.
LATE is proud to announce that it is supporting HMC Projects, a charitable organisation which helps gifted children to study at private boarding schools in the UK. You can read more about the scheme and how your students can apply here.
A new board was elected at LATE's Annual Conference and you can read about the board here.
LATE held its 27th Annual Conference on the 22-23rd August at Riga Teika Secondary School, Aizkraukles iela 14, Riga, Latvia.
The conference was entitled: Competence Based Teaching and learning: Challenges and Opportunities.
This was the next event in our series 'Educating Today's Learners for the 21st Century World: Competence-based Teaching and Learning'.
More information about conference can be found on our Conference page.
LATE held the second January Seminar in our series 'Innovative Teaching Methods to Promote a Contemporary Learning Process' at Riga Teika Secondary School on Friday 4th January.
The highlights of the programme were:
- Džefrijs Grinvalds looked at Public speaking- training your students and yourself to be a
persuasive public speaker - Tatjana Kunda discussed Assessment as Learning
- M. Lee Alexander talked on Rhyme and Reason: Using Poetry to Teach Expository Writing and Speaking Skills
- Robert Buckmaster talked about Speaking and Speaking Skills, and Listening Skills.
This was a special free event for LATE Members. For more information visit this page: Webinars etc.
Ina Andina, LATE Vidzeme region coordinator reports:
Latvia and Estonia joint seminar in Valka
Friday, November 2, was a significant day for Vidzeme region teachers from Valka, Strenči, Valmiera, Smiltene (Latvia) and Valga Municipality teachers (Estonia) as there was a fantastic opportunity for the teachers of English to take part in a joint seminar organized by Pearson Latvia, Pearson Estonia and LATE in Valka Janis Cimze Gymnasium.
Pearson Estonia representative Ursula Erik dealt with the 21st century teaching skills based on the course book "Wider World". The title of the session was called "It’s All about Communication: Authenticity in the Language Classroom". We tried to distinguish between the spoken practice and communication and investigate ways in which we can bring them closer together. We looked at what the important elements of communication are in terms of linguistic and communicative competencies and shared some activities and ideas to take away and try out in class with your teenage students.
Pearson Latvia representative Iveta Vītola in her session "A Competence Based Approach to Teaching and Learning English" looked at the language learning materials that engage students, increasing their confidence and equipping students with knowledge and skills required to succeed in their education and in their lives in general via the latest books by Pearson publishing house. It was exciting to do the group works and get acquainted with the colleagues from the neighbouring country and share common teaching ideas. There was a bookstall prepared by Pearson, Estonia.
After the seminar the educational board of Valga Municipality added a surprise to the programme of the day with one more lecture led by Louis John Wierenga MA (Political Science) Junior Research Fellow in Comparative Politics, University of Tartu. Mr Louis John Wierenga was very interested in cooperation with the Latvian teachers alongside with the Estonians. It was interesting to listen to the native English speaker comparing the Canadian - Estonian cultures.
The Valga Municipality educational board representative Lay Ivi expressed a wish to continue our co-operation and collaboration in the future with paying a visit to the schools in Valga, there was an offer for Latvian students to participate in Valga Municipality English Language Olympiad in spring.
1. Annual LATGALE Teachers' Conference
The 18th Latgale English Teachers' Methodology Conference "Competence-based Teaching and Learning – Gateway to Learner’s Success” in Daugavpils, on the 23rd of October.
2. Pearson-LATE Professional Development Course in Liepaja
"A Competence Based Approach to Teaching and Learning English" at Liepaja State Gymnasium No. 1 on the 24-25th October.
British Council/LATE Summer School "Coping with Competences"
LATE, in co-operation with the British Council organised a residential summer school entitled "Coping with Competences", for English teachers, from 15 - 18 August at Priekuli Technical School.
Chris Thorn from the UK and local lecturers shared their expertise and worked with 54 teachers to develop ideas and resources to use in their classrooms. You can find more information about the Summer School here.
LATE's Annual Conference was held on the 23rd and 24th August 2018 at Riga State Gymnasium No 1, Raina Bulvaris 8.
The Conference Title was: Educating Today's Learners for the 21st Century World: Competence-based Teaching and Learning.
You can find more information about it on the Conference page.
Article
James Egerton, our webinar and seminar presenter this year, published an article in IATEFL Voices (March-April 2018) entitled 'Inculcating a Growth Mindset' and kindly agreed to share it with us.
The text of the article can be found here.
Accompanying videos and PDF copies of the materials for each stage can be found on this blog post.
Teaching and Learning Languages in the 21st Century: Linguistic, Educational and Cultural Aspects
Click here for more information.
Language Teacher Training and Development of Language Teachers Competencies
Language Teaching and Learning†for New Generation Students
Teaching and Learning Less Widely Taught Languages
Multilingualism and Intercultural Communication
Linguistic Research
The US Embassy in Latvia announces its annual video competition for high school students with a major prize for a four-week trip through the United States. This year's theme is "Media Literacy". We are waiting for young people in English about how they think about using media nowadays, how to think about who to believe, what not to, how to keep up with the topical issues of Latvia and the world, why it is so important, and so on. Videos should be submitted by February 22, 2018. There is more information about the competition in the attached poster.
Study of the United States Institutes are intensive post-graduate level academic programs with integrated study tours whose purpose is to provide foreign university faculty, other scholars, and secondary educators (classroom teachers, teacher trainers, curriculum developers, textbook writers, ministry of educations officials, etc.) the opportunity to deepen their understanding of American society, culture, and institutions. The ultimate goal is to strengthen curricula and to improve the quality of teaching about the United States in academic institutions abroad.
The institutes will take place at various colleges and universities throughout the United States over the course of 5-6 weeks beginning in May/June 2018.
More information here [a Word document].
FLEX 2018-2019 Latvia
More information here about this exciting opportunity from the US Embassy.
About LATE
LATE has been representing teachers of English in Latvia since it was founded in 1992.
LATE is an Associate Member of IATEFL.
Membership Fees per annum
New members: 25 Euros
Renewing members: 20 Euros
Students: 10 Euros
What LATE does
LATE organizes an Annual Conference in August in Riga, a Training Day in January, occasional webinars and takes part in special projects such as British Council Summer Schools.
Membership Benefits
As a member of LATE you can attend the Annual Conference at a reduced rate and take part in LATE projects, training events and special promotions.
In the 2018/9 academic year we had two webinars and a training day in January for members as well as the two day Annual Conference: see here and here for more details.
Click here to join LATE.
For bank details please click .
Contact us:
Contact us by e-mail:
We are on Facebook.
You can also visit our regional partners
The Estonian Association of Teachers of English: EATE