Demand for language schools remains strong

  • 2004-04-08
  • By TBT staff
RIGA - Across Latvia a growing number of tongues are wrapping around foreign words and ears are picking up the sounds of more exotic languages such as Italian and Spanish.While the strongest demand remains for English, the changing landscape of language education here includes a nuanced shift in the types of foreign languages sought by local people.


"We have a growth in interest in French and ministries will focus on French language development," said Elena Karelska, the local instructor supervisor at the Berlitz Language Center in Riga. Without a doubt this increased interest has much to do with the coming accession of Latvia to the European Union.
The Valodu Macibu Centrs Public Service Language Center, founded 10 years ago by several Latvian ministries and international institutions, saw 51 students learning how to speak French in 2003, with a similar number of people studying Spanish there.
But the increased interest in these European languages is not the only trend in the language-teaching sphere. Schools have given a fresh focus to teaching younger students as parents in Latvia have begun to seek these opportunities out for their children."We are planning some new courses and programs," said Silvija Karklina, the director of Valodu Macibu Centrs. This summer will be the third year that the school will offer intensive language programs for youngsters at special camps. The idea came from a tutor working for the school in its Liepaja branch who was inspired when she learned about an expatriate Latvian summer school in the United Kingdom.
The Valodu Macibu Centrs summer program adds in cultural elements to bring the language alive for the youngsters.
"We have line dancing and sports activities such as football," Karklina said.
This year International House Riga Satva will begin an intensive summer program for young learners in Jurmala.
"Our students and their parents kept asking about these types of learning camps," said Natalya Zelenina, director of the school, when asked about the reasons for starting up the summer camp. She also points to a dramatic increase in the number of young learners that attend language school.
"Now we have even more young students than adults," Zelenina said.
According to Zelenina, International House Riga Satva now has approximately 1,000 students aged five to 18 and about 50 percent as many adult students. She added that following the yearly language examination the top three achievers in each level are awarded with either a trip abroad or a free year of lessons "to try and create an atmosphere where despite who your mother and father are" it is achievement that counts.
The Berlitz center, a franchise of a larger international institution that opened officially in Riga in February of 2003, has also jump-started its efforts to bring young learners into the classroom.
Karelska mentioned that the market for teaching children is something that the center was interested in pursuing and that it provided unique challenges. In Western Europe, she explained, people have a "different view" when it comes to the structure of this type of education and are more willing to bring their children to hour-long lessons several times a week. On the other end of the spectrum, she said, are the intensive summer session courses. Finding a balance between these two remains the goal.
The computers in the Berlitz center signal another change in the world of language learning. As Inga Zeide, the director of the center explained, students take home CDs and CD-ROMs and use Web links to supplement what they learn in class. She stressed that the school uses a topic-based method that emphasizes speaking and listening comprehension.
This, Zeide said, represents a clear departure from methods of language teaching used in Soviet times, which placed great weight on in-class translation of texts.
The importance of speaking and listening skills is also highlighted at the Valodu Macibu Centrs, which hosts special clubs - part of the EU lingua project Join the Club - that provide an opportunity for people to gather informally and chat in foreign languages. And as a growing number of students come to prepare for entrance exams and job applications, this foreign chatter has even grown louder.
The growing interest in Western languages beyond English along with the expanded education of younger students and beefed up use of technology in the classroom all serve as signs of an expanding market for language learning in Latvia.