TURGELIAI AISTUVOS GYMNASIUM, LITHUANIA

                                                                     


   TURGELIAI AISTUVOS GYMNASIUM, LITHUANIA

Hello Dear colleagues and participants of the Tolerance Camp 2015 in Dvarčėnai Lithuania.
I am Rasa Midverienė, a teacher from Turgeliai Aistuvos Gymnasium. I and my five students Ieva, Marija, Anastasija, Laura and Deivid are looking forward to meeting you all - tutors and new friends - at the camp. 

Our Gymnasium is located in the Turgeliai village, Šalčininkai district, 30 kilometres from Vilnius. It is a small and cosy school with 187 students and 24 teachers.  
Our school was established in 1992 as a Secondary School and in February 2015 became a Gymnasium. Our Gymnasium's name is Aistuva. This is an ancient Lithuanian word which was used in the sources about the ancient Baltic religion. The word has a very nice meaning - Aistuva is a huge country where you can walk nine times in three days and nights through the evergreen forests and will not reach the edge. Here you can find rippled lakes and thoughtful rivers, green fields and glowing cereals, looming mounds and hospitable castles. Move closer, knock on the door, do not be afraid, you will be accepted with joy. This land does not know bad people.

We are a small and friendly community - we celebrate together, we dance together, we learn in a creative and joyful way. 

Riga Secondary School N95

Hello!

My name is Jeļena Miloša. I am an English teacher at Riga Secondary School N95 in Riga, the capital of Latvia. 

Riga Secondary school N95 was founded in 1991. It is located in one of Riga’s districts called Ziepniekkalns. The school premises include two four-storey buildings, a swimming pool, a guest house and two playgrounds with a football pitch. There are about 1070 students in our school. As Riga Secondary School N95 is a school of national minorities, students of different nationalities study there.

Five 12-year-old teenagers from Riga Secondary School N95 anticipate spending time at the Tolerance camp in Lithuania. They like travelling and visiting new places. The teens have already found “Dvarčėnų dvaras” on the Internet, and now they are dreaming about going to this lovely place. 3 girls and 2 boys want to make new friends among their peers from Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, to participate in team games and to talk in English about their daily adventures at the camp. Their names are Anna, Alīna, Darja, Karens and Maikls. Anna and Darja are fond of drawing and acting on stage. Alīna has already participated in several youth Maths competitions and achieved good results. Karens is an active football player. He usually discusses sport themes with his father in Armenian. Maikls enjoys swimming very much and he is good at handicraft, e.g., making loom bands.

Jeļena Miloša

www.95vsk.lv

Lasnamäe Gümnaasium

Hello, everyone! 

Lasnamäe Gümnaasium is situated in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, in a large residential area. There are 806 students. The school offers all opportunities for those who want to get a good education. Much attention is paid to various after-school activities. There are a lot of clubs in Lasnamäe Gümnaasium: dance, vocal, art, photo studios, chess school and sports clubs. The school building has been renovated and rearranged this year. New facilities have been added in the course of the reconstruction.  Now we have modern science labs, a lecture hall, an elevator, a bicycle parking lot and an excellent stadium. There is also a swimming pool, two gyms, a library and a spacious canteen. Our school is being merged with a neighbouring school. So there will be more students and teachers next year. 

Five students from Lasnamäe Gümnaasium are coming to the Tolerance camp in August. They are 13 years old. All of them are fond of English. Besides, Arina is interested in needlework, Maria likes drawing and music. Anton enjoys acting on the stage, he goes to theatre school. Timur is good at playing basketball. As for Ilja, English is his main hobby, he also likes swimming. We are eager to meet new friends, to communicate in English and a have a good time.

Julia Bitner

http://www.lasgy.tln.edu.ee/et/

ŠĶIBE PRIMARY SCHOOL OF JELGAVA REGION, LATVIA

Hello, dear friends and language enthusiasts,

I am Miks, teacher of English from Jelgava region Šķibe primary school. It is located ca. 20 km from my hometown Jelgava and some 65 km from Riga, the capital of Latvia. We are a small school of about 200 students from grades 1 to 9, but we are very competetive, creative and fun. Although we are a very small school, we are 125 years old, which makes us one of the oldest and richest with traditions schools in the region.

We love sports, music, films, and we participate as much as we can into social events by cleaning up our closest territoties, looking after our school, helping others, etc.

Our soon-to-be seventh-graders Loreta, Janeks and Sabīne are very energetic young learners, who understand the value of foreign language knowledge. In the previous school year they even held their own news broadcast and really showed the native reporters how it’s done.

Lelde and Amanda are two lovely, artistic girls, who love dancing and singing, and even outside the class very often prefer to speak English and address their English teachers only in English.

We are all very impatient to meet our new friends, and hope to have the best summer experience!

This is our school's website: http://www.skibespamatskola.lv/

We are still working on the English version though.

See you very, very soon,

Miks Kapsis, Šķibe primary school

ELVA GUMNAASIUM, ESTONIA

Hi!

Elva Gümnaasium is located in the south of Estonia, in a small town named Elva. There are 773 students from 1st to 12th grade and also pre-school. Elva prides itself on wonderful nature, even our school motto says: "Elvas on lood(t)ust!" / "In Elva there is nature/hope!" Our school logo is a green pine tree, which symbolises growth, aspiration, strength and love for nature, it can't be more fitting, since there are lots of pine trees in Elva!

Our students love sport, nature, music, arts and languages. The atmosphere in the school is warm, welcoming and supportive. We love taking part in projects, olympiades, competitions and meeting new friends. As a teacher, I value supportive class which works as a team to accomplish their dreams and helps each other whenever there is a struggle.

5 students from Elva, who are already extremely excited to meet up with others in Lithuania, are sixth-graders, 3 girls and 2 boys. Hanna likes languages and sports, she's very good at tennis and track sports. Janely has wonderful eye for design, she's also good at singing and sports. Kadi-Liis devotes herself to sport, often representing our school in various competitions, she also likes languages, animals and music. Rasmus can draw funny comics, he's good at biking and trampolene jumps. And last, but not least - Ron is good at languages, but spends most of his time performing  daredevil bmx stunts.

This is our brief introduction, see you soon in Lithuania!

Mari
English and class teacher

Elva Gümnaasium
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Vieciunai basic school of Druskininkai municipality, Lithuania

Hello dear colleagues and camp participants,

I am Danguolė, an EFL teacher from Lithuania. I teach English at Viečiūnai Basic School, which is 7 km away from Druskininkai. The school provides basic education for pupils from the 1st to the 10th form. We have 147 students from the age of 7 up to 16, including 25 students with special needs, and 24 teachers. The main foreign language is English. Pupils can also choose Russian as a second foreign language.


The school has got School Council, Teacher’s Council and Pupils’ Council. We have some nice facilities at our school: assembly hall, library, gym, computer classroom, technologies classroom etc. Our school is very actively involved in various projects at the local, national and international level. A lot of attention is given to pupil’s extra curriculum activities such as sports, theatre, music, art etc.
Five students coming to the Tolerance Camp 2015 are 13 years old: Aiste, Auguste, Raminta, Guoda and Rokas.
We are looking forward to meeting you at the camp!!!

www.vieciunai.lt 

THE BALTIC STATES “TEACHING TOLERANCE THROUGH ENGLISH” CAMP 2015 PREPARATORY WORKSHOP

On June 25-26, 2015, six English language teachers from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – the selected tutors of the Baltic States “Teaching Tolerance Through English” Camp Lithuania 2015 – attended a preparatory workshop in Vilnius. Julia Bitner (Lasnamäe Gymnasium, Tallin) and Mari Talvik (Elva Gymnasium, Elva) from Estonia, Miks Kapsis(Šķibe Primary School, Jelgava reg.) and Jelena Miloša (Riga Secondary School N 95, Riga) from Latvia, and Danguolė Česaitytė-Rutkauskienė (Vičiūnai Basic School, Druskininkai) and Rasa Midverienė (Turgeliai Aistuvos Gymnasium, Šalčininkai reg.) from Lithuania met with the Tolerance Camp organizers – US Embassy Lithuania and Board of LAKMA (Lithuanian Association of English Language Teachers). The aim of the workshop was to prepare for the Tolerance Camp which will be attended by 30 teenagers from the 3 Baltic States and which will be run in August 2015 in Dvarčėnų dvaras, Alytus region, Lithuania.

The workshop was held in the Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences which is an active partner of the US Embassy and the LAKMA Association. The university highly values the benefits of such cooperation as the students always have great opportunities to participate in various educational projects. This time Tomas Aleknavičius and Ignas Žilinskas, having completed their 2^nd year of Bachelor English Philology studies, will be able to act as Camp Volunteers and assist the tutors in organizing the Camp activities.

The Public Affairs Officer Sarah Talalay (US Embassy Lithuania) and LAKMA president Eglė Petronienė welcomed the future camp tutors and expressed their appreciation of teacher and student enthusiasm and willingness to participate in such a project. The Educational Affairs Specialist Rasa Baukuvienė, the Alumni Coordinator Inga Sidrys and the Resource Center Director Aleksandras Balčiūnas introduced the workshop participants to the mission goals and objectives of the project and provided a training session on social media. The USG program alumni Živilė Kropaitė (LRT radio journalist and advisor on Social Media and New Technologies), Danguolė Kiznienė (President of US-LT Alumni Association; Partnerships and Projects Manager, British Council) and Jelena Grigorjeva (English teacher at Vilnius V. Kachialov Gymnasium) shared their expertise and knowledge which they gained in the United States being enrolled on different educational programs. The alumni will join the students at the Camp as counselors promoting the key values of the American society – multiculturalism, diversity, and tolerance. Together with the tutors and volunteers, they will engage the young people in activities which encourage global thinking and a positive approach to diversity.

During the two days, under the supervision of LAKMA Board member and teacher trainer Nida Burneikaitė, the workshop participants developed the conceptual framework for the camp program and compiled a bank of activities to be offered to the students in August. The tutors shared their ideas and best practices of teaching teenagers and discussed what educational resources would be appropriate to meet the purposes of the Camp. The work on the program continues online as the tutors and assistants finalize the daily schedules and elaborate the educational scenarios for the week in August. The 30 teenage students from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania should get prepared for their best camp experience ever!

PHOTOS by the US Embassy Lithuania and LAKMA